■ Military
China slams US-Taiwan ties
China yesterday called on Washington to stop an effort by US lawmakers to establish a military training program for Taiwanese officers. The measures approved by the US House of Representatives last week as part of a US$491 billion military budget violates US commitments to China on relations with Taiwan, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said. "We firmly oppose [the measures] and have made solemn protests to the US side," said spokesman Kong Quan (孔泉), quoted by the Xinhua News Agency. He urged the US to "clearly recognize the severe harm of these provisions" and prevent them from becoming law. Washington has no official relations with Taiwan but is the nation's main arms supplier and military protector. The measure approved this week would require US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to create education program for Taiwanese military officers.
■ Crime
Drug possession up this year
A total of 16,588 cases of illegal drug possession were reported in the first four months of this year, up 6,400 cases or 62.77 percent over the same period last year, according to statistics released yesterday by the National Police Agency. The drugs seized by police in these cases amounted to 965.14kg, an increase of 187.71kg or 23.64 percent year-on-year. Of these cases, possession of first-degree drugs, including heroin, morphine and cocaine, accounted for 9,152 cases or 85.63kg. This represented a rise of 3,409 cases or 59.36 percent over the same period last year, although the amount was 39.36kg less than that of last year. Possession of second-degree drugs, including marijuana, amphetamine and MDMA, accounted for 5,342 cases and 843.97kg. This was an increase of 2,425 cases or 83.13 percent over the same period last year, and the amount was also 295.76kg more than that of last year. Possession of third-degree drugs, including FM2, ketamine and others accounted for 2,094 cases or 35.54kg. This corresponded to a jump of 563 cases or 36.77 percent over the same period last year, although the amount was 71.7kg less than that of last year.
■ Security
Coast guard holds exercise
The Coast Guard Adminis-tration held an anti-terrorism exercise at Kaohsiung Port yesterday. Coast guard officials said the "Haian No. 3" exercise was aimed at enhancing the coast guard's crisis management capabilities and strengthening the anti-terrorism measures of its coastal, seaborne and airborne operations. A total of 39 patrol ships and nearly 1,000 personnel from 21 units including the air patrol, maritime patrol and coastal patrol corps took part in the exercise.
■ Health
40% of troops are smokers
"Smoke 'em if ya got 'em" goes for the military with 40 percent of all enlisted men and women found to be smokers, and the lower the rank, the more they smoke, a recent study showed. Professor Chu Nien-feng (祝年豐) of the Tri-Service General Hospital released his research on the prevalence of smoking in the military at a conference on the military's anti-smoking campaign yesterday, which was part of activities held by the Department of Health and the Ministry of National Defense to mark World Anti-Smoking Day. Chu said that the Navy had the most smokers at 48.4 percent, while military police had the lowest rate at 32 percent.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,