■ Crime
New hotline opens
The National Police Administration (NPA) introduced an"anti-fraud calls hotline service" yesterday and encouraged the public to use the service whenever they receive phone calls from people who threaten them and try to extort money. The hotline service is based inside the agency's headquarters and has eight police officers to take calls from around the country. The hotline began service immediately after NPA Director-General Shieh Ing-dan (謝銀黨) announced its launch yesterday afternoon. The hotline's number is 0800-018-110.
■ Transportation
MRT clean of Legionnaire's
The Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday that there was no sign of the bacteria that causes Legionnaire's disease, a highly contagious lung infection, in the cooling towers of MRT stations. Taipei City Councilor Pan Huai-chung (潘懷宗), a New Party member, yesterday said the TRTC had ignored the spread of the bacteria that causes Legionnaire's in the cooling towers of MRT stations, thereby exposing people to a highly dangerous environment. TRTC president Tsay Huei-sheng (蔡輝昇) said tests for the disease at 18 MRT stations turned up negative and the company has submitted its assay methods and results to the Center for Disease Control to see whether the TRTC's management meets the center's regulations. Chiu Chan-hsien (邱展賢), a division chief at Taipei City's Department of Health, said there's no need for the public to worry about the disease.
■ Tourism
SARS hurts trips to China
The reappearance of SARS in China has poured cold water on Taiwan's tourism industry. Tour operators are holding their breath to see if the situation worsens, according to an industry source. Since three suspected SARS cases were reported in Beijing and Anhui Province, nearly 30 percent of China-bound Taiwanese tourists have canceled their trips and the ratio is likely to increase to above 50 percent should the situation in China and Taiwan change noticeably, the source said yesterday. The impact on China-bound travel, however, is unlikely to be as bad as it was last year, except for trips to Beijing. If China's SARS situation gets worse, local tour agencies may first consider calling a halt to trips to Beijing, according to the source. The spread of SARS would also affect inbound travel to Taiwan, he said. Many tourism-related businesses have not yet fully recovered from last year's SARS epidemic, he said, as a result of a large drop in inbound travelers, especially those from Japan.
■ Society
Few trust politicians
Taiwan's election dispute has shattered peoples' trust in the government so much that they trust fortune-tellers and shamans more than they trust the president and the judiciary, an opinion poll showed yesterday. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) won re-election by beating opposition leader Lien Chan (連戰) by 29,000 votes, a margin of 0.02 percentage points. The poll showed that 34 percent of a total of 579 company executives polled believe the election dispute can be solved through legal proceedings, while 52 percent don't believe so. It also showed 19 percent trust fortune-tellers, 18 percent trust lawyers and 14 percent trust the president. The poll also indicated that only a scant of 2.76 percent of the interviewees trust lawmakers, while 7.43 percent trust shamans.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over
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