■Protests
Anti-war rally erupts
More than 100 anti-war and anti-US activists clashed yesterday with police in Taipei in what had originally been intended as a peaceful demonstration. Shouting slogans against the US-led invasion of Iraq, protesters hurled red paint at riot police deployed in front of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto of the US. Two students were arrested which triggered further unrest. The two, charged with disrupting social order and attacking the police, were released three hours after their arrest. Yesterday's demonstration was one of a series of small protests in reaction to Washington's attack on Iraq.
■ Diplomacy
US senators to visit Taipei
A group of eight US senators, led by Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, will arrive in Taipei on April 18 for a brief visit. Chen Chien-jen (程建人), representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, said on Friday that the senators are expected to exchange views with the government leaders in Taipei on such topics as anti-terrorism, public health, and other matters of mutual concern. The Senate mission will also visit Japan, South Korea and China during the trip to Asia.
■ United States
US association on track
A preparatory committee for the establishment of The Association for US-Taiwan Sisterly Relations was set to be inaugurated on Saturday at Little Rock, Arkansas. Michael Tsai (蔡明憲), deputy representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, will attend the inauguration ceremony. A spokesman for the preparatory committee said the association will help promote mutual understanding and friendship between the American and Taiwanese people by helping them increase their cultural exchanges and economic cooperation.
■ Crime
Woman cuts off penis
For the second time in a week, a woman cut off her lover's penis yesterday following a quarrel. Lin Hsiu-chan (林秀嬋), 52, severed the penis of her boyfriend Chiang Chin-sheng (江金生), 42, after he fell asleep at their rented apartment in Tucheng, outside Taipei. Police rushed Chiang to hospital. Doctors reattached his penis, but said they did not know if Chiang would retain full use of it. After the attack, Lin locked herself up in a room in the apartment and slashed her wrists attempting to commit suicide. Police broke into the room and rushed Lin, who was lying unconscious in a pool of blood, to hospital. Doctors said Lin is in a critical condition. Chiang told police he and Lin had lived together for many years and often quarrelled. Last Wednesday, a Filipino woman cut off the penis of her Filipino-Chinese husband while he was sleeping and flushed it down the toilet.
■ Iraq
Government donates rice
The government yesterday donated 5,000 tonnes of rice to Iraq and pledged to offer more aid and assist in post war reconstruction. Taiwan hopes to develop ties with a new Iraqi government and maybe open a trade representative office in Iraq. The China External Trade Development Council (CETRA) plans to send a delegation to the Middle East when the Iraq war has ended. "In the aftermath of the war, there will be a great demand in the Middle East for medical equipment, building materials, machinery, hardware, auto parts and other products," CETRA Secretary-General Chao Yung-chuan said.
Agencies
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
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