A torchlight marathon highlighting the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) determination in pushing for referendums kicked off yesterday in rural Kungliao township in Taipei County.
The torchlight marathon is being held as a sideline to a rally to be held in Kaohsiung Oct. 25 to champion the writing of a new constitution.
More than 200,000 people are expected to take part in the rally, which is described by former DPP Chairman Chang Chun-hsiung (
Former DPP Chairman Lin I-hsiung (
Lin, a key figure in Taiwan's anti-nuclear campaign, then handed the lit torch to DPP Legislator Trong Chai (蔡同榮), one of the major proponents of referendums in Taiwan, who in turn carried the torch at the start of the "north way" of the torchlight marathon.
The "north way" run is a seven-day, 492.3-km run from Taipei County to the southern port city of Kaohsiung, crossing through Keelung City, Taipei City, Taoyuan County, Hsinchu County and Miaoli County in the north, down to Taichung County, Taichung City and Nantou, Changhua and Yunlin counties in central Taiwan, and Chiayi County, Chiayi City, Tainan County and Kaohsiung County in the south.
Addressing the ceremony, Lin called for the people of Taiwan to become their own masters and decide upon their own fate.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
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Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and