■Vatican
Pope lends moral support
The Holy See supports Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer, a high-ranking Vatican official said yesterday. The official, who wished to remain anonymous, said the Holy See had told the US that Taiwan has the Vatican's moral support in its bid. The Vatican's position may influence the attitude of the world community toward Taiwan, he said. The official said the Vatican's position may be seen as Pope John Paul II's reply to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) recent letter, in which Chen congratulated the pope on his 83rd birthday and asked for his support for Taiwan's bid to join the WHA and other international organizations. The Vatican sympathizes with Taiwan over its exclusion from the WHA, the official said.
■ Health
Hockey trip canceled
The spread of SARS in Taiwan has caused children of the Liming Elementary School in Pingtung to be rejected from participating in the annual California Cup field hockey tournament, according to school principal Chang Fang-ming (張放明). Chang said that the school team, the champions of the National Chungcheng Cup Hockey Tournament, registered with the California Cup sponsor -- the Field Hockey Sports Center -- months ago and was scheduled to play at the annual event's division for girls under 16 on May 24. Chang said that his school received a fax from the sponsor on the eve of its departure for the US stating that Taiwan had been removed from the invitees' list due to the spread of SARS. Chang said that it has not been easy for the school in remote Pingtung County to raise the money for the school team to represent Taiwan in the event. While the school will suffer losses due to cancelations of hotel and transportation bookings, the frustration caused to the young players is worse, he added.
■ Health
SARS hospitals assigned
The government has assigned 10 hospitals nationwide to accommodate patients suspected of having SARS to relieve the workload of many research hospitals. Since the outbreak of the disease, research hospitals have received numerous suspected SARS patients transferred from regional hospitals and small clinics. The accommodation of suspected SARS patients has become a serious problem because the limited medical personnel and resources of these research hospitals has been exhausted with the mounting number of newly reported cases. On the other hand, some hospitals have not taken in suspected SARS patients for fear that their treatment would be beyond the hospital's capabilities. The 10 hospitals will be able to offer 3,200 beds to suspected SARS patients, with the completion of necessary facilities.
■ Politics
County Commissioner dies
Hualien County Commissioner Chang Fu-hsing (張福興) of the KMT died of lung cancer at Taipei's Veteran's General Hospital yesterday. He was 61. Chang was diagnosed with lung cancer late last year. He had been undergoing chemotherapy at Veteran's General Hospital since March. According to the Law on Local Government Systems (地方制度法), an election has to be held within three months after the death of an elected local government official if the remaining tenure of the official is more than two years. Chang, who started his four-year tenure in December 2001, had 31 more months left in his term.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
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