ECONOMY
Fuel prices to rise
State-run oil refiner CPC Corp will raise gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.3 (US$0.01) a liter from tomorrow to reflect its cost as international crude oil prices continued to rise, the company said yesterday. With the latest price adjustment, CPC is offering 92, 95 and 98-grade gasoline at NT$31.2, NT$31.9 and NT$33.4 a liter respectively, and super diesel at NT$29.2 a liter. The company has raised prices of gasoline and diesel products for three consecutive weeks as international crude oil prices continued to rise.
CRIME
Hospital officials post bail
Two detained hospital superintendents were released on bail yesterday after they were charged with bribery over equipment purchases. The two, Chest Hospital superintendent Chung Wei-sheng (鐘威昇) and National Yang Ming University Hospital superintendent Tang Kao-chun (唐高駿), were detained over purchases of CT scanners and digital image processing systems. The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office turned the two over to the court after indicting them on Friday. Prosecutors said both Chung and Tang are ranking officials, but they received bribes from medical equipment suppliers. They are seeking steep punishments for the two and a retrieval of their ill-gotten gains. The Taoyuan District Court, after a screening of their case, ruled early yesterday that Chung and Tang should be released on NT$8 million (US$275,864) and NT$4 million bail, respectively.
POLITICS
KMT elects CSC members
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday elected 32 Central Standing Committee (CSC) members, with 23 of 24 incumbents re-elected. CSC member Yao Jiang-lin (姚江臨), director of the labor union of Taipower, topped the list by winning 1,104 votes, followed by former KMT legislator Hong Yuh-chin (洪玉欽) and TV mogul Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生). KMT Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) failed to win re-election, becoming the only incumbent who did not obtain a seat. Nine members who were elected for the first time included Federation of Aviation Employees director-general Jesse Lee (李昭平) and Nantou Mayor Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華).
HEALTH
Man dies of dengue fever
The Department of Health in Greater -Kaohsiung on Friday confirmed the nation’s first death this year from locally acquired dengue hemorrhagic fever and urged residents to take precautions against the disease. There had been 85 reported cases of locally acquired dengue fever, in addition to the fatality caused by the illness in the city as of Thursday, according to the department. The victim, a 60-year-old male, who lived in the city’s Lingya District (苓雅), was taken to a hospital emergency room on Wednesday suffering from a lack of appetite, bleeding gums and septic shock. He died the same day as a result of multiple organ failure. A postmortem examination confirmed that the man had been infected with dengue hemorrhagic fever, the department said. According to the department, statistics show that older people with chronic disease are more likely to die of the illness, which has a 9.6 percent mortality rate. The department urged residents to see a doctor if they experience muscle or joint pain, fever, headache, fatigue or internal bleeding, which are common dengue fever symptoms.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
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