KAOHSIUNG
Health ambassador picked
Chen Chao-long (陳肇隆), a leading expert on liver transplants, on Monday said that he has agreed to serve as Kaohsiung’s “healthcare ambassador,” to promote the city’s medical sector to the world. An honorary superintendent of Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chen said that Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Friday asked if he was interested in taking on the role. “If it means doing good for Kaohsiung, then I’m up for it,” he said. Chen performed the first successful liver transplant in Asia in 1984 and performed the first living donor liver transplant in the nation in 1994. He has published more than 270 scientific articles and has lectured at nearly 200 international conferences. He also trains surgeons at home and abroad. Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has carried out more than 1,830 liver transplants, including 115 on foreign patients who visited Kaohsiung for the procedure.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Paraguay delegation visits
Taiwan expects to work hand in hand with Paraguay to advance bilateral trade and investment, and develop public infrastructure to create a win-win situation for both countries, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Monday. Tsai made the pledge while welcoming a visiting delegation led by Silvio Ovelar, president of Paraguay’s Chamber of Senators. Visits to Taiwan by Ovelar, the delegates and other Paraguayan friends of Taiwan have contributed to deepening the friendship between the two countries over the past 61 years, Tsai said, adding that her administration is committed to enhancing bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and infrastructure based on talks she had with Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez during his state visit in October last year.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
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