CRIME
Arrest in strangulation case
Police yesterday arrested a man suspected of strangling his girlfriend to death, dismembering the body and throwing it into a field in Tainan. The man surnamed Wu (吳), 30, told police that he had strangled the woman surnamed Chang (張), 42, during an argument over their relationship on Jan. 8, the Tainan City Police Department’s First Precinct said. The suspect told them that he cut the body into six pieces, which he stuffed into plastic bags and tossed into a field of tall grass in eastern Tainan, police said. On Thursday last week, Chang’s son reported her missing. Police said they found the woman’s remains in the field on Friday. Wu has been arrested and is to be handed over to the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, pending an autopsy, police said.
ENTERTAINMENT
German orchestra on tour
The youth symphony orchestra from Georg Friedrich Handel Gymnasium, a high school in Berlin, is to tour Taiwan for the first time from Tuesday to Saturday next week. The orchestra and Taiwanese-German flutist Liu Shih-cheng (劉士誠) are to perform in Tainan, Hsinchu, Taipei and New Taipei City, the school said. The orchestra is to play works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Wilhelm Richard Wagner and Edward William Elgar. Orchestra director Knut Andreas said the members are excited about the tour and look forward to interacting with Taiwanese audiences.
AIRLINES
Pilots agree to CAL strike
Taoyuan Union of Pilots members have voted in favor of a strike, possibly during the Lunar New Year holiday, unless China Airlines (CAL) agrees to a compromise over pilots’ working conditions, the union said on Friday. Any strike would target CAL, after a motion to that effect was approved by members during a union meeting, union leader Chen Pei-pei (陳蓓蓓) said. The pilots are demanding better pay, additional rest hours and greater pilot autonomy. Negotiations between unions and airlines last year ended in a partial consensus, after a proposed strike was approved, but other issues were left to be addressed by further talks. Since then, CAL has repeatedly demanded that pilots sign documents that would effectively nullify the strike decision, the union said in a statement. CAL accused the union of sabotaging negotiations, and called on pilots to put the rights of passengers first and engage in talks with management based on realistic demands.
DIPLOMACY
Ko planning US trip
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is slated to visit the US in March as part of ongoing efforts to promote city-to-city exchanges and boost interactions with Taiwanese expatriates. Ko plans to visit New York on March 16, where he is to hold a “casual” seminar to exchange views with Taiwanese students on March 17 or 18, city government deputy spokesman Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) said on Friday. On March 19 or 20, Ko is to give a speech in Washington, with the venue yet to be decided, before heading to Atlanta on March 21 to mark the 40th anniversary of the city’s sisterhood ties with Taipei, Chen said. On March 22, Ko is to proceed to Boston, where he plans to meet representatives from the biotechnology industry and attend a banquet with Taiwanese expatriates, he said. Ko’s visit is to conclude on March 23 and he is to leave from New York, arriving in Taiwan the following day, Chen said.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese