SOCIETY
Fairy tale stamps announced
Chunghwa Post on Monday next week is to issue a set of four stamps featuring The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, The Little Match Girl and The Ugly Duckling, fairy tales by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the company said in a statement. A matching set of four illustrated postcards would also go on sale for NT$100 on the same day, the statement said. The postcards would be available at 37 branches, on the iPost platform and by pre-order at local post offices, it said. Each NT$8 stamp is designed in a symmetrical, paper-cut style, symbolizing themes drawn from the fairy tales of courage, imagination, hope and transformation, Chunghwa Post said.
Photo courtesy of Chunghwa Post Co
AIRLINES
Starlux to fly to Phoenix
Taiwan-based carrier Starlux Airlines yesterday said that it would begin nonstop flights between Taipei and Phoenix, Arizona, from Jan. 15 next year. The new route would be operated using Airbus A350 aircraft, with three weekly flights initially and a planned increase to four weekly flights beginning in March next year, the airline said in a statement. Phoenix, the fifth-largest city in the US, has had robust growth in tourism and business, particularly in the tech sector following Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s investment in the area, Starlux chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said. Starlux aims to leverage the momentum to expand its North American network and improve connectivity between Asia and the US, Chai said. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego welcomed the announcement, calling the new route “a testament” to the region’s international growth.
POLITICS
KMT chair vote set: source
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) plans to open registration in September for its chairperson election, with voting set for Oct. 18, after the Aug. 23 recall votes, party sources said yesterday. Twenty-four KMT lawmakers on Saturday survived recall votes. Another seven votes targeting KMT lawmakers are set for Aug. 23. The party’s Organizational Committee would propose the timeline and rules for its chairperson election to the Central Standing Committee today, party sources said. Its national congress is tentatively scheduled for late October or early November, when the chairperson handover would take place, one source said. The schedules follow party rules, they said. The KMT charter limits a chairperson to a four-year term. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) is to complete his term in October.
SOCIETY
Japan body a Taiwanese
A partly decomposed body that was discovered in an abandoned building in Japan has been identified by Japanese police as being of a Taiwanese. The body was discovered at 11:30pm on May 24 in a building that formerly housed a commercial facility in Niigata Prefecture’s Myoko City, Niigata Television Network 21 reported yesterday. A Japanese who visited the location for a “test of courage” event reported the matter to the Myoko police, the network said. An investigation confirmed that the deceased was a man in his 40s from Taiwan who is believed to have died about a year ago. The man had been visiting Japan for leisure, but after he failed to return to Taiwan, his family filed a missing persons report with police in Taiwan, the report said. Police in Japan said that no foul play was suspected, but added that an investigation into the cause of death was ongoing, the network reported.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
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