■TOURISM
Taichung hosting shop-fest
With the participation of more than 300 stores, the Taichung City Government will next month launch a shopping festival in an effort to attract more tourists to the city. From Wednesday through Thursday, the city government will hold a series of shopping activities to complement a food festival on Sept. 18 and Sept. 19, international car-free day on Sept. 22 and Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) said. “Business plays an important role in a city’s development,” he said. “In the absence of business activities, the city will lose its vitality.” Unlike the shopping festival in Hong Kong, Hu said, the event would be designed as a treasure hunt to make it more enjoyable for visitors. In a previous tourism event, Taichung recorded revenue of NT$1.7 billion (US$53.1 million) in 40 days, Hu said.
■EDUCATION
Education meeting convened
The Ministry of Education will today host a two-day Eighth National Education Meeting in Taipei to determine the direction of the nation’s education for the next 10 years. “Great changes have taken place in politics, culture, economy and society since the seventh National Education Meeting was held 16 years ago,” Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) said. Saying that the declining birth rate, global warming and the Internet are affecting education, Wu said it is time for the nation to thoroughly review its educational system and prepare itself for the educational problems that may arise in the next decade. Among the topics to be discussed include the development of the nation’s higher education, cultivation of talent in a knowledge-based economy and cross-strait and international education, ministry information showed. Around 20 educational associations said they planned to hold a demonstration to highlight the need for a better child-care system.
■HEALTHCARE
Elderly need more care: Tsai
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the party’s candidate for the Sinbei City mayoral election in November, made her second major policy announcement yesterday, focusing on healthcare for the elderly. Tsai said that if elected, she would push for more care centers for the elderly, create more elderly-friendly services and encourage home care. Tsai said the plan — a continuation of policies initiated by former Taipei County commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) — would address future challenges posed by an aging population. Her opponent, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said he was happy to see Tsai deal with the issue. However, he said that most elderly people would prefer more community based support.
■CRIME
Hacker targets DPP
The Web site of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Taipei City chapter was found to have been hacked into on Thursday afternoon. While access has since been restored, DPP Taipei City councilors were left wondering what turned them into such attractive targets. “I don’t know … maybe it was my recent outspoken comments,” DPP Taipei City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said. Officials at the chapter said that access to the Web site was extremely slow early in the afternoon. Later, visitors to the Web site were found to have been greeted by a black page saying that the page had been hacked into. The Taipei City Criminal Investigation Division says that it is looking into the incident.
Taiwan yesterday expelled four China Coast Guard vessels that entered Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Lienchiang County (Matsu) shortly after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced the start of its “Joint Sword-2024B” drills around Taiwan. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a statement that it had detected two China Coast Guard ships west of Nangan Island (南竿) and another two north of Dongyin Island (東引) at 8am yesterday. After Chinese ships sailed into restricted waters off Matsu shortly afterward, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch deployed four patrol vessels to shadow and approach the vessels, it said. The incidents pushed up to 44 the number
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
The government has issued a deportation order for a Spanish fugitive, ordering him to leave the country within 10 days, as he is wanted by European authorities for allegedly operating a car rental scam. National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials yesterday said Salvador Alejandro Llinas Onate, 48, had been notified that he must leave Taiwan, as he was wanted for committing serious crimes. The Spaniard has been indicted by Italian prosecutors for allegedly leading a 30 million euros (US$32.74 million) car rental scam and setting up a fraudulent company in Trento, Italy. The deportation order is based on Article 18 of
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