■ Transportation
Port for Taoyuan possible
Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that Taoyuan County has the potential to become a free-trade port area. Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony for a road in Taoyuan City, Yu said that since the nation's international airport is in the county and a new road system is under development, circumstances could provide the catalyst for the eventual construction of a free-trade port. Taoyuan might also be included in the government's first project to build a new hub for international air and sea transportation, Yu said, but did not elaborate.
■ Drugs
Thais arrest six Taiwanese
Thai police said yesterday they have arrested six Taiwanese men and seized nearly 12kg of heroin from them. The suspects have been charged with possession of drugs with the intent to sell, which is punishable by death. Four of the men were arrested at a highway toll booth in Chonburi Province, 70km south of Bangkok. They had hidden 11.2kg of heroin in boxes of cosmetics, police said in a statement. It said police arrested the fifth man near the Bangkok apartment building where the six were residing. The sixth man was arrested in Bangkok as he was fleeing authorities with an additional 700g of heroin. All arrests occurred Sunday, the statement said.
■ Festival
Taipei race dates set
The 2003 Taipei International Dragon Boat Race Championship will be held at the riverside sports park along the Keelung River in Taipei from May 31 to June 4. An official of the Bureau of Education of the Taipei City Government said yesterday that more than 100 local and foreign teams are expected to take part in the race. Twenty-seven local teams and 51 foreign teams have decided to take part in the race. The foreign teams that have shown interest in the race come from the US, Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Hong Kong. Registration for the race will end on April 25. More information on the race can be found on the board's Web site (http://dragon2003.nihs.tp.edu.tw).
■ Investment
Ma to lobby US firms
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will visit the US in June to woo US-based high-technology companies to locate their Asian headquarters in Taipei. Ma will travel with Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), deputy convener of Taipei City's Economic Development Committee, and Wu Hui-mei (吳慧美), executive director of the committee. They are expected to arrive on June 4 and spend nine days meeting executives of high-tech companies across the US to ask them to establish their regional research and development or business operational centers in Taipei.
■ Iraq
Aid plan developed
Taiwan will work through a foundation promoted by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to take part in Iraq's post-war reconstruction, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Vice Foreign Minister Kau Ying-mao made the remarks when he was reporting on the purpose and operation of the Democracy Foundation of Taiwan to legislators of the ruling DPP. One legislator said that Taiwan should work with similar organizations of other countries, such as the US-based National Endowment for Democracy and Canada's International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, to create a network to help with reconstruction work in Iraq.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
DEFENSE: The US should cancel the US visas or green cards of relatives of KMT and TPP lawmakers who have been blocking the budget, Grant Newsham said A retired US Marine Corps officer has suggested canceling the US green cards and visas of relatives of opposition Taiwanese lawmakers who have been stalling the review of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget. The Executive Yuan has proposed the budget for major weapons purchases over eight years, from this year to 2033. However, opposition lawmakers have refused to review the proposal, demanding that President William Lai (賴清德) first appear before the Legislative Yuan to answer questions about the proposed budget. On Thursday last week, 37 bipartisan US lawmakers sent a letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the heads
Two siblings in their 70s were injured yesterday when they opened a parcel and it exploded, police in Yilan said, adding the brother and sister were both in stable condition. The two siblings, surnamed Hung (洪), had received the parcel two days earlier but did not open it until yesterday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday in Taiwan, police said. Chen Chin-cheng (陳金城), head of the Yilan County Government Police Bureau, said the package bore no postmark or names and was labeled only with the siblings’ address. Citing the findings of a
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