ENTERTAINMENT
Mayday to play 8 shows
Photo courtesy of B’in Music
Mayday has announced plans to hold eight concerts in Taoyuan, including a special New Year’s Eve concert. The concerts titled “Mayday Now-Here Re: Live 2022-2023” are to be held at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium from Dec. 23 to Jan. 8, with fans invited to welcome in the New Year with the band on Dec. 31, the band’s agent, B’in Music, said in a statement released on Monday. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Saturday for those using E.Sun Bank credit cards, and at 11am for everyone else.
COVID-19
Premier contracts virus
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has tested positive for COVID-19 after feeling unwell, Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said yesterday. Su felt ill after spending the morning at the Legislative Yuan, and went home to quarantine for seven days with mild symptoms after a COVID-19 rapid test came back positive, Lo said. Due to Su’s absence, the legislative caucuses decided to postpone the afternoon legislative session. While in quarantine, Su would be working virtually, Lo added. Su met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Central Epidemic Command Center on Saturday, Presidential Office spokesperson Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said. Tsai is in good health and her medical team would continue to observe her, Chang said.
SOCIETY
PFP’s Hwang Yih-jiau dies
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that it had no reason to suspect foul play in the death of former People First Party (PFP) legislator Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交), but did not say whether he had taken his own life. Hwang was found by paramedics with no vital signs at 5:11pm on Monday after receiving a report that a man had fallen from the 11th floor of an apartment building on Wende Road in Taipei’s Neihu District (?湖). He was pronounced dead at Tri-Service General Hospital after efforts to resuscitate him failed. He was 69 years old. PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said he was deeply shocked to learn of Hwang’s passing. Prior to being a lawmaker from 1999 to 2012, Hwang was a spokesman for the now-defunct Taiwan Provincial Government. He also held positions at the Government Information Office, which was dissolved in 2012.
TRAVEL
Fair to offer overseas deals
The Taipei International Travel Fair is to take place from Nov. 4 to 7 at the Nangang Exhibition Center, the Taiwan Visitors Association announced on Monday. The fair is to be the biggest of its kind since Taiwan reopened its borders on Thursday, the association said. The expo’s 1,200 booths would include tourism firms from countries such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as airline companies and hotels, it said. They would be selling travel items such as plane tickets, tour packages, food and lodging vouchers, and tickets to shows and theme parks at discount prices, the association said. Early-bird tickets priced at NT$150 are available today only at kiosks in Family Mart, 7-Eleven, Hi-life and OK Mart outlets, as well as via KKday, Klook and udn’s ticket sales Web site. Regular tickets cost NT$200. Those unable to get an early-bird deal can buy tickets at a 10 percent discount from tomorrow to Nov. 3. Medical professionals, firefighters and police officers would be given free entry to show gratitude for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the association said. Another 10,000 free tickets would be distributed to blood donors at Taipei’s 17 blood donation locations from Oct. 29 to Nov. 5, the association said.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
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