■ EARTHQUAKES
Temblors rattle Taiwan
Two earthquakes, measuring 5.5 and 4.6 on the Richter scale, rattled Taiwan before dawn yesterday, but there were no reports of casualties or damage, officials said. The epicenter of the stronger earthquake, which struck at 5:05am was about 27km east of Ilan at a depth of 65km, the Central Weather Bureau said in a statement. It could be felt in Taipei. The second quake hit at 6:09am about 5km southeast of Taitung at a depth of 26km, the weather bureau said.
■ CRIME
Man jailed in Cambodia
A Taiwanese man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Cambodia after being convicted of trying to smuggle heroin out of the country, court officials said yesterday. Wang Tien-su, 50, was arrested in February with 200g of heroin hidden in condoms in his shoes as he tried to pass through Phnom Penh International Airport, judge Iv Kim Sry said. He was found guilty on Tuesday and was fined US$12,500, the judge said. At least half a dozen Taiwanese, including a 90-year-old man, have been detained trying to smuggle heroin through the airport in the past year. Although drug arrests have increased, Cambodia is becoming an increasingly popular trafficking point for methamphetamines and heroin, particularly since Thailand toughened its stance on illegal drugs in 2002.
■ ACCIDENTS
Search for sailors continues
Navy vessels and helicopters continued the search yesterday for 26 sailors missing after a Panama-registered cargo ship sank off the northeastern coast. No additional survivors were found but two unidentified bodies were discovered, an official said. The 16,000-tonne Mezzanine, loaded with iron ore, capsized in rough seas on Tuesday. The 28-year-old vessel departed an Indonesian port last Saturday for the Chinese port of Tianjin. Only one person has been rescued, Herry Marthen Bakarbessy, an Indonesian sailor, who was pulled out of the water by the Coast Guard on Wednesday after floating at sea for about 20 hours, he said. "There were no traces of other missing sailors, but we will continue the rescue effort, with navy vessels searching in the high seas and patrol boats near shore," a Coast Guard official said.
■ POLITICS
Women campaign for DPP
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters in Taichung City yesterday formed a women's campaign team that will focus on drumming up support for the party ahead of the presidential election. Led by Deputy Presidential Office Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung's (林佳龍) wife, Liao Wan-ju (廖婉如), the team began its campaigning yesterday. Urging women to unite on political issues and speak up for their rights, Liao said women needed to take the March election seriously and turn out in big numbers. Yu Fang-chih (游芳枝), wife of DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), said the DPP attached great importance to women's rights and would continue to fight for gender equality if re-elected to the Presidential Office. Yu said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) recently announced measures for women's rights were nothing new. Ma's policies on women's issues are only a mirror of what the government has been fighting for over the last seven years, Yu said.
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
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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