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Bear severely injures child
A three-year-old boy was critically injured yesterday after a caged circus bear nearly ripped off his arm in southern Taiwan, a hospital official said. Doctors performed emergency surgery to reattach the right arm of the boy, who was found lying in a pool of blood by the bear's cage on a farm where a circus from Vietnam was performing, an official from Chi Mei Hospital said. Farm staff said the boy, who went to see the bear perform stunts like riding a bicycle, might have provoked the animal by trying to pat it. The incident occurred while his mother was talking to performers. The performance was suspended after the attack. The boy's parents blamed the farm owners for the attack for failing to put up warning signs in front of the bear's cage, local newspapers said.
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Book on sex slaves launched
Taiwan's first book about "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops in World War II, was launched earlier this week. The book, titled Silent Scars: History of Sexual Slavery by the Japanese Military, includes more than 200 photos featuring the women, the Japanese brothels in which they were imprisoned and articles about the feelings of these women. According to statistics, some 20,000 women were used as sex slaves by the Japanese military during World War II, most of whom came from China, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines and other Asian countries. Some 2,000 came from Taiwan. The Japanese government has consistently refused to apologize to the "comfort women."
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Teen hero gets cash award
A courageous 13-year old junior-high school student, surnamed Lee, was awarded NT$20,000 by the Chiayi Police Bureau yesterday in recognition of his bravery in foiling a bank robbery a day earlier. Lee saw the would-be bank robber enter the Talin branch of Chiayi Fourth Credit Cooperative as he was passing by the bank on Monday afternoon. He grabbed the suspect around the neck and then several tellers helped overpowered the man. The robber had been armed with a home-made handgun. Chiayi Mayor Chen Li-chen (陳麗貞) and Police Commissioner Chen Kuo-en (陳國恩) held a citation ceremony for Lee at his school yesterday morning and presented him with the cash award. Lee's classmates expressed admiration for his bravery and quick thinking, calling him a hero. Lee also won praise from his father, although his mother suggested that he should not put his own safety at risk again if faced with a similar situation in the future.
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Doctors celebrate `rebirth'
Doctors at Kaohsiung's Veterans General Hospital joined the family of a man yesterday to celebrate his "rebirth" from a near-fatal traffic accident in which his heart was ruptured and stopped. Over a month ago, Chien Chao-yi (簡朝益) was sent to the emergency unit of the hospital after a serious motorcycle accident. When he reached the hospital, doctors found that his breathing and heart had stopped. The doctors diagnosed a ruptured heart and opened the patient's chest without anaesthetic and without obtaining permission from his family to do the operation. Ye Wen-bin (葉文彬), a surgeon, said he and his colleagues felt they had time to save Chien's life, so they proceeded with the surgery, while Chang Hung-tai (張宏泰), who was one of the surgical team, said the survival rate for similar cases is less than 2 percent.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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