■ Politics
Lien tour starts today
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien
Chan (連戰) will start a nationwide post-election "thanksgiving" journey today, with Keelung as the first stop. Lien will be accompanied by KMT Vice Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and party Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) on his visit to Keelung, where they will meet with grassroots
KMT cadres and elected representatives in the city, KMT spokesman Alex Tsai (蔡正元) said. Tsai added that Ma will brief KMT cadres on a plan to merge with the People First Party (PFP) and that Lin will deliver a report on the findings of the judicial recount of the 13 million ballots cast in the March 20 president election and scrutiny by pro-KMT attorneys of voter rosters.
■ Crime
More betel nuts seized
Customs officials yesterday seized a large batch of betel nuts that had been smuggled from Thailand, the third such batch uncovered by airport authorities in the past two weeks. The seized betel nuts, weighing a total of 3,584kg and packed in 128 cases, had been shipped to CKS International Airport a day earlier. Customs officials said the labels on the cases had been changed after their arrival at the airport warehouse, indicating that local accomplices had probably been involved in the operation. Since this is the off-season for betel-nut harvesting in this country and the Council of Agriculture has banned imports of the product, there has been a sharp increase in the retail prices of betel nuts recently. Customs officials said they suspect that local smuggling rings have colluded with airport staff to change the labels of Thai betel nuts to facilitate the smuggling of the nuts.
■ Weather
New typhoon forms
The Central Weather Bureau said yesterday that it is closely watching a newly-formed typhoon located in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands. Typhoon Chanthu is not likely to hit Taiwan judging from its current course, meteorologists said. Chanthu -- the fifth typhoon reported in the Asia-Pacific area this year -- was centered about 1,200km south-southwest of Hengchun at 8am yesterday, moving in a northwesterly direction at a speed of 19kph. The typhoon, which has a radius of 100km and is packing winds of up to 65kph near its center, is forecast to move toward the Indochina Peninsula over the following 48 hours if its current course remains unchanged, meteorologists watching the storm's development predicted.
■ Sports
Paragliding event set
The World Paragliding Championship will begin on July 17 in Taitung in conjunction with a series of other aerial activities, Taitung County Government officials said yesterday. The paragliding competition, which will be held in the heights of Luyeh village and in mountainous areas of Yungkang village, is expected to attract paragliders from the US, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, the Middle East, Germany and France. As some translators will
be needed during the competition, the county government's tourism office said it would welcome applications from people aged over 20 who can communicate effectively in German, French, Spanish, Japanese and Korean.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
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