■ Accidents
Filipino seaman drowns
A Philippine seaman drowned in Kaohsiung Harbor yesterday after he was thrown into the sea by a falling log, police said. The victim, identified as 29-year-old Rubeng Salong, was a crew member on the Panama-registered Ho Feng No.7. The man was painting the cargo vessel when a log being unloaded from the ship fell and hit him at around 8:45am, police said. "A hoisting rope carrying three logs broke. One of the falling logs hit him and threw him into the sea," said Chen Chun-yuan, an official at the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau. The man's body was recovered after a two-hour search.
■ Humanitarian aid
TV anchor to visit refugees
A TV news anchorwoman from Taiwan is set to visit a refugee camp in Thailand for Karen refugees from Burma at the end of this month to cover the story of their situation for a campaign aimed at raising funds to help them. Ma Chien-hui (馬千惠), who is a member of the Eastern Multimedia Group, which has jointly organized the campaign with the Chinese Association for Human Rights, said she has completed preparations for her visit to the refugee camp located near the Thai town of Mae Sot near the border with Burma. She said she will do her best to convey the refugees' situation in the hope of arousing the love and compassion of the people of Taiwan. The campaign, aimed at raising funds to help the refugee children attend school, is also designed to collect money for medical aid for the refugees.
■ Diplomacy
US delegation set to arrive
A US congressional delegation composed of three members of the House of Representatives will arrive in Taipei tomorrow for a three-day visit. The visit by the three House members -- Earl Pomeroy, a Democrat, Tom Feeney, a Republican, and Eni Faleomavaige, a Democrat -- is being organized by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. During the visit, the three congressmen as well as four members representing the Heritage Foundation will meet President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Premier Yu Shyi-kun and KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰). The delegation will be honored at a luncheon hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新). In addition to attending a briefing by the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan, the group will visit the National Palace Museum. The delegation is scheduled to leave Taiwan on Wednesday.
■ Diplomacy
Italy to send representative
Italy will send another diplomat in the middle of this month to serve as its deputy representative to Taiwan, it was learned on Friday. Sources said the move indicates that Italy attaches great importance to its relations with Taiwan. Italy first sent a representative to Taiwan in 1994, and established the Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office in Taiwan the following year to handle Taiwan-Italy relations. Alberto Galluccio assumed the post of director of the office in 2000, becoming the third person to hold the job. The sources said that the Italian Foreign Ministry granted the members of Taiwan's representative office in Italy diplomatic IDs in February last year. Italy also granted a visa for Vice President Annette Lu for her transit in Europe, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) visited Italy in June, they said. Galluccio played a role in all of these moves, they added.
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and