POLITICS
DPP lawmaker recovering
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), who is being treated for ovarian cancer, yesterday said she was doing fine and would recover soon. “I am very thankful to those who called me or left messages supporting me,” Chiu, who had a tumor removed while campaigning for re-election in December, said on her Facebook page. “I started the first session of chemotherapy shortly after the elections ended last month, after a checkup showed I was ill,” Chiu said on Facebook on Tuesday after receiving a second round of the therapy. “The treatment has been going well and I will be healthy again soon.” Chiu’s husband, Greater Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te (李永得), also thanked Chiu’s supporters for their concern, adding that her service office in Meinong District (美濃) would remain open while she is recuperating.
CULTURE
Tainan to hold arts festival
The first Tainan Arts Festival, which opens on Feb. 25, will feature an array of theater, dance and music performances. The festival, which will run until June 17, will see international and domestic groups perform in the city’s cultural center, ancient buildings and cultural and historic sites such as the Eternal Golden Castle and the Wude Temple. Among the featured performers are US vocalist Bobby McFerrin, who will perform on Feb. 25 to warm up the festival, and German violinist David Garrett, who will perform at the opening ceremony at Nanying Green Heart Park on March 3. Other international performers include Japan’s Flying Ship Theater, French pianist Richard Clayderman, British chamber orchestra The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and Latvian cellist Mischa Maisky.
ENVIRONMENT
Festivals generate trash
Huge mountains of trash have been created during Lantern Festival celebrations since late last month, as litter, firecracker papers and lanterns pile up on the streets, the New Taipei City Government said. It estimated that 64 tonnes of garbage was generated at Pingsi (平溪), where the annual Sky Lantern Festival attracted 450,000 visitors from Jan. 26 to Monday. A total of 120 cleaning staff a day were needed to clean the streets of trash and used sky lanterns during the festival, with about 15,800 sky lanterns being distributed or purchased by visitors, the city said. Meanwhile, in Greater Tainan, more than 120 tonnes of trash was collected during the Yanshui Fireworks Festival, which ran from Jan. 20 to Monday. Huge piles of roadside litter and burned remains of firecrackers were left behind by more than 100,000 tourists at the festival, the Greater Tainan Government said.
HEALTH
Four more die from flu
Four more people died from flu complications on Tuesday, raising the total number of flu-related deaths in the country since July last year to 54, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Of the 54 fatalities, 42 were from complications of the Yamagata influenza B strain, while 12 people died of the Type A flu virus, the CDC said. Seven of the 42 who succumbed had been vaccinated, CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said. The vaccine recommended by the WHO for the 2011-2012 flu season was supposed to protect against the same three viruses that last year’s flu vaccine did, but no recommendations were made against Yamagata influenza B, Chou said. The CDC might alter its next assessment when it places new orders for vaccine for the 2012-2013 flu season, he said.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
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