■ POLITICS
Chen lists files as classified
The Presidential Office informed the Taipei District Court yesterday through an official document issued by secretary-general Ye Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had officially listed documents relevant to the state allowance fund case as classified files and asked for the return of the files. The Court is yet to make a decision on whether to return the files, but asked the prosecutors and defendants to express their opinions. Chen made a similar request in June. However, the Court has not delivered a ruling on the request. The presidential Office made the request based on the Council of Grand Justices' constitutional interpretation this June which stated the president has the authority to define what constitutes a national secret.
■ SOCIETY
Taipei opens up to big bikes
Motorcycles with an engine capacity of 550cc or larger will be permitted on 10 expressways in the city from November, the Taipei City Government said yesterday. The 10 expressways include Tiding and Huandong boulevards, the Shui-Yuan, Huanhe N and S, Xinyi and Zhoumei expressways, and the Jianguo, Civil Boulevard, Keelung Road and Xinsheng N Road overpasses. Traffic police said that they would clamp down on motorcyclists who violate traffic rules.
■ POLITICS
Anti-graft squad reconvenes
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh's (施明德) anti-corruption campaign will celebrate the one-year anniversary of its sit-in protests with a gathering at Ketagalan Boulevard tomorrow. The gathering, meant to show continued opposition to corruption and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), will begin at 6pm and last until midnight, campaign spokesman Jerry Fan (范可欽) said. It will feature a 40m-long totem pole made with candles, and Shih is scheduled to deliver a speech. Shih, who was the DPP chairman from 1994 to 1996 before leaving the party in 2000, launched the anti-graft campaign on Sept. 9 last year with a sit-in in front of the Presidential Office to call on Chen to step down.
■ SOCIETY
Nation ranked 49th-largest
Taiwan has the 49th-largest national population in the world, the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) on Thursday quoted a US demography source as saying. Figures publicized by the US Population Reference Bureau last month estimates Taiwan's population at 22.9 million this year, up 0.3 percent or 77,000 people year-on-year. CEPD officials forecast the nation's total population would shrink to 18.9 million by 2050 as a result of drastic social changes. They predict the population will reach its apex in 2019 with 23.3 million people, before gradually declining to 18.9 million by 2050.
■ CRIME
Two get bail in Rebar trial
Two executives who had been detained since July for suspected involvement in the Rebar Asia Pacific Group embezzlement case were yesterday released on bail, Taipei District Court spokesman Liu Shou-sung (劉壽嵩) said. Yi-feng Asset Management co-chairman Lawrence Wang (王令興) and general manager Lee Teh-yang (李德洋) were released on bail of NT$5 million and NT$1 million respectively. Liu said the court ruled it unnecessary to keep Wang and Lee in detention at the current stage of the trial, but prohibited them from leaving the country.
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
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