DEFENSE
Soldier shoots himself, dies
A 20-year-old soldier serving on Kinmen killed himself in his barracks yesterday, for reasons yet to be determined, Kinmen military authorities said. According to the results of an initial investigation, the soldier, surnamed Tseng (曾), a career soldier, stole a T91 rifle from a security office and took it to a bathroom, where he shot himself in the head at about 6am. He died at the scene. A native of Taoyuan County, Tseng had been serving on Kinmen for six months. An investigation into his death will be conducted.
HEALTH
Taipei DOH urges flu shots
Taipei City’s Department of Health (DOH) urged the elderly and children yesterday to get vaccinated against influenza, saying there were only 3,000 doses left for adults and 9,000 for children. The number of reported cases of influenza-like illnesses have been rising for six consecutive weeks and 39 cases of the flu with severe complications have been confirmed, compared with only two reported cases in the same period last year, the department said. Children under the age of eight, who have never received the flu vaccine, and children under three, who have only received regular seasonal flu vaccines, but not the vaccine against the more virulent A(H1N1) flu strain, can receive the two doses of seasonal vaccine free of charge, the department added.
DIPLOMACY
ICDF to alter information aid
The government is planning to alter the way it provides information aid to Taiwan’s allies by improving their ability to operate and manage electronic systems rather than simply providing the equipment to them, International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) Secretary-General Tao Wen-lung (陶文隆) said. “Just teaching people how to use a computer or making one single purchase and sending them equipment is not an information communication technology project,” Tao said. In the past, Taiwan helped other countries set up systems or gave them IT equipment without training their workers on how to use it, Tao said. The ICDF found it had to keep sending people to those countries to operate the equipment, which entailed unnecessary spending. The ICDF plans to focus on “building ability,” using most of its budget on training, Tao said. The ICDF is also considering urging the allies to buy their own equipment through loans and helping Taiwanese manufacturers obtain those orders, Tao said.
HEALTH
Autophagy-HCV link found
Academia Sinica announced new findings yesterday on the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that could help refine anti-HCV therapies. The team, led by research fellow Steve Chen (陳士隆), found that autophagy, a condition in which cells digest themselves, plays an important role in HCV replication, a process linked to the spread of infection in the body, the institute said. The study offers medical scientists a direction for seeking more effective drugs for hepatitis C sufferers, Chen said, adding that drugs developed to suppress autophagy could be effective in stopping the virus from multiplying in the host body. Although there are six major genotypes of HCV, only two drugs — interferon and ribavirin — are currently used for hepatitis C patients, who sometimes do not respond well to the drugs, Chen said.
CRIME
Ring might use homeless
A drug trafficking ring is suspected of hiring street people to smuggle drugs into Taiwan following the arrest of a man at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for drug smuggling, Taipei City police said yesterday. The 66-year-old Taiwanese, identified only by his surname, Cheng (鄭), was caught the previous day attempting to smuggle 1.5kg of ketamine from Hong Kong, the police said. The unemployed Cheng was found to have traveled to Hong Kong six times during a three-month period that began in November, even though his financial situation was such that he could not afford the costs involved, according to the police. The investigating officers said Cheng confessed that he was lured by offers of overseas sightseeing tours into agreeing to smuggle drugs in return. He refused to name the people he was carrying the drugs for, but the police said they suspect that a drug trafficking ring active in northern Taiwan might have been hiring street people to work as drug mules.
HEALTH
S Korean apples in spotlight
The Department of Health said yesterday that border inspections of apples imported from South Korea would be strengthened after pesticide residues were found on them. Wu Tzung-hsi (吳宗熹), a section chief at the department’s Food and Drug Administration, said six batches of South Korean apples have been found to contain pesticide residues since last month. “Although the substandard products did not enter the domestic market, we will change the inspection mode to a batch-by-batch system in a bid to enhance food safety,” Wu said. Since the end of 2009, Taiwan has inspected 20 percent of imported South Korean apples. South Korean apples, along with Asian pears, are popular in Taiwan.
SOCIETY
Most residents donate cash
Eighty percent of Taiwanese have donated money in the past year, with each person making an average of six donations totaling NT$3,716 (US$127), according to the results of a survey released on Thursday. Nearly 30 percent made donations in the last two months, the United Way of Taiwan survey showed. However, regular donations are the main source of income for charities, which shows residents’ long-term support for social welfare, according to the results. About 35 percent of the donors said they were highly likely to make more donations in the coming year, United Way of Taiwan secretary-general Chou Wen-chen (周文珍) said. Those who said they had not donated cited either tight budgets or concern over how their donations would be used, the survey results showed.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
DEFENSE: The US should cancel the US visas or green cards of relatives of KMT and TPP lawmakers who have been blocking the budget, Grant Newsham said A retired US Marine Corps officer has suggested canceling the US green cards and visas of relatives of opposition Taiwanese lawmakers who have been stalling the review of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget. The Executive Yuan has proposed the budget for major weapons purchases over eight years, from this year to 2033. However, opposition lawmakers have refused to review the proposal, demanding that President William Lai (賴清德) first appear before the Legislative Yuan to answer questions about the proposed budget. On Thursday last week, 37 bipartisan US lawmakers sent a letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the heads
Two siblings in their 70s were injured yesterday when they opened a parcel and it exploded, police in Yilan said, adding the brother and sister were both in stable condition. The two siblings, surnamed Hung (洪), had received the parcel two days earlier but did not open it until yesterday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday in Taiwan, police said. Chen Chin-cheng (陳金城), head of the Yilan County Government Police Bureau, said the package bore no postmark or names and was labeled only with the siblings’ address. Citing the findings of a
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