■ TOURISM
Tourists injured in Taroko
Two Chinese tourists got hit by falling rocks during a tour of the Taroko National Park yesterday afternoon, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday. Bureau Deputy Director-General Steven Kuo Su (郭蘇燦洋) said the two injured tourists were 56-year-old Shi Jinhong (施金訇) and 57-year-old Si Yuying (蘇玉英). Si suffered a slight injury to the face, but Shi was heavily wounded and was being operated on at press time. Both were being treated at Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualien. The accident happened when the tour group from Fujian Province was on their way to Jiuqiu Dong (九曲洞), one of the scenic sights at Taroko.
■ HORTICULTURE
Taiwan orchids win at expo
Taiwan-grown butterfly and Oncidium orchids presented by the Taipei City Government took first place in the Judges' Prize at an international flower exhibition in South Korea, a city official said yesterday. Taipei City is one of 121 exhibitors from 21 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas, which competed for the prize in the Korea Floritopia 2009, said Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文), head of the Department of Economic Development. The city has a 36m² booth displaying a wide array of flower species endemic to Taiwan, including the butterfly orchid, Oncidium orchid, flamingo flower, peace lily and pleomele. The city said the exhibition in South Chungcheong Province could serve as a warm-up to its 2010 Taipei International Gardening and Horticulture Exposition, Chen said.
■ POLITICS
Tsai Chi-fang summoned
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Tsai Chi-fang (蔡啟芳) yesterday said he had been summoned by the Chiayi Prosecutors' Office for questioning over allegations he had incited others to commit crime and threaten the public last month by calling on people to break into the Tucheng Detention Center on April 4 “to liberate” former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Tsai said he did not understand why prosecutors would accuse him of “threatening the public” as his remarks would at most be billed as “threatening the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). DPP Secretary-general Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), a trained lawyer, argued yesterday that since nothing happened on April 4, the charges against Tsai could not be established, adding that judges should not be wasting their time.
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
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
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