■ 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.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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