■ AVIATION
Chopper pilot had no license
PHOTO: CNA
The pilot of a helicopter that was forced to land in Ilan County's Jiaosi Township (礁溪) on Sunday has no legal operating license and will be penalized in terms of the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The helicopter, a Robinson R-22, was found in the parking lot of a hot spring hotel in Jiaosi. Unable to find the pilot, the local police tied the helicopter to a police motorcycle to prevent it being flown away. The police later found the owner, 45-year-old Wei Chin-lien (魏金連), and discovered that he had done the same thing nine years ago, when he was forced to land in Bade Township (八德), Taoyuan County. The CAA yesterday confirmed that Ilan County prosecutors had confiscated the helicopter's rotor blades. The body will be transported to Songshan Airport for storage. Wei could face up to five years in prison or a fine of NT$1 million (US$31,500).
■ HEALTH
Dialysis centers show losses
Fierce competition among dialysis centers mean that more than 30 percent of the nation's dialysis centers are operating at a loss, the Taiwan Society of Nephrology said yesterday. The society responded to recent media reports portraying the centers as hugely profitable and questioned the appropriateness of non-medical businesses such as farmer's associations investing in dialysis centers as moneyspinners. The society called on medical service providers to think carefully before making the substantial investment necessary to start a dialysis center.
■ SOCIETY
Foreign spouses get help
A handbook in six languages that provides foreign spouses in Kaohsiung City with information on living in Taiwan has been warmly received, officials at the city's Civil Affairs Bureau said yesterday. The Kaohsiung City Government Foreign Spouse Manual, printed in Chinese, English, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Cambodian and Thai, provides foreign spouses with a better understanding of local customs and easier access to important information, such as how to apply for citizenship, the officials said. The bureau said that 19,123 foreign spouses were living in Kaohsiung City. Among the 11 municipal districts, Siaogang, with a population of 151,932, counted 804 registered foreign spouses from Southeast Asia, 60 percent of whom were from Vietnam.
■ ARTS
Troupe laments exposure
The fire that burned down the rehearsal studio of the Cloud Gate dance troupe put the troupe on the front page of local newspapers for the first time in its 35-year history, the founder said on Sunday, lamenting that it took a disaster to raise the troupe's profile. The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre has staged more than 1,500 shows locally and globally, each attracting an average of 60,000 people. The troupe is generally regarded as having made a major contribution to raising Taiwan's global image. However, the theater's founder, Lin Hwai-min (林懷民), complained that Cloud Gate's performances had never been covered by local newspapers as a front-page story until the fire early last Monday, which he said reflected a general lack of understanding of the performing arts in Taiwan.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
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