■SARS
Woman gives birth
A woman suspected of having contracted SARS gave birth to a baby boy without complications at Armed Forces Sungshan Hospital in Taipei yesterday. Doctors at the SARS-only hospital said the woman, surnamed Lee, who had been listed as a suspected SARS case because her lungs had signs of opacity, delivered the 2.9kg baby at 1: 30am. "Both the mother and the infant are in good condition," said Huang Fang-yen, chief coordinator of the hospital's SARS treatment operations. Huang said Lee is staying in a quarantine ward while the baby is being kept in an incubator. Both facilities have been equipped with negative pressure ventilation systems. According to Huang, Lee is the first suspected SARS case to have given birth in Taiwan. "There is also no known similar case reported in other parts of the world. We are keeping close tabs on their health conditions," he added.
■ SARS
Thermometers requisitioned
The Ministry of Economic Affairs will requisition ear thermometers from the private sector in support of a national temperature-taking campaign aimed at fighting the spread of SARS, an official said yesterday. The decision was made to support a 10-day nationwide temperature-taking campaign to be launched Sunday during a ministry meeting attended by officials in charge of SARS-related medical resources, the official said. The official added that 24,800 ear thermometers and 80,000 surgical masks will be requisitioned and delivered to all township and borough chiefs' offices around the nation before tomorrow. The MOEA's move followed its announcement Wednesday that exports of thermometers will be suspended from Wednesday until June 10 to ensure an adequate supply of thermometers for domestic use.
■ Foreign aid
Twister victims get help
Taiwan has donated US$50,000 in relief funds for the victims of tornadoes that devastated some areas of Tennessee earlier this month. The donation was presented May 21 by T. C. Tien, director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Atlanta, and was accepted by Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen. Taiwan and Tennessee established "sister state" relations in 1980. Tien said during a brief meeting with Bredesen that the donation is a token of love for the people of Tennessee.
■ Culture
German works to arrive
The National Palace Museum in Taipei will display 19th-century German masterpieces from five museums in Berlin next year as part of a reciprocal agreement. Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝), director of the National Palace Museum, and Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, signed an agreement Wednesday at the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) in Berlin to co-sponsor the exhibition. From May 1 to Aug. 1 next year, five museums in Berlin will lend 180 works including paintings, drawings, prints and articles of skilled craftsmanship featuring classicism and neomodernism in 19th-century Germany. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Lehmann said that starting July 18, 400 masterpieces of ancient Chinese art from the National Palace Museum will be on display in Germany. Titled "Treasures of the Sons of Heaven: The Imperial Collection from the National Palace Museum, Taipei."
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
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