■DEFENSE
Two ensigns AWOL
The Navy Fleet Command Headquarters yesterday urged two ensigns who absconded to return to their posts as soon as possible. “If they have problems, they should seek solutions rather than run away,” it said in a press release. Ensign Lu Hung-hsiang (呂鴻祥), 25, and Lu Hsi-fan (盧晰璠), 27, did not return to their posts on Thursday and Friday. The Military Prosecutors’ Office listed the couple as wanted on Thursday. Local media reported that the two, who are boyfriend and girlfriend, had suffered from sea sickness since they began serving on board the Feng-jiang and Hsiang-jiang respectively in April. The Navy’s Fleet 131 said the two had filed a request to be transferred to a desk job a few weeks after beginning their posts, but their requests were rejected because they were not diagnosed by any military doctors as unfit for battleship assignment. Navy Command Headquarters said the couple’s behavior violated the Military Criminal Code (陸海空軍刑法), which could result in a maximum sentence of five years behind bars.
■SOCIETY
Domestic violence rising
The Ministry of the Interior said yesterday that 65,359 cases of domestic violence were reported in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 5,056 cases, or 8.4 percent, from the same period last year. The main reason behind the increase was that the number of cases of violence between spouses, former spouses or cohabitants rose by 2,826 compared with last year, the ministry said. Of the cases reported from January to September, 38,185, or 58.4 percent, involved violence between spouses, former spouses or cohabitants; and 12,729 cases, or 19.5 percent, concerned violence against children or teenagers. Another 1,977 cases, or 3.02 percent, involved assaults on the elderly. Among these categories, only the number of cases against children or teenagers was down from the same period last year. About 76 percent of the 61,856 domestic violence victims in the first nine months of this year were women. Female victims between 30 and 50 years of age accounted for nearly 50 percent of the total female victims, statistics showed.
■FOREIGN AID
Medics head for Thailand
The International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) will dispatch a mobile medical team to Chiang Rai, the northernmost province of Thailand, tomorrow to provide local people with medical services and humanitarian care. This will be the first visit to Thailand by an ICDF mobile medical team, the fund said in a statement. The team will be made up of 10 physicians specializing in internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, dentistry, gynecology and obstetrics, as well as a pharmacist and medical care staff, the statement said. The team will provide medical care services and conduct joint projects with a local hospital.
■CRIME
Narcotics seized at Taoyuan
About 50kg of illegal drugs were seized over the past month at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, a spokesman for the Taoyuan Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The spokesman said Taoyuan prosecutors, airport police, customs and investigation agents confiscated almost 50kg of narcotics that smugglers were attempting to bring into Taiwan in the past month. One large haul of 28kg of an illegal substance was found hidden in a compressor motor, while other smugglers concealed hauls ranging from 2kg to 8kg inside monitors and face masks, the spokesman said. Many smugglers were local youth.
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