■HEALTH
Two swine flu patients die
Two elderly patients with underlying diseases have succumbed to influenza A(H1N1), bringing the nation’s death toll from the new flu strain to 16, health authorities said yesterday. One of the latest victims was a 73-year-old man in Taipei City, who had suffered from tuberculosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, city health department officials said. The patient had been hospitalized since the middle of last month after developing a fever and having difficulty breathing, the officials said. He died yesterday of respiratory failure triggered by pneumonia, they said. The other victim was a 70-year-old Taipei County resident, who had a long history of smoking and suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the county’s Public Health Bureau said. The man sought medical attention for a severe cough early this month and came down with a fever and breathing difficulties on Sept. 10, bureau officials said. The patient died on Thursday despite days of treatment. Also yesterday, 292 classes in 211 schools around the country remained suspended because of H1N1 infections among students.
■DIPLOMACY
Ma declines Zhu meet-up
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would not hold a personal meeting with the son of former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔碁) during the latter’s visit to Taiwan yesterday, the Presidential Office said. Zhu’s son, Levin Zhu (朱雲來), visited Taiwan to attend the annual Asia Business Council (ABC) conference in Taipei in his capacity as the president of China International Capital Corp Ltd. Ma was invited to give a speech at the dinner banquet hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with ABC members last night. Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday the president would only address the dinner banquet. He would not meet with individual members of the council.
■DIPLOMACY
Sun Yat-sen center reopens
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) expressed congratulations to National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) for its scheduled reopening of the Sun Yat-sen America Center, saying that it demonstrates the longstanding friendship between Taiwan and the US. “The reopening of the America Center, which is the only one of its kind in Taiwan, symbolizes the historic friendship and cooperation between the people of the US and Taiwan and our mutual desire to strengthen and deepen our ties,” AIT said in a press release on Thursday.
■POPULATION
Child care numbers decline
A decline in the birth rate has led to a noticeable drop in the number of child care centers in the nation, statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior showed yesterday. The figures show that there were 5,090 care centers by the end of June, down 106 year-on-year. This was due largely to the rapid drop in the number of newborns in recent years, the ministry said. Of the day care centers, 154 were infant care centers for children under 2 years of age; 3,977 were nursery schools for children two to six years of age; while 959 were after-school care centers providing babysitting and tutorial services for elementary school students. The number of children who go to child care centers totaled 287,965, including 255,572 children in pre-school centers and 32,393 children in after-school facilities. As of June, there were 24,085 babysitters and kindergarten teachers, of whom 408 were men.
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