HEALTH
Flu season peaking
It is now the peak season for influenza in Taiwan, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said it expects the number of severe cases to remain high into next month. A total of 55 people have died of flu complications during this flu season, including 12 during the two-week period at the beginning of this month, according to CDC data. Of the 141 new cases reported during the two-week period, 122 were from the H1N1 virus, and the others were distributed between the H3N2 virus, influenza A and influenza B. The agency urged people who are most vulnerable to the flu, including people aged over 65, infants, patients suffering from high-risk chronic diseases and pregnant women, to seek out care if they experience typical flu symptoms.
CRIME
Marijuana grower arrested
A Canadian man was arrested on Wednesday after police raided his home in Pingtung County and allegedly found dozens of marijuana plants under cultivation, the Pingtung County Police Bureau said. Marijuana cigarettes were also found during the raid on the 37-year-old man’s home, police said. The total value of the marijuana products found at the man’s home was about NT$640,000, police said. All of the cultivation was being done indoors, police said. The man, who has been living in Taiwan for five years, was charged with violating the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) and was taken to the Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office, police said.
SOCIETY
Festival set to draw millions
The annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which will be held in Taoyuan from Monday to March 6, is likely to attract a record-high of 12 million visitors, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said. The festival, which drew a record-breaking 10 million visitors last year when it was held in central Taichung, could keep its momentum and attract even more people this time, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Fan Chih-ku (范植谷) said. Fan said he expects about 60,000 foreign visitors to the festival, adding that foreign nationals who come to Taiwan during the event will be given hand-held lanterns and festival souvenirs. The festival, which is to take place in the plaza in front of the Taoyuan high-speed railway station, is traditionally held around the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
CRIME
Teacher tries to rob store
A 25-year-old English teacher from Canada was arrested on Lunar New Year’s Eve after a failed attempt to rob a convenience store in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) that day, police said on Thursday. According to surveillance footage provided by the store, the suspect followed the store clerk to the bathroom and waited for him to close the toilet door before tying a rope around the doorknob to try and prevent him exiting. The surveillance tape then showed the suspect trying to grab cash from the counter. However, the clerk managed to break free from the bathroom and confronted the suspect, resulting in a scuffle that went from the store to the sidewalk outside. The clerk, with the help of pedestrians, then tied the suspect to a tree and called the police, who arrested the man and seized about NT$4,000 (US$120) that they alleged he had stolen from the store.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard