■ POLITICS
Official’s pension may drop
Former justice minister Morley Shih (施茂林) is likely to lose an approximate NT$200,000 (US$6,600) on his pension after Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) rejected his request to retire as a prosecutor. “His request is not appropriate and not good” Wang said yesterday. By law, a prosecutor’s position is a life-time position unless he or she resigns. Shih was a prosecutor-general of the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office prior to his ministerial post. “We must maintain the independence that belongs to prosecutors so they will not be interfered with or affected by other political facts,” Wang said, without elaborating. Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) said the difference between retiring as a prosecutor and retiring as a regular government officer was an additional NT$200,384 in pension money.
■DEFENSE
Minister makes base gaffe
Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-min (陳肇敏) was criticized yesterday for being unfamiliar with the nation’s military bases. On Wednesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) asked during the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee meeting whether it would be possible to relocate the military base at Songshan Airport to Taoyuan Airport, to which Chen replied there was no military airport there. It was later pointed out that there is a military facility there. Chen, formerly an Air Force commander-in-chief, later admitted his mistake. KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-min (帥化民) said Chen had left the military a while before he took up the minister’s office, urging the public to have patience.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
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