■ HEALTH
TB patient flew to Hong Kong
A passenger infected with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis took two flights on Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd last Saturday, the carrier said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The passenger flew to Hong Kong from Kaohsiung on flight KA435, then transferred to Dragonair flight KA810 to Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu Province, Dragon Airlines said in the statement. The 55-year-old Taiwanese man was accompanied by his wife, who was also infected with the disease, the statement added. The airline was notified by Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday about the matter and has made arrangements to disinfect the airplanes concerned, the statement said. An amendment passed by the legislature last month prohibits individuals infected with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis from boarding flights. The CDC said last night it was mapping out supplementary measures.
■ AGRICULTURE
Mangoes prove popular
Mango heads the list of popular fruit in an online poll sponsored by the Council of Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Agency. The agency said that, as of Tuesday, mango had received 21,000 votes out of a total of more than 35,000. Ranking second is the banana with more than 19,000 votes, followed by the bell fruit with about 17,000 ballots, the pineapple, grapefruit and water melon. The poll is intended to promote local fruit to consumers who have been tempted by a wide variety of foreign imports, agency officials said.
■ SOCIETY
Girlfriend commits suicide
A woman committed suicide in a church, hoping that God would curse a boyfriend who had dumped her, a newspaper said yesterday. The woman, surnamed Dai, 26, hanged herself early on Tuesday inside Fuchou Baptist Church in Banciao, Taipei, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported. Staff members of the church found her body about 6am on Tuesday. In a letter left for a church member, Dai said she had met her boyfriend at the church, but he had recently broken off their relationship. She wrote that she wanted to die inside the church so that God would curse her former boyfriend. Dai apologized for her actions and for causing trouble, the Apple Daily said.
■ DIPLOMACY
Aid given to Santo Domingo
The government donated US$9 million on Tuesday to one of its Latin American diplomatic allies, the Dominican Republic, to build a high-tech industrial park in the capital of Santo Domingo. The money is part of a US$10 million aid package pledged to the country. The presentation ceremony took place at the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Dominican Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Morales Troncoso, Dominican Export and Investment Center Director Eddy Martinez, and ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Chen Hsien-hsiang (陳顯祥), jointly presiding over the event. In his address, Morales said that the Dominican government had offered many incentives to attract foreign firms to set up factories or invest in the country. He encouraged state-run and private enterprises to invest in the country, adding that it could be used as a springboard into the US market.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese