■ Crime
Family claims victim's body
Family members of a Taiwanese businesswoman who was murdered in Dongguan, in China's Guangdong Province last month flew to Dongguan Friday to claim her body, an official of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said yesterday. SEF Secretary-General Yen Wan-chin (顏萬進) said the body of Liu Mei-chuan will be cremated in Dongguan before being carried back to her Taiwan home, citing unnamed members of Liu's family as saying. Yen said the SEF has rendered aid to Liu's family to fly to Dongguan, where Liu was conducting business. Liu left her Dongguan house on Oct. 26 and then disappeared. Her decapitated body was later found nearby, and all her money in a bank account was discovered to have been withdrawn. Three of her former employees have been arrested on charges of murder.
■ Sports
Kenyan wins marathon
Kenya's David Kariuki and China's Hu Xiouyin (胡秀英) won the men's and women's divisions, respectively, in the Taroko International Marathon held yesterday near Hualien. Kariuki finished the 42.195km race with a time of 2:24:26, and was followed by Poland's Marek Dryja and South Africa's Vladimir Kotov. Hu won her second straight Taroko International Marathon, finishing with a time of 2:59:20. She also won last year's Taipei Marathon. More than 8,000 runners from around the world took part in the event, including 1,052 runners in the full marathon, and the rest in a half marathon or a shorter 5km race, through Taroko Gorge. The top ten winners were awarded medals and cash prizes ranging from NT$5,000 to NT$80,000 (US$151 to US$2,417).
■ Publishing
Magazine summit soon
The 2004 International Magazine Conference in Taipei is slated to open Nov. 15, with participants to discuss topics focusing on the expanding Asian magazine market and its challenges. The third annual conference will take place at the National Taiwan Science Education Center, with a handful of local and foreign experts in the magazine business on hand. The speakers will include Jan Hung-tze, chairman of the Magazine Business Association of Taipei; Patrick J. McGovern, founder and chairman of the US-based International Data Group; and Michael Vatikiotis, editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong-based journal the Far Eastern Economic Review. Details on the upcoming conference are available online at www.webs.xlab.com.tw/2004. Those who want to attend the conference can call (02) 2518-9922.
■ Cross-strait ties
Wu warns of nationalism
Taiwan must be watchful of the possibility of China resorting to nationalism to try to distract domestic attention from ongoing social disorder, Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) warned yesterday. Wu was referring to a Washington Post report which said the rule of the Chinese Communist Party was being challenged after more than 58,000 public demonstrations took place last year. Wu said Taiwan must not consider the problem as a purely domestic affair of China. In the face of domestic instability, authorities are likely to resort to national-ism to try to strengthen unity within the country and distract the people's attention from the problem, according to Wu.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
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
RSS