■ HEALTH
Vaccine under way
Taiwan will work with Canada on a vaccine to protect Taiwanese and other Asians from the pneumococcus bacteria that causes pneumonia, an official said yesterday. “The cooperative project is expected to come to fruition in five to 10 years,” Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) said. Although an existing Canadian vaccine is used in Europe, the Asian strain of the bacteria is different, Wong said. As many Taiwanese children and elderly have developed pneumonia after being infected with pneumococcus, Wong said Taiwan looked forward to producing a vaccine suitable for Taiwan and other Asian countries.
■ POLITICS
Wu calls Ma ‘chairman’
Former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday referred to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as “chairman” when he asked a Chinese official to convey Ma’s greetings to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). While meeting Liang Baohua (梁保華), head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Jiangsu Province, Wu referred to Ma as “chairman” throughout his speech. Only once did he refer to Ma as “yuan shou” (元首) or “head of state.” Wu asked Liang to pass on “Chairman Ma’s” regards to Hu, who doubles as CCP general secretary. Liang is the first CCP provincial committee secretary and the highest-ranking CCP official to visit Taiwan. His delegation is also the biggest to visit, with more than 3,000 people. The delegation is expected to make purchases in Taiwan worth up to US$2 billion.
■FLORA
Taichung hosts flower show
The Council of Agriculture announced yesterday that 30 hectares of land showcasing more than 70 types of flowers will be on display in Taichung County’s Sinshe Township (新社) starting this weekend. Organizers said they expected the event, which will run for a month starting on Saturday, to draw more than 1 million visitors. Yang Chuo-chi (楊佐琦), a representative of the organizers, advised the public to come on weekdays to avoid the weekend traffic. The council expects the event to bring in more than NT$1 billion (US$31 million) in business opportunities.
■SOCIETY
Man snares rats for mom
A man has been catching rats for 24 years so that his mother can eat what she considers a delicacy at every meal, local media reports said. The man, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), 37, is a farmer in Houpi (後壁), Tainan County, the Chinese-language United Daily News said. It said Hsiao started catching rats when he was 13 when his mother had surgery to remove gallstones. Hsiao’s family was poor and had no money to buy food, so his father taught him to catch rats in the sugarcane fields to make soup. Hsiao’s mother said that at first she was afraid to eat it, but she forced herself and eventually fell in love with the delicacy.
■MEDICINE
ART attracts foreign couples
The number of foreign couples traveling to Taiwan to seek medical help to enable them to conceive has been growing steadily thanks to the nation’s advanced development of assisted reproductive technology (ART), said Lee Mao-sheng (李茂盛), a gynecologist and obstetrician. Lin said more than 100 foreign couples visit each year for ART help, generating more than NT$40 million (US$1.23 million).
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