■ Missing person
Student's body found
The body of a South Korean student who came to Taiwan to study Chinese was found at a water pumping station near National Chengchi University in Mucha, police said yesterday. Police said that initial investigations showed that Ryeo Yun-koo, 24, who had been missing since March 22, appeared to have drowned, however, the exact cause of his death will be determined after an autopsy. They said that Ryeo had transferred from Chi-nese Culture University to National Chengchi Univer-sity on March 3. On March 22, he went out with South Korean friends for dinner and drinks. Ryeo's guardians in Taiwan then reported him missing. National Chengchi University officials looked for the student on campus.
Police suspected that Ryeo, under the influence of alcohol and not familiar with the terrain of the school, might have fallen into the water at the pumping station.
■ Humanitarian aid
Tzu Chi aids refugees
Taiwan's Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation in Amman, Jordan yesterday sent eight volunteers to deliver toys, biscuits and drinking water to a refugee camp on the border between Jordan and Iraq. A spokesman for the foundation said there are 250 refugees, including 40 children, in the camp some 300km east of Amman. The foundation also sent 26 volunteers on April 4 to deliver bottled drinking water, clothing, sugar, tea leaves and stationery to refugee camps on the border between Jordan and Iraq, the spokesman said. The foundation plans to send school bags for the children in the camps in the near future, he added.
■ Diplomacy
First lady encourages
First lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) praised a women's group yesterday for its contribution to "people's diplomacy" and urged them to take part more in international exchanges. Wu was addressing the 2003 annual convention of Soroptimist International of Taiwan Region in Kaohsiung, in which more than 200 representatives from around the country participated. Wu praised the performance of the organization and its regional head, Chen Ku Mei-kuei (陳辜美貴), saying that what she described as "the feminine attributes" of caring and tenderness have built the momentum to push the society upward. She also expressed the hope that more women will dedicate themselves to international exchanges. Chen Ku noted that group is one of the few organizations that has joined the UN's non-governmental organizations in the capacity as a country, adding that with the excellent perfor-mance of the nation's women and their selfless devotion, the group has raised Tai-wan's international profile.
■ Nuclear power
No further cancellation
Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that there is no question that construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant will be suspended again. The premier was responding to questions by KMT Legislator Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻), who expres-sed concern about who would be responsible for another possible suspension of the plant, saying that the government paid a hefty price when it suspended construction before. His query follows the suspen-sion of dredging for a wharf for the power plant because of erosion to Fulung Beach -- which could affect delivery of the plant's nuclear reactor and the scheduled opera-tional date of July 15, 2006 of the first unit of the plant's two reactors.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
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