■POLITICS
Yu touted for Sinbei City
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials said yesterday that former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) is likely to stand for the party in the Sinbei City elections. DPP officials said that because DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has ruled out taking part in November’s special municipality vote, Yu was the party’s most likely candidate in that race. If Yu is chosen, he will go head-to-head with Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). DPP officials said the party faces a difficult choice for a candidate for Greater Taichung because Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) of the KMT is seen as a strong candidate. DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and former Government Information Office director-general Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) were neck-and-neck in a poll for the race and the party is prepared to conduct another survey, DPP officials said.
■SOCIETY
Prospects for moms falter
Of all the working mothers who have quit their jobs but later returned to the workforce, only 28 percent say they managed to land jobs similar to their career path before they stopped working and 76 percent say their salaries are now lower, a poll conducted by 1111 Job Bank showed. The job bank cited data from the Directorate-General of Budgeting, Accounting and Statistics that showed 66.3 percent of married women aged between 15 and 64 years old, have had the experience of leaving the workforce to marry or have children. Of these women, they stayed out of the workforce for an average length of six years. The e-mail survey of 1,259 women conducted last month found most working mothers hold jobs in office administration, human resources, accounting and clerical work, with an average monthly salary of NT$29,493. Working mothers who have returned to work after a period as stay-at-home mothers say their salaries decreased significantly, by an average of NT$7,106.
■TECHNOLOGY
Taiwan scoops medals
Taiwan has garnered a total of 17 medals, including four gold and four silver, at one of the world’s most prestigious invention fairs that closed on Saturday in Paris. Taiwan presented 17 items at the Concours Lepine International Paris 2010, which made it the third-largest participant in the show, behind Poland, with 31 inventions and China with 27. Taiwan’s gold-medal entries were a biocide air filter, an ergonomic chair, a custom-made LED lamp and reusable adhesive. Silver-medal items included a specially designed life vest, a fragrant necklace and a safety shoe toe. Other local entries included a cake knife, an umbrella with its own lighting system, an emergency kit that can be converted into a rope, and a tea cup that automatically separates tea leaves from water. Rene-Georges Lavergne, head of the panel of judges, said most of the Taiwanese entries were suitable for practical everyday needs and thus won favor among the judges.
■ARTS
Renowned pianist to perform
Renowned Mexican pianist Jose Luis Altamirano will play a concert at the National Taiwan Library in Zhonghe City on Thursday, the Mexican Trade Services Documentation and Cultural Office in Taiwan said. “I am pleased and feel honored to share my music with the people in Taiwan,” Altamirano said. Martin Munoz Ledo Villegas, head of the Mexican office, said the concert, titled “Inspiration Mexicana,” will help promote understanding between the two cultures.
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
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