■ HEALTH
H1N1 toll now at 46
A 37-year-old man died of influenza A (H1N1) five days ago, bringing the number of H1N1 deaths in the country to 46 since the outbreak of the virus early last year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The latest H1N1 fatality was also the fourth in 10 days, following the deaths of a 21-year-old female university student and a 24-year-old man, CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said. In the most recent case, the patient developed flu symptoms early this month but did not seek medical attention until July 19, Chou said. After the patient’s condition began to worsen on July 23, he was transferred to the intensive care unit of a hospital where he died three days later, Chou said. Except for a 17-year-old patient, none of the victims who have died of H1N1 in Taiwan had been vaccinated against the virus.
■ FILM
Hsu, Sun up for awards
Director Hsu Li-kong (徐立?nd actor-turned-charity volunteer Sun Yueh (孫越) have been named by the Golden Horse Film Festival to receive special awards for their contribution to the local film industry, the festival organizer said. The Golden Horse Awards will present a lifetime achievement award to Hsu and a special contribution award to Sun. Hsu and Sun will receive the honors at this year’s awards ceremony on Nov. 20 in Taoyuan County. Hsu, one of the co-founders of the Golden Horse Film Festival, has helped cultivate several directors including Ang Lee (李安), Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) and others who have earned awards at film festivals in Berlin and Venice. Sun is a two-time Golden Horse award winner. He has devoted himself completely to charity work since retiring in 1989.
■ AGRICULTURE
Taitung pig sales suspended
Butchers and pig suppliers in Taitung County will suspend sales for 11 days during the period July 30 to Aug. 31 because of low supplies. The pork market in Taitung usually closes for a few days each summer ahead of the Ghost Festival in August when demand tends to rise sharply, but sales have never been suspended for more than seven days at a time. However, this year there has been a shortage of pork because of high summer temperatures, which affect the survival rate of pigs, and because pig stocks were depleted by Typhoon Morakot in August last year, said Wu Tze-he (吳子和), who is in charge of livestock production affairs in the Taitung County Government. This month, temperatures in Taitung have ranged on average between 25 ºC and 32 ºC.
■ CRIME
Executives sentenced
Taipei District Court sentenced yesterday Hu Hung-chiu (胡洪九), the former chief financial officer of Pacific Electric Wire and Cable Co (太平洋電線電纜), to 18 years in prison for embezzlement, conversion and forgery. The court also fined him NT$1 billion (US$30 million). Meanwhile, two former chairmen of Pacific Electric Wire and Cable Co, Jack Sun (孫道存) and Tung Ching-yun (仝清筠), were also respectively sentenced to four years and three years and two months in prison. Hu, also former chairman of chipmaker Mosel Vitelic Inc (茂矽), was indicted on charges of stealing about NT$17.1 billion from 1993 to 1998 when he worked at the company. The ruling found Sun guilty of conspiring with Hu in the embezzlement. It also ruled Tung of having embezzled NT$54 million from Pacific Electric in 2002 through fake business transactions.
Staff Writer, with CNA
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Huang’s body was found just outside the bathroom and showed no signs of a struggle, and no alcohol or drugs were found Singer and actor Alien Huang (黃鴻升) was found dead at his home in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) yesterday. He was 36. Huang was also known by the nickname Xiao Gui (“little ghost”). His body was found when his father went to check on him after being unable to reach him by telephone, and called emergency services to the house at 11am, the Taipei City Police Department said. Huang’s body, which was discovered just outside the bathroom, showed no signs of a physical struggle, and he appeared to have been dead for some time, police said, adding that no drugs or alcohol were
CONFIRMED IN PHILIPPINES: The CECC would conduct contact tracing for the migrant workers to determine if they had come into contact with elderly people or children Six Filipinos tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning home from Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported a case of imported COVID-19 infection, bringing the number of confirmed cases in Taiwan to 500. Philippine authorities reported four of the cases through the National IHR Focal Point, while the other two were reported by the company that they had worked for in Taiwan. The six — five women and one man — are aged from their 20s to 40s, and worked as in-home care workers, domestic workers, factory workers and sailors in Taiwan, said Minister of Health and
TIME FOR CHANGE: Most of those at a public hearing organized by the DPP’s Chung Chia-pin also agreed that the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished Taiwan needs a new constitution, as the current one was adopted in Nanjing in 1946, when the Republic of China (ROC) represented all of China, while the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished, legal experts and academics said yesterday during a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Chang Kun-sheng (張錕盛), a law professor and secretary-general of the Taiwan Administrative Law Association, said that it is time to draft a new constitution. The ROC Constitution was adopted during a National Constituent Assembly meeting in Nanjing shortly after World War II and before the Chinese Civil War had fully erupted,
The COVID-19 pandemic might not have originated from a seafood market in Wuhan, China, National Taiwan University College of Public Health professor Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. While many countries are experiencing second waves of COVID-19 infections, many are also lifting lockdowns to revive their economies, allowing travelers to cross national borders, Chen said. Academics have been questioning whether genetic mutations in the novel coronavirus in different countries have made it more infectious, he added. Academics from different backgrounds have conducted phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences, he said, adding that the studies can help scientists understand how the virus spread among
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