■ SOCIETY
Centenarians on the rise
The number of centenarians in the country totaled 1,075 as of this month, with the oldest being a 122-year-old woman, the Ministry of the Interior reported yesterday. The latest ministry survey showed that the oldest woman lives in Taitung County, while the oldest man — now 112 — lives in Hualien County. The number of centenarians increased by 78 from last year’s level, the ministry said, adding that 91 percent, or 982 centenarians are between 100 and 104 years old. Women account for 759, or 70 percent, of the total number of centenarians, representing 2.4 times the 316 male centenarians in the country, the survey said.
■ POLITICS
Station apologizes to Chen
A TV station apologized to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) late on Saturday night after one of its anchorwomen made vulgar remarks about Chen when she thought the camera was off her. The remark came on Saturday when TVBS anchorwoman, Liao Ying-ting (廖盈婷), was ready to take over the prime-time news program. An open microphone picked up the anchorwoman cursing: “That guy is a psycho. Tell him to cough up the money. He should eat shit.” Chen’s office issued a statement later that night condemning the crude remarks. The statement demanded the station apologize within 24 hours or face legal action. It also said Chen might refuse future interviews by the station. TVBS apologized to Chen and the audience later on Saturday and blamed the blunder on “technical negligence.”
■ CRIME
Porno comics lead to arrest
A 25-year-old tattoo studio apprentice living in Taipei City’s Wanhua (萬華) District, surnamed Liu (劉), was arrested on his birthday on Friday for selling pornographic comic books online. Liu said it was a “heart-breaking decision” to sell four comic books — which he described as the best of his collection from high school — from a collection that he has kept for seven to eight years. He said he only put them online for sale because he was in desperate need of money. However, not long after Liu put his comics on an online auction site and advertised his books as “extremely pornographic,” he attracted police attention. The police joined and won the bidding, then arrested Liu during the face-to-face trade.
■ ENERGY
MOEA mulls new meters
To further reduce energy consumption nationwide, the government is working with the private sector to develop an “advanced metering infrastructure” for households, sources at the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said. The front-end technology development has been commissioned to the Hsinchu-based Industrial Technology Research Institute, while the back-end network establishment will be carried out by the government-run Taipower Co, sources said. The ministry’s Bureau of Energy (BOE) said the advanced metering infrastructure, or AMI, is a system that can collect and analyze real-time data on electricity use in a given area, as small as a house or as large as a facility. With the AMI system, users can modify consumption based on suggestions given by the system, BOE officials said. Bureau Director Yeh Hui-ching (葉惠青) said that the new system could help households and offices reduce energy consumption by 15 percent.
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.
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
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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