■ SOCIETY
Lu officiates weddings
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) officiated at a mass wedding ceremony of 32 couples at the Hsinchu Science Park yesterday. Lu exhorted the 64 grooms and brides -- all scientists, technicians or staff working for companies at the park -- to respect their marriage vows. She called on the newlyweds to forgive and be patient with each other, adding that there are inevitable ups and downs and twists and turns in married life. But the virtue of "thinking about the other's goodness," she said, would help them overcome the difficulties they will likely encounter in their marriages.
■ MEDIA
`China Post' Web site hacked
The Web site of the English-language daily the China Post was closed for more than two hours yesterday morning after its site administrators discovered that hackers had added profanities to the headlines of every story. The newspaper was not aware of the attack, which saw the f-word placed in each headline, until they began receiving telephone calls from readers at around 9am. The newspaper was forced to shut down its Web site, which did not resume normal operations until yesterday afternoon. The newspaper is still trying to determine the identity of the hackers. A similar incident occurred about four months ago, where the home page of the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) was turned into the Chinese national flag.
■ HEALTH
Taipei pressures drug maker
Taipei requested yesterday that Akzo Nobel, the Netherlands' largest pharmaceutical firm, quickly sign a contract to produce flu vaccines or it would be forced to find another partner to ensure flu control, state media reported yesterday. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) selected the Dutch company in July last year for a build, own and operate (BOO) project for the production of flu vaccines and the two parties were about to sign a contract this year. But progress was hampered by a separate deal in March between Schering Plough, a global research-based pharma-ceutical company, and Akzo Nobel, under which the Dutch firm agreed to sell its vaccine research and development unit -- Organon Biosciences -- to Schering Plough. As the acquisition agreement would only be completed by the final quarter of this year, it would be impossible for the Dutch firm to give CDC a timetable on signing the BOO deal with Taiwan, the agency said.
■ TRAVEL
Global trekkers arrive
A Swiss couple arrived in Taiwan after driving through 156 countries on their around-the-world trip that began 23 years ago, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday. Emil Schmid, 65, and Liliana Schmid, 66, arrived from East Timor and kicked off their trip across Taiwan on Saturday from Kaohsiung, after their Toyota Land Cruiser arrived in the city. They began their around-the-world trip on Oct. 18, 1984, traveling to the US. Emil was a computer software engineer and their global adventure began with the simple wish to get away from schedules for a year. But one year's travel proved insufficient, so they kept prolonging it and have not stopped since. Over the past 23 years, they have visited North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia, returning to Switzerland on just three occasions.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV