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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Government
Taitung winner suspended
The Ministry of the Interior officials said yesterday that Taitung Council Speaker Wu Chun-li (吳俊立), who won the Taitung commissioner seat earlier this month, will be banned from his new post because of a corruption conviction. The 23 county commissioners are due to take office today. The Executive Yuan is expected to find a substitute for Wu for the time being. Wu was charged with corruption while serving as a Taitung County councilor in 1999. The Taitung District Court sentenced him to 16 years in prison in 2002, but the following year the Taiwan High Court's Hualien branch reduced that sentence to seven years and eight months in jail. He is currently appealing that sentence. He was also charged with vote-buying before the Dec. 3 elections and released on NT$1 million (US$29,800) bail.

■ Health
Vitamin report denied
Officials from the National Health Insurance Bureau yesterday refuted claims in a Chinese-language newspaper that starting next month, the bureau would no longer cover the cost of vitamins, calcium tablets and other non-prescription dietary supplements. The officials said that although the bureau has plans for a "second wave" of elimination of non-prescription drug coverage, the specifics and the timing have not been confirmed. However, an official, surnamed Liao, did say that vitamins and dietary supplements are being reviewed for possible elimination.

■ Society
Rice bomber breaks fast
Convicted "rice bomber" Yang Ju-men (楊儒門) ended a six-day hunger strike yesterday that he staged to urge the government to resist US pressure at the recent WTO meeting in Hong Kong for more agricultural imports. Social activists who visited Yang yesterday told reporters that "Yang looked good and he insisted that the government should protect local farmers." Yang was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail after being convicted in October of planting more than a dozen explosive devices to highlight the plight of farmers. He is appealing his conviction.

■ Travel
HK charter set for Penghu
The Penghu County Government is planning to launch charter flight services to Hong Kong early next year, a spokesman said yesterday. The county government has been working with the private tourism sector on the first direct charter flight from Makung (馬公) to Hong Kong on Jan. 21, he said. More charter flights will be introduced between the two destinations in the coming months, he said. China Airlines will use a 158-seat passenger jet for the Jan. 21 charter flight. The direct flight will help Penghu travelers save about NT$6,000 by not having to go to Kaohsiung to catch a flight to Hong Kong, the official said.

■ Health
New device introduced
Medical experts yesterday introduced a new gadget to help people with cancer of the large intestine defecate. Dr. Ding Wen-chien (丁文謙) of the Colorectal surgery department of China Medical University Hospital said that when tumors develop in the intestines, it is often very difficult for patients to pass stool. Normally, a colostomy is required, where a waste bag is attached to the surface of the stomach. Ding said the gadget, a spring wire, is inserted through gaps in the tumor, along the intestinal passage, allows patients to pass stool normally.

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