■ Crime
Threat-maker to surrender
Taoyuan businessman Lai Chu-hsing (賴注醒), who said on Wednesday that he would try to assassinate President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), said yesterday that he would turn himself in to police tomorrow. Lai made his assassination threat via fax to the Legislative Yuan. Lai said in his fax that Chen and Lee would be assassinated if Chen "dares to take the oath on May 20." The fax also said that if Lai were arrested or otherwise could not carry out the assassinations in person, he would hire assassins. However, when interviewed by TV reporters yesterday, Lai said that he knew his statements had broken the law and that he would turn himself in to the police tomorrow. Taoyuan police visited his place of business yesterday but Lai's employees said that he seldom appears at the office.
■ Espionage
No comment on Ukraine
The Military Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense declined to comment yesterday on a media report that intelligence agents from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have engaged in a fierce intelligence war in Ukraine. The report out of Hong Kong said that Taiwan has sent military intelligence agents to Ukraine to gather intelligence about the highly advanced Su-27SK jet fighter, as China has purchased scores of this type of warplane from Russia. According to the report, Taiwan's air force has sent pilots to test-fly the Su-27SK jet fighter. The Air Force General Headquarters said it has no knowledge of the reported event and would not make any comment.
■ Diplomacy
Lee speaks on links
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday said the government should not fully open direct links with China before farmers' and fishermen's competitiveness is safeguarded. Lee addressed the importance of agricultural development to the country's economy. He said that the national interest should be given priority in terms of cross-strait economic exchanges and that the government should take into account the interests of farmers and fishermen instead of certain other interest groups when considering direct links.
■ Immigration
Kinmen detention center set
A new detention center for illegal Chinese immigrants is scheduled to open in Kinmen this month, Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said yesterday. Under constant pressure from an ever-increasing number of Chinese illegally sneaking into Taiwan and the Chinese authorities' slow pace in accepting repatriation of their citizens, the government decided last year to increase Taiwan's detention and accommodation capacities for such illegal immigrants.
■ Communications
WLAN service announced
The Taipei City Government announced yesterday that Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) service is slated to be provided at 22 outdoor locations in the Hsinyi Planning District, enabling people to surf the Internet for free at any time. People who have an account on the Taipei City Government Web site, a HiNet account and a Chunghwa Telecom mobile phone number will be able to use the Internet service near 22 "hot spots." The service will be free in the first year. For further information, go to http://wlan.taipei-elife.net.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not