■ POLITICS
Legislator switches parties
The Taiwan Solidarity Union yesterday revoked Chao Lien-chu's (趙連出) legislative candidacy as Chao will run as the Dadao Compassion Jishih Party's (大道慈悲濟世黨) vice presidential candidate next year. Chao is required by law to deposit NT$1 million (US$31,250) and collect 240,000 signatures endorsing his election bid before Dec. 31. The Central Election Commission can confiscate the deposit if Chao fails to collect the required signatures. The Dadao Compassion Jishih Party is one of six political parties established during the second half of this year.
■ Diplomacy
New diplomats named
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator-at-large George Liu (劉寬平) has been assigned to succeed Rex Wang (王世榕) as the country's representative to Switzerland, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) told a press conference yesterday. Charles Liu (劉溪泉), chief of the third bureau of the presidential office, was assigned as the next representative to Denmark, Yeh said. Deputy Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰) will become the representative to Hungary and Ingrid Hsing (邢瀛輝), serving at the country's embassy in Panama, was designated as representative to Ecuador as part of the latest diplomatic reshuffle, Yeh said.
■ Defense
Retired officer sentenced
A retired top military intelligence officer was convicted yesterday of collecting and publishing classified information in a book, the High Court said. Pang Ta-wei (龐大為), a former deputy section chief of the Military Intelligence Bureau, was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison, but his term was reduced to 18 months in accordance with the commutation bill enacted in July, High Court spokesman Wen Yao-yuan (溫耀源) said. "Pang was sentenced to one year and eight months for collecting national defense documents that must not be made public. [Pang] was also given a two-year jail term for leaking such documents," Wen said. It was not immediately clear whether Pang would appeal and the Ministry of National Defense declined to comment on the ruling. Among the information disclosed was information relating to his unit's spying operations in China from 1992 to 1997, press reports said. Pang claimed he did not intend to reveal national secrets.
■ Policing
Fishermen lodge complaint
A group of fishermen lodged a protest yesterday against the Southern Taiwan Operations of the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) over harsh treatment by the coast guard regarding definitions of the nature of their catch. Complaining that the coast guard converges on the Hsiaokang (小港) fishing port whenever their vessels enter port to inspect their catch, and labels large volumes of their fishery produce as "smuggled," the fishermen called for Yang Li-chuan (楊麗川), director of the CGA Southern Taiwan Operations, to step down. The fishermen complained that even the catch they bring in themselves from the open seas has been labeled "smuggled" by CGA patrol officers. The CGA patrol officers, however, argued that smuggling has been rampant among Taiwan's fishing sector in recent years and said that the government has resolved to weed out smuggling. They said the illicit activity had infringed upon the interests of local fishermen.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Maxtor hard drives recalled
The Consumer Protection Commission ordered a recall of 3.5 inch Maxtor Basics Personal Storage 3200 external hard drives through a press release yesterday. A Trojan virus was found on 320GB and 500GB hard drives models sold after September, the press release said. Xander International Corp, distributor of the hard drives, said that customers may obtain a refund at retail stores where they purchased the hard drives or exchange them for a new hard drive at Xander service centers across the country or original retail stores, the press release said. In addition, those who want to keep the merchandise may download free anti-virus software at www.seagate.com/www/zh-tw/support/downloads/personal_storage/ps3200-sw. For details, please visit www.xander.com.tw.
■ SCIENCE
Bone implants improved
Taiwanese biotech researchers have successfully applied a new material to the coating process in the production of artificial bone implants, both improving the prognosis of patients and shortening the time for recovery, academic sources said yesterday. The research team, gathering staff members from Feng Chia University (FCU) in Taichung City and Taichung Veterans General Hospital (TVGH), has spent two years on integrating the material -- titanium dioxide in anatase form -- into the coating process, members said, adding that the beneficial effects have been proven in recent clinical experiments. Tsou Hsi-kai (鄒錫凱), a member of TVGH's Neurosurgery Department and a team member, said that compared to conventional coating -- hydroxyapatite -- the new one better facilitates bone structure regeneration and thus shortens the recovery period.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
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
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
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400