SOCIETY
Couples eye 10/10 wedding
This year Double Ten National Day falls on a Monday, making it a long weekend, and household registration offices have reported that they have received applications from more than 100 couples who want to register their wedding on that day. Su Li-ching (蘇麗清), director of the Tsoying Household Registration Office in Greater Kaohsiung, said that to facilitate such couples, household registration offices would handle their applications for reservations until Oct. 7. Many couples have also expressed a wish to complete their registration at exactly 10:10am, making the memorable moment even more auspicious, she added. Meanwhile, Alishan National Scenic Area said it is inviting 16 couples to take part in a romantic wedding under a sacred tree cluster on the mountain. The couples can exchange their vows under the trees that are more than 1,000 years old on Oct. 31. Interested couples can register with the scenic area administration.
TRAVEL
Nanjing flights planned
Taitung County is planning to launch scheduled flights to Nanjing, China, on Nov. 2, Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) announced yesterday. One flight per week is expected to operate on the route, departing from Taitung Airport for Nanjing Lukou International Airport on Wednesdays and returning on Thursdays, Huang said. The service is expected to help attract tourists from eastern China to Taitung, he said. In related news, Eastday.com, a news portal in Shanghai, China, reported that more than 700 free independent tourists (FIT) from China have traveled to Taiwan via Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport since the FIT program was launched on June 28.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
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