■ Society
Suicide jumper hits passerby
A suicide jumper leaped from a hospital building yesterday, landing on a passer-by and seriously injuring her. According to the victim's husband, Lai Pei-ching was leaving St. Joseph's Hospital in Yuanlin County when the man jumped from one of the floor's in the 11-story hospital. "He landed on a parked car, bounced up and landed on my wife," he told the Broadcasting Corp of China. The man died on the spot and Lai was rushed into the hospital's operation room for surgery for a fractured skull. "She is in critical condition," a nurse said. Taiwan has one of the highest suicide rates in Asia, with seven people committing suicide every day, averaging one suicide every three-and-a-half hours.
■ Maritime
Coast guard brings boat back
The coast guard authorities yesterday escorted home a fishing boat allegedly hijacked by nine Chinese crew members who tried to sail it to the US, coast guard officers said. The Chinese fishermen on board the Hsiang Man Fu 31 were immediately whisked away for interrogation after the 150-tonne Hsiang Man Fu 31 returned to its base in the northern Keelung port, they said. The nine were accused of tying up captain Liu Hsin-chi (劉新吉) and chief engineer Chuang Ka-chi (莊改明) on Aug. 30 when the ship was in waters off Hawaii and diverting it towards the US west coast. The US Coast Guard spotted the vessel off California on Sept. 14 and urged Taiwan to take custody of the ship or it would face expulsion, the officers said. Seven Taiwanese coast guard officers were dispatched to take control of Hsiang Man Fu 31 and sail it home. The ship was joined by a Taiwanese patrol vessel near Hawaii. The two Taiwanese crew members were unharmed and two other Chinese crew members were not involved in the hijacking, the officers added.
■ Society
Man makes bad proposal
A love-sick Taipei man, who asked a woman to marry him in front of her husband, is being sued by the furious husband, local news media reported yesterday. The man, a van driver, identified by his surname, Lee, had been having an affair with his married colleague since April this year, a local Chinese-language newspaper said. He loved the woman so much that he finally went to her home to propose to her in front of her surprised husband and family, the paper said. The dumbfounded husband sued the couple for adultery, a crime that carries a prison sentence, the paper said.
■ Culture
Cartoon contest opens
An international contest for cartoonists, the 2002 Taipei International Cartoon Contest, opened yesterday in Taipei. The contest, with "world peace" and "counter-terrorism" as its themes, has drawn 938 works from artists of 40-odd countries, but only 60 works were put on display, including 20 works judged to be "excellent" and five as "best." Authors of excellent and best works will get cash prizes of various amounts in a ceremony today, organizers said. Cartoonists from China, eastern Europe and South America accounted for 60 percent of the prize winners while only two Taiwan artists made the grade, the organizers said. The display, which opened yesterday, will run until Nov. 10. Renowned artists will give instruction on cartooning at the exhibition at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
Staff writer, with agencies
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it