■ Defense
Flotilla on show in Keelung
A Navy friendship flotilla arrived at Keelung Harbor yesterday, allowing the public to board any of its three vessels for visits today. The flotilla includes one supply ship, one Chengkung-class frigate and one Kangting-class frigate. It is scheduled to travel around Taiwan and visit other countries between February and May each year. Military marching bands and martial arts performances by the nation's Marines welcomed the flotilla to Keelung. The Navy said the three vessels will be open to the public from 9am to 4pm today.
■ Politics
Input sought on redivision
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has published a draft plan for redistricting electoral constituencies ahead of next year's legislative elections and is inviting the public's response to the proposal. As only 73 members of the next Legislative Yuan will be directly elected from cities and counties, the CEC has set a rule for redrawing constituencies. Under the rule, a city or county with less than 366,106 residents will be given only one seat in the legislature. Ten cities and counties will therefore elect only one legislator in December next year. Other cities and counties are required to divide themselves into new constituencies roughly containing the national population average of 366,106, and to send their proposals to the CEC by the end of March. Seats in the seventh legislature have been reduced from 225 to 113 and changed into a "single-constituency, two-vote" format -- that is, one vote for candidates, and the other for political parties.
■ Media
Official denies paper's claim
A senior national security official denied a newspaper report yesterday that he and his wife have bought a residence valued at NT$180 million (US$5.6 million) in one of Taipei's upscale areas. Chiou I-ren (邱義仁), secretary-general of the National Security Council, said in a news release that the report on page 3 of the Chinese-language China Times under a banner headline was "exaggerated, untrue and incorrect." He demanded that the newspaper publish a similarly conspicuous correction on the same page. Chiou said his wife bought a residence measuring about 50 ping (165m2) last year for NT$30 million, with the mortgage set at NT$20 million, and that all the information can be verified. He said the newspaper report inflated the value of the property to NT$180 million and the total area to 300 ping. Chiou added that the report has damaged his reputation and that of his family, and that he is waiting for the paper to publish a correction before deciding whether to take further action.
■ Politics
Hsieh's accusers criticized
A group of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers close to former Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday lashed out at DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬), who accused Hsieh of helping big businesses make huge profits by selling state-owned real estate. DPP legislators Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), Kao Chien-chih (高建智) and Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) held a press conference yesterday to defend Hsieh. They urged Lin, a member of DPP's New Tide faction, not to provoke conflict between DPP factions with this issue. The press conference was attended by members of the DPP's Welfare State Alliance, who back Hsieh to run in the 2008 presidential election. The New Tide supports Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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