■ Politics
Hu being extra careful
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) is taking extra safety precautions after receiving intelligence reports that threats have been made to remove him from tomorrow's elections. Speaking to the reporters yesterday the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate said the safety precautions include him bringing his own food and water to campaign sites. Opinion poll results show that Hu has a slight lead over his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and People First Party rivals. On the DPP's attempt to focus public attention on his health, Hu said he will not agree to the demands he release his medical records because the information would be misused. Hu said he will file a civil lawsuit against a DPP legislator and 11 other doctors for disclosing what they claimed to be his medical history, and that he will donate whatever compensation he might receive to charity.
■ Health
AIDS cases increasing
A total of 10,414 cases of AIDS/HIV infection have been reported up to the end of last month, with the number increasing rapidly over the past year at a rate of 10 cases per day, according to data released yesterday by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on World AIDS Day. Of these AIDS/HIV cases, 9,872 are locals, officials said. Unprotected sex between heterosexual couples is the main cause of new cases and accounts for 49 percent of the cases. Intravenous drug use accounts for 41 percent, with 60 percent to 70 percent of the new cases reported this year being drug users. While the AIDS/HIV cases include infants and the elderly as old as 93, most of them fall in the 20 to 40 age group. CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ting attributed the fast spread of AIDS/HIV to the open attitude toward sex by the younger generation, the popularity of orgies, the infrequent use of condoms and the increase in the number of intravenous drug users.
■ Travel
Japanese may get 90 days
The government is assessing whether or not to extend the existing 30-day visa-free treatment for Japanese to 90 days in response to Tokyo's recent lifting of visa requirements for Taiwanese tourists, Liao Ching-pang (廖經邦), deputy chief executive officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Committee on Japanese Affairs, said yesterday. At present, 30 days is the longest visa-free period granted to any country. Japan said in mid-September that it would offer permanent visa-free privileges to travelers from Taiwan starting Sept. 26 as a belated reciprocal measure since Taiwan has long offered visa-free treatment to Japanese tourists. Liao also said that bilateral exchanges have been boosted in recent months, with Taiwan hosting eight Japanese parliamentary delegations and 30 civil group delegations during the past two months.
■ Education
Fewer students going to US
The number of Taiwanese studying in the US totalled 25,914 for the 2004-2005 school year, marking a decline of 1 percent over the previous year's level, the American International Education Foundation's (AIEF) Taiwan office reported yesterday. India topped the list with 80,466 people studying in the US, followed by China with 62,523. Taiwan ranked sixth on the list. The AIEF news release said that the foreign students generated at least US$13 billion in economic benefits for the US in the last school year. AIEF said most foreign students were studying science or business.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by