■ EDUCATION
Rights program planned
Soochow University will soon launch a graduate program in human rights, a university spokesman said yesterday, adding that the program would focus on human rights theory and practice and include cross-disciplinary approaches and research. The university has long had a strength in human rights research, the spokesman said, noting that it established its human rights research center in 2000 and launched an undergraduate program on the subject in 2004. The university has more than 100 students in its undergraduate human rights program. Online registration for the graduate program opens on Feb. 13 and an enrollment exam will be held on April 14. Prospective students are welcome to attend an information session on the graduate program on Jan. 19.
■ SOCIETY
Survey looks at Web habits
Taiwanese men and women differ in terms of their surfing habits, a survey released on Monday showed. The survey, conducted by MSN, polled Taiwanese Web users between the ages of 18 and 45 and found that women spend more time browsing a given Web site, while men visit a single site for a shorter period of time before moving on. The survey also reported differences in the Web surfing habits of married and single Internet users with white-collar jobs. Married Web users rarely spent time surfing the Internet after work. By contrast, singles -- as well as students -- spend a significant amount of time online in the evenings, visiting blog portals, photo-sharing sites and other Web pages, MSN said.
■ POLITICS
Hsieh pans Ma over suit
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday criticized his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterpart Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for suing the prosecutors who had charged him with graft in February. Hsieh called on Ma to face judicial scrutiny with courage and morality. Ma's lawsuit showed that he is trying to intimidate prosecutors from looking further into the matter, Hsieh said. Ma was indicted on Feb. 13 on charges of mishandling funds and embezzling NT$11.17 million (US$344,000) from his special allowance fund during his two terms as Taipei mayor. He was acquitted by the Taipei District Court on Aug. 1. The prosecution appealed the decision to the Taiwan High Court on Aug. 27 and the Taiwan High Court last month upheld the Taipei District Court's ruling.
■ HEALTH
Taichung warns on H5N1
Taichung City issued a warning yesterday against traveling to countries and areas affected by bird-flu ahead of the approaching Lunar New Year holiday. The city government urged the public to take precautions against the disease before traveling to bird-flu affected countries and areas, including Indonesia, China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Poland, Cambodia, Benin, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Djibouti, Iraq, and Turkey. As an industrial area, Taichung employs many migrant workers and has a large number of spouses from Southeast Asia -- especially Vietnam. The week-long Lunar New Year holiday provides them a chance to travel to their home country. Taichung municipal authorities said that Indonesia recently reported two new cases of H5N1 influenza, bringing its total to 115, including 93 deaths, citing information released by the WHO. Also, in China's Jiangsu Province, two new cases involving a father and a son were reported recently. China has so far recorded a total of 27 cases of H5N1, with 17 deaths.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard