■ 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.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
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