HEALTH
Mideast travelers warned
People planning to travel to the Middle East should pay attention to their personal hygiene, as the season for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has arrived, the Centers for Disease Control said yesterday. The centers is urging Middle East-bound travelers to avoid visiting farmland and having contact with camels or people with respiratory symptoms. The disease tends to become prevalent from this month and peak in September, the centers said, adding that no cases have been confirmed in Taiwan. The centers said symptoms of MERS-CoV include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.
TRAVEL
Check visa rules: MOFA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is urging travelers to check in advance the requirements for visa-free entry to their destination, after 158 people were denied entry to foreign countries last year because they could not present the necessary documents. The number is a 45 percent increase from 2009, the ministry said.
EARTHQUAKE
Quake jolts eastern areas
A magnitude 4 earthquake jolted eastern Taiwan at 5:37pm yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau reported. The earthquake’s epicenter was at sea about 37.6km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 8.4km, bureau officials said. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale. On Saturday last week, Yilan County was also rattled by two earthquakes measuring at 3.5 and 3.7 respectively on the Richter scale.
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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