CRIME
Policeman killed in Tainan
A Greater Tainan police officer died in the line of duty yesterday morning while apprehending a wanted drug smuggler. Four policemen with a search warrant were about to search the apartment of suspected drug smuggler Lee Kuo-lin (李國麟) when Lee shot at the officers through the door after they had identified themselves. First Investigation Team Captain Lin Hung-hsing (林宏星) was shot in the chest and died in an emergency room. Lee, though shot twice, was taken alive. Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) visited Lin’s family after the arrest and pledged that the city government would work closely with the family and help with the funeral. Greater Tainan Police Department Chief Chen Tzu-jing (陳子敬) said it was sad to lose an officer in the line of duty, adding that the police department would reinforce its training. The officers were not wearing bullet-proof vests when they visited Lee’s residence to avoid alerting the suspect and were shot at while they were putting on their gear.
ENTERTAINMENT
Chang Mei-yao dies aged 71
Chang Mei-yao (張美瑤), an iconic Taiwanese actress adored as “The Forever Formosa Lady,” died in Taipei on April 1 at the age of 71, her family said in a statement on Wednesday. Chang’s two daughters issued the statement via the Public Television Service after holding a funeral for their mother earlier in the day. The statement did not mention the cause of Chang’s death. A native of Nantou County, Chang became one of the few Taiwanese actresses in the movie industry in the 1950s. Chang and actor Ko Chun-hsiung (柯俊雄) fell in love after they co-starred in a film in 1967. Chang suspended her acting career after their marriage. The couple divorced in 2004. In 2008, the organizing committee of the Golden Horse Film Awards presented a special award to Chang in recognition of her lifelong dedication to the Mandarin film industry.
DIPLOMACY
Japan office gets new head
Sumio Tarui, a former Japanese ambassador in charge of Okinawan affairs, was named as his country’s top representative to Taiwan earlier this week and will take office on April 24 as chief of the Taipei office of the Interchange Association, Japan, the association said in a statement. The association handles exchanges with Taiwan in the absence of official ties between the two countries. Tarui, 64, joined Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1971 and has since served as head of the ministry’s China Division, an envoy at Japan’s embassy in China, and permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. Meanwhile, Tadashi Imai, who has been serving as Japan’s representative to Taiwan since January 2010, has been appointed as the new president of the Interchange Association, the press release said.
CHARITY
Group asks for donations
To help domestic violence victims staying in shelters run by the Garden of Hope Foundation (GOH) faced with rising grocery bills, a women’s fitness center is calling for the donation of 20,000kg of food and grocery items, as well as NT$500,000 (US$17,000) in cash. The foundation’s executive director Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) said the non-governmental organization serves over 20,000 women who are abuse victims or are pregnant out of wedlock. For details, contact the GOH hotline on (02) 8911-8595 or visit the Curves Web site at www.curves.com.tw.
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
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
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