■ Entertainment
TVBS defends top model
TVBS yesterday leapt to the defense of top model Lin Chi-ling (林志玲), whom angry Chinese have accused of being insensitive about Japan's militaristic past. Recent postings on Chinese Web sites and in chat rooms berated Lin for donning a Japanese military officer's hat while filming a TVBS program on tourist sites in Tokyo. But TVBS said Lin was just wearing a train conductor's cap. "Lin donned the cap after picking it up on the train,'' the station said in a statement. ``The Chinese have overreacted ... as Japan has long ceased to have military officers." Pictures of a smiling Lin wearing the green cap were posted on Chinese Web site sohu.com, and angry Chinese berated Lin, saying "shame" and "we despise you" in Internet chat rooms, according to Taiwanese newspapers.
■ Society
Killers `save' lives
Two Kaohsiung brothers executed on Monday for a homicide they jointly committed helped eight patients posthumously yesterday through organ donations. Lin Meng-kai (林盟凱) and Lin Hsin-hung (林信宏), who were sentenced to death for murdering one man and critically injuring another four years ago, signed organ donation consent forms prior to their execution at a prison in Kaohsiung County. Their bodies were sent to three medical centers around Kaohsiung on Monday night, where a heart, a liver, four kidneys and two corneas were removed and transplanted into eight patients the next day.
■ Society
Chen opens drug museum
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) officiated at an inaugural ceremony yesterday for the nation's first anti-narcotics museum. The museum, built at a cost of about NT$10 million (US$302,000), is housed in the head office building of the Bureau of Investigation in Sindian, suburban Taipei, and aims to educate the public, especially school children, about the harmful effects of substance abuse. On display will be facts about how the Chinese fought against narcotics, beginning with the First Opium War of 1839-1842 up until today. In one corner of the museum is a complete set of machines and equipment for manufacturing amphetamines and the tools used by drug traffickers and smugglers, such as shoes with the soles hollowed out and drug balls in plastic or condoms to be swallowed by "mules." Visitors can use touch screens to activate the light and sound system and feel what it is like in a dimly lit night club where people who have taken ecstasy are dancing to loud music amid the smell of marijuana.
■ Health
Bird-flu exercises held
A drill involving over 20 governmental bodies about actions to be taken if the bird flu epidemic reaches stages B and C took place yesterday. Stage B corresponds to when there are human cases of bird flu in the country and stage C is reached when there is widespread human-to-human transmission in the country. At present, Taiwan is a bird flu-free zone and at a "0" stage of alert. Shih Wen-yi (施文儀), said that drills were fundamental to being ready to take action and to facilitate inter-departmental cooperation if an outbreak occurs. Chairman of the Council of Labor Affairs Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said, "An important part of preparation involves strengthening the psychological framework of our society." Director of the Department of Health Hou Sheng-mou (侯勝茂) said that defense against bird flu was a top priority of the department and that the public "must have confidence."
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
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