■ Diplomacy
Academic denies HK posting
National Chi Nan University political science professor Byron Weng (翁松燃) denied yesterday that he had been appointed as Taiwan's new representative to Hong Kong. Weng, formerly a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and currently an adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), denied a report carried in the Hong Kong Economic Journal yesterday that he had been appointed to replace Chang Liang-jen (張良任), managing director of the Chung Hwa Travel Service, Taiwan's de facto consulate in Hong Kong. In a telephone interview, Weng emphatically denied there was any truth to the report, saying, "There is absolutely no such thing [taking place]." Chang also denied the report, describing it as a fabrication. The Chung Hwa Travel Service is an agency under the control of the Mainland Affairs Council.
■ Health
Not too late to quit
Some may joke that it's never too late to start smoking, but for 89-year-old Huang He-ping (黃和平), it's never too late to quit. Huang is the oldest participant in Taipei's "quit and win" competition aimed at getting people to stop smoking. Huang said yesterday that as a smoker for the past 73 years, "I've quit smoking more than 300 times, but haven't succeeded yet in really stopping." He said that this time might be the one, given that there is a big cash prize as an incentive. Huang, who worked as a reporter and police officer when he was young, said the high pressure of the two jobs started him smoking. He used to smoke a pack and half of a day, and still smokes around a dozen cigarettes daily. "Quitting smoking is like writing an article, and one has to undergo some excruciating trials," Huang said, adding that the best way to quit smoking is to go to public places where you can't bother others with your habit. But the urge to smoke surfaces later, he added, when you get back home or go outdoors.
■ Foreign affairs
Caution urged in Philippines
Taiwan's representative to the Philippines, Wu Shin-hsing (吳新興), warned Taiwanese yesterday to avoid the Philippines following an attack on a building in Manila in which a foreign oil firm is located. Wu made the comment after suspected communist guerrillas fired a rocket-propelled grenade a day earlier at a building in the Makati business district in which oil firm Philipinas Shell Petroleum Corp is housed. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila is just a few meters from the building. Wu warned people not to visit the Philippines in the run-up to its May 10 presidential and general elections, saying that the political situation and public order have become increasingly unstable. Meanwhile, security measures in the buildings in which the Taiwan representative office and private staff residences are accommodated have been strengthened, he added.
■ Library science
Team visits Vatican
Council for Cultural Affairs Vice Chairman Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) and other officials visited the Vatican Museums and the Italian Culture Department yesterday to observe its documentation storage procedures. Wu and his group arrived in Rome on Saturday for a four-day visit. They will visit the Holy See's library to exchange views on secret filing before leaving for Germany today.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
A 23-year-old Taichung man vowed to drink more water after his heavy consumption of sugary tea landed him in hospital with a kidney infection and sepsis. The man, surnamed Lin (林), used to drink two cups of half-sugar oolong tea while working at a food stall, where he often had to wait a long time before urinating. Lin developed kidney stones and noticed blood in his urine, but ignored the issue after taking medication for three days. A month later, he went to the emergency room after experiencing a recurring fever and was diagnosed with a kidney infection that led to sepsis, landing
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