■ Environment
Cyanide spill sickens scores
More than 100 people in Taichung County have been hospitalized after being poisoned by liquefied cyanide from an overturned truck, police said yesterday. Environmental officials feared the cyanide, which flowed into a nearby sewer, could create an ecological disaster when it streams into the sea through Taichung Harbor. Police said the accident took place Thursday afternoon after the truck got a flat tire and crashed. "The rear tire of the truck came off in front of the intersection of Lihai Road in Wuchi and overturned when the driver stepped on the brake," a police officer said. He said the tank holding 35 tonnes of liquefied cyanide came off from the truck and spilled all over the road. Doctors said nearby residents began to feel sick Thursday night and by yesterday morning more than 100 people had been hospitalized after breathing in air containing poisonous particles.
■ Crime
Bleaching bandit guilty
A Cameroonian, Mbwemo Franco, was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to eight months in prison by the Taipei District Court, local media reported yesterday. Police said that Franco told a hotel owner, surnamed Cheng, that he was capable of bleaching black paper into US dollar bills. The Cameroonian then cheated Cheng of his money, claiming that he needed US$13,000 (about NT$452,500) to purchase special bleach in order to turn the paper into money for him. Cheng later changed his mind and called the police instead. Franco was arrested on the spot when he collected the money from the hotel owner. The Cameroonian will be deported from Taiwan after his sentence is completed.
■ Education
Fewer students going to US
The number of students pursuing education in the US hit a 10-year low last year at 13,767, a 7 percent decrease from the the 2001 level, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Education. Ministry statistics show that the number of students acquiring US study visas was 14,878 in 2001, also a decline from the 2000 level of 15,547. The noticeable falls might have something to do with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the US, while the war in Iraq might have caused the situation to deteriorate further, ministry officials said. After the outbreak of the war, the Ministry asked Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices across the US to inform Taiwan's students there, or those who are planning to go there, of the heightened security alert. The situation might also be the result of a shift in interest among students to Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.
■ Health
Tonnes of biowaste lost
KMT Legislator Hsu Chung-hsiung (徐中雄) urged the government yesterday to step up measures to track medical waste, particularly in light of the severe acute respiratory disease (SARS) outbreak. Hsu made the remarks in a press conference held at the Legislative Yuan. Hsu said that the Department of Health has estimated that about 14,834 tonness of contagious medical waste was produced last year, but the Environmental Protection Administration could only account for 9,221 tonnes of it and therefore lost track of 40 percent of the total. However, Hsu said that academic circles and the private sector have estimated that the missing medical waste could reach as high as 9072 tonnes.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to