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Taiwan Quick Take

■ SOCIETY
Woman killed by MRT train
A woman was killed by a mass rapid transit (MRT) train in Taipei yesterday after she jumped off the platform as a train was entering the Longshan Temple Station on the Bannan Line. The Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said that the woman showed no signs of life after being pulled out from under the train. Transit police said they suspected the woman, reportedly named Fang Chun-ying, 48, had committed suicide. However, no suicide note was found in her purse, the police said, adding that they would continue to investigate her death. The accident slowed operations on the Kunyang-Yongning MRT line. As of press time, only one track was open to two-way traffic.

■ HEALTH
Rare tuberculosis case found
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have reported the first confirmed case of an HIV positive person with multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis in this country. A bisexual man in his thirties was diagnosed HIV positive in March and soon afterwards was diagnosed with tuberculosis, CDC Deputy Director-General Chief Lin Ting (林頂) said. The man was put into medical isolation for a month, he said. The man is no longer hospitalized but Lin said that he would continued to be monitored to ensure that he complies with the necessary treatment program. "If necessary, we will put him back into medical isolation on a compulsory basis," Lin said. Concerned that the multiple-drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis will spread among HIV-positive people, the CDC said it would track those who might have come into contact with the man.

■ TRAVEL
Australia drops fee for ETAs
Starting on July 1, Australia will offer Taiwanese tourists free Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) services, the Australian Commerce and Industry Office (ACIO) announced yesterday. Taiwanese who apply for ETAs -- the equivalent of visas -- will no longer be charged a NT$1,000 application fee, ACIO Visa Services Director Catherine Genn said. An ETA is issued electronically by a computer system and there is no stamp or label in a person's passport. Applications for ETAs can be submitted through travel agencies or airlines. Genn said, 77,000 of the 80,000 visas the ACIO authorized for Taiwanese tourists last year were ETAs. The free ETA service is expected to boost tourist numbers. However, tourists who apply for ETAs online instead of through ACIO's visa service will still be charged the transaction fee, she said. Taiwan is among a limited number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region that are eligible for ETA services as "low-risk countries" as defined by the Australian government, Genn said.

■ CRIME
Thirteen-year overstay ends
A Hong Kong resident who overstayed his visa for more than 13 years was caught on Wednesday because he used a counterfeit Hong Kong ID, National Immigration Agency officials said on Thursday. The 42-year-old man, surnamed Chiu, was caught using the fake ID at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Wednesday as he prepared to board a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, agency officials said. Chiu claimed that he had lost his real ID in 2004 and that managed to obtain a new one from Hong Kong authorities. However, aviation police discovered that not only was Chiu's new ID a counterfeit, they also found that he had arrived in Kaohsiung by ship on April 28, 1993, with a visa that expired Aug. 31 of that year.

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