■ 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.
‘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
RSS