■ POLITICS
KMT to hold candidate polls
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday it would determine the candidates for the Taitung and Taichung legislative by-elections via polls. The party will hold polls from Friday to Sunday and announce the result next Monday. KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will approve the nominees on Nov. 11, the KMT said. The Taitung legislative by-election is to be held after former KMT legislator Justin Huang (黃健庭) resigned on Oct. 15 to run in the Taitung County commissioner election. Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) may also join the race. The Taichung legislative by-election will be held to fill the seat left vacant by former KMT legislator Chiang Lien-fu (江連福), whose election status was annulled over vote-buying.
■ SOCIETY
Poppy Day registration
People interested in taking part in the annual Remembrance Day Event on Nov. 15 and the banquet on the evening of Nov. 14 should register with the British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) in Taipei, organizers said. The annual service will be held at the former Kinkaseki prisoner of war camp in Jinguashih (金瓜石), Taipei County. Bus transportation will be available. Reservations for both the banquet and bus can be made by calling Clare Lear at the BTCO on (02) 8758-2056 or by e-mail: Clare.Lear@fco.gov.uk.
■ HEALTH
Vaccines may come soon
Free cervical cancer vaccines might be available for young Aboriginal and low-income women by the end of this year, the Department of Health said. “As long as the policy is approved by the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, it can be implemented starting in December,” Bureau of Health Promotion Deputy Director Chao Kun-yu (趙坤郁) said in response to complaints about a delay in implementing the policy.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
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