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Taiwan News Quick Take

PHOTO: CNA

■ AVIATION

Chopper pilot had no license

The pilot of a helicopter that was forced to land in Ilan County's Jiaosi Township (礁溪) on Sunday has no legal operating license and will be penalized in terms of the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The helicopter, a Robinson R-22, was found in the parking lot of a hot spring hotel in Jiaosi. Unable to find the pilot, the local police tied the helicopter to a police motorcycle to prevent it being flown away. The police later found the owner, 45-year-old Wei Chin-lien (魏金連), and discovered that he had done the same thing nine years ago, when he was forced to land in Bade Township (八德), Taoyuan County. The CAA yesterday confirmed that Ilan County prosecutors had confiscated the helicopter's rotor blades. The body will be transported to Songshan Airport for storage. Wei could face up to five years in prison or a fine of NT$1 million (US$31,500).



■ HEALTH

Dialysis centers show losses

Fierce competition among dialysis centers mean that more than 30 percent of the nation's dialysis centers are operating at a loss, the Taiwan Society of Nephrology said yesterday. The society responded to recent media reports portraying the centers as hugely profitable and questioned the appropriateness of non-medical businesses such as farmer's associations investing in dialysis centers as moneyspinners. The society called on medical service providers to think carefully before making the substantial investment necessary to start a dialysis center.



■ SOCIETY

Foreign spouses get help

A handbook in six languages that provides foreign spouses in Kaohsiung City with information on living in Taiwan has been warmly received, officials at the city's Civil Affairs Bureau said yesterday. The Kaohsiung City Government Foreign Spouse Manual, printed in Chinese, English, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Cambodian and Thai, provides foreign spouses with a better understanding of local customs and easier access to important information, such as how to apply for citizenship, the officials said. The bureau said that 19,123 foreign spouses were living in Kaohsiung City. Among the 11 municipal districts, Siaogang, with a population of 151,932, counted 804 registered foreign spouses from Southeast Asia, 60 percent of whom were from Vietnam.



■ ARTS

Troupe laments exposure

The fire that burned down the rehearsal studio of the Cloud Gate dance troupe put the troupe on the front page of local newspapers for the first time in its 35-year history, the founder said on Sunday, lamenting that it took a disaster to raise the troupe's profile. The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre has staged more than 1,500 shows locally and globally, each attracting an average of 60,000 people. The troupe is generally regarded as having made a major contribution to raising Taiwan's global image. However, the theater's founder, Lin Hwai-min (林懷民), complained that Cloud Gate's performances had never been covered by local newspapers as a front-page story until the fire early last Monday, which he said reflected a general lack of understanding of the performing arts in Taiwan.
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