CRIME
Man caught with cetaceans
Coast Guard Administration personnel yesterday seized 97kg of cetacean meat from a Yunlin County man surnamed Lin (林), 54. They said that they found two heads belonging to cetaceans, but could not determine the species. Lin reportedly loaded the meat onto his truck in Pingtung County’s Donggang Township (東港) and drove along Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3). Coast guard personnel stopped him at the rest area in Tainan’s Sinhua District (新化), where city officials collected samples of the meat from his truck and handed him over to police for breaching the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法). Coast guard personnel said that Lin might have been planning to sell the meat at seafood stores in Yunlin County. In July last year, Lin was caught transporting cetacean meat in Yilan County. Whales and dolphins are protected under the act, and those caught killing them face six months to five years in prison, or a fine of NT$200,000 to NT$1 million (US$6,599 to NT$32,995).
CULTURE
Eslite auctioning collection
Eslite Bookstore’s Dunnan branch in Taipei is hosting an old book auction until April 15, as the three-decade-old outlet is to close on May 31. Established in 1989, the branch was the chain’s first store and made its name with books on arts and the humanities. The auction features a collection of art by Chinese painter Zhang Xiaogang (張曉剛), The Beatles: The BBC Archives 1962-1970 and US photographer Annie Leibovitz’s collection Annie Leibovitz: The Early Years,1970-1983, which includes the iconic photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono cuddling.
HEALTH
New Taipei extends closures
New Taipei City’s public spaces, sports centers and museums are to remain closed for another 14 days, after having been shut on March 20 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Ahead of the long Tomb Sweeping Day weekend, which begins today, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday said that containing the disease is the most important thing right now, especially when the number of people in home isolation or quarantine continues to rise. A total of 9,635 people in the city are in home quarantine, while the number of people using the city government’s online memorial services for ancestors has grown 40 percent from last year, city government data showed.
HEALTH
Doctor warns on screen use
A Taipei City Hospital doctor cautioned against the excessive use of digital devices, citing a case in which a woman, complaining of persistently seeing a shadow out of her left eye, was diagnosed with acute posterior vitreous detachment. Huang Che-hung (黃哲宏), an ophthalmologist at the hospital’s Heping branch, on Sunday said that the vitreous humor is a gel-like substance in the eye that can slowly liquify from age and use. The posterior vitreous, suffering from a lack of support, can then detach from the retina and shrink toward the center of the vitreous cavity. For the most part, posterior vitreous detachment would not affect a person’s vision, but it is irreversible, Huang said. If there are no complications, people should only see small dots like flies, he said. However, if a person experiences vitreomacular adhesion, or the strong adhesion of the vitreous to the retina, the condition could cause them to see lightning-like flashes, he said. If a person experiences any of these symptoms, they should consult a doctor, Huang said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai