■MEDICINE
Cancer center sets up lab
Taipei Medical University Hospital’s Cancer Center has recently set up a laboratory for research, launching the “bench-to-bedside” approach that is aimed at turning scientific discoveries into practical applications. University president Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) said the new facility was expected to help upgrade Taiwan’s medical treatment expertise and quality. Chiu Chung-feng (邱仲峰), the lab’s executive director, said that unlike conventional medical laboratories, the new lab would focus on “translating” basic medical research into clinical treatments for various forms of cancer. Equipped with an advanced single-view 3D optical imaging system, the IVIS 200, the translational research lab allows researchers to observe cancer cells in the body of a living lab animal and enables experiments to more closely approach reality, the university said.
■HEALTH
Don’t count sheep: doctor
People who are unable to sleep should “stop counting sheep” and get out of bed if they cannot get to sleep 20 minutes after turning in, said Yang Chien-ming (楊建銘), an associate professor of psychology at National Chengchi University. He said that many people in Taiwan suffered from sleep problems that usually get worse as a result of common misconceptions about sleep. These misconceptions include the idea that strenuous exercise before bed aids restful sleep, he said, pointing out that this is incorrect, as intense physical activity does not help people go to sleep, but instead “awakens” the nervous system. He said if people found themselves tossing and turning for more than 20 minutes, they should get up and do something else until they feel sleepy.
■SOCIETY
Illustrators showcase work
Twenty-four award-winning Taiwanese illustrators will showcase their work at an annual international children’s book fair to be held in the Italian city of Bologna next week. All 24 of the illustrators have had their work commended by the Bologna Children’s Book Fair management over the past 20 years, said Linden Lin (林載爵), chairman of the Taipei Book Fair Foundation, which is organizing the Taiwan pavilion activities at the Bologna book fair scheduled for tomorrow through Thursday. Artist Hsu Su-hsia (徐素霞) saw her work cited in the 1989 event, making her the first Taiwanese artist to win such an honor. Since then, 23 Taiwanese artists have won similar recognition at the fair, one of the world’s most important international illustration competitions. Lin said 21 local children’s book publishing companies would showcase a collection of more than 400 titles in the upcoming Bologna fair.
■CRIME
Kinmen obtains drug dog
Kinmen County obtained its first-ever drug sniffer dog yesterday to help with its narcotics detection operations. The two-year-old black Labrador, Tango, was put into service at customs in Kinmen’s Shuitou Port shortly after it arrived from Kaohsiung City, said Huang Chu-chang (黃鉅昌), head of the Kinmen branch of the Kaohsiung Customs Office. Since direct ferry links between Taiwan’s Kinmen and Matsu islands and several ports in China’s Fujian Province were expanded to include people from Taiwan proper in June last year, the number of passengers using the service, commonly known as the mini links, has reached 3,500 per day, Huang said. As a result, there has been an increase in drug trafficking across the Taiwan Strait via the two outlying islands, which underscores Kinmen’s need to step up its anti-drug inspections, Huang said.
‘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
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
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
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
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