■ Transportation
New MRT line opens
The Xiaobitan line of Taipei's MRT system will open at noon tomorrow, officials with the Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. The 1.9km, two-station line has a passenger capacity of 4,140 per hour and branches from Qizhang Station on the Xindian Line, terminating at Xiaobitan Station, the officials said. A regular-length train will be in operation from tomor-row but this will be replaced by a shorter, three-carriage train starting in 2006, the officials said. The interval between each service will be from eight to 12 minutes during peak hour, 12 to 15 minutes off peak and 15 to 20 minutes before 7am and after 10pm, they said.
■ Cross-strait ties
High-tech workers sought
The government will offer more generous incentives to lure Chinese high-tech professionals, Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chair-man Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said yesterday. Chiu made the remarks after listening to an assessment report on a "cross-strait science and technology exchange policy" made by the National Science Council (NSC). Chiu said that according to the report, an average of 130 Chinese academics visit each year to lecture or do research. Most of them are doing post-doctoral research in basic science. He said those who are approved by the NSC to visit for profes-sional activities average 1,000 every year.
■ Politics
Doctor attends hearing
Taiwan High Court judges hearing the pan-blue alliance's suit challenging the March 20 election yes-terday summoned Shin Kong Wu Ho-su Memorial Hospital deputy superintendent Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥) for questioning. They wanted to ask Huang -- who served as secretary of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) medical team -- about the March 19 assassination attempt against Chen. Huang said he didn't tell Presiden-tial Office Secretary General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) that "the bullet is inside the president's body" when Chiu was holding a news con-ference to tell the nation that Chen had been shot. Huang said the situation at the time was not clear enough to determine whether any bullet was inside Chen. Huang was questioned for about an hour and a half.
■ Cross-strait tiesbr />
MAC mulls MBA program
China-based Taiwanese businesspeople, as well as Fujian-based business-people, may be able to participate in an executive masters in business admin-istration (EMBA) program in Kinmen, according to Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). Council officials said Ming Chuan University had also expressed interest in holding the EMBA classes. Chinese businesspeople enrolled in the classes would be able to enter Taiwan on a three-day tourist visa as classes would most likely take place on the weekends.
■ Crime
Cambodia ousts suspects
Eight Taiwanese men have been deported from Cam-bodia after failing to prove that they intended to marry Cambodian women, police said yesterday, citing sus-picions they were involved in human trafficking. The men were detained last Wednesday while travelling with prostitutes to their hotel, said the chief of the Phnom Penh police anti-human trafficking division. The men claimed they were in Cambodia because "they wanted to marry Cambodian women, but they had not asked permission from their government," officials said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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