■ Cross-strait ties
Beijing bans tours to Taiwan
China is prohibiting groups from visiting Taiwan amid fears the travelers would spread the SARS virus, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. Xinhua quoted an unidentified spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office as saying that the ban on group travel across the Taiwan Strait would be effective until further notice. ``We are confident that cross-strait exchanges and contacts between personnel will continue to develop after SARS is curtailed,'' the spokesman reportedly said. Phone calls to the Taiwan Affairs Office went unanswered after business hours yesterday.
■ Science
Delegation in Denmark
A four-member delegation from Academia Sinica arrived in Copenhagen on Tuesday to attend the 6th symposium of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Shao Kwang-Chao (劭廣昭), director of Academia Sinica's Institute of Zoology, is heading the delegation that will attend the three-day gathering that ends today. The GBIF has 36 members and its purpose is to make the world's biodiversity data freely and universally available.
■ Transportation
CKS numbers plummet
The number of arrivals and departures at CKS International Airport hit a record low of 12,342 on Monday, according to figures released by the airport administration. The historic lows -- 6,560 arrivals and 5,782 departures -- were a result of the government's decision to impose a 10-day period of forced confinement on passengers coming from areas and countries listed by the World Health Organization as affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Monday's figure was about 25 percent of the normal traffic volume, airport officials said, adding that travelers from China, Macau, Singapore and Canada totaled 2,266, including 38 foreigners.
■ Health
Vaccine hunt team formed
Academia Sinica will organize a research team to try to develop vaccines for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), president Lee Yuan-tse (李遠哲) said on Tuesday evening. Lee said that Michael Lai (賴明詔), who will take over the post as the institute's vice president in July, along with Chen Ting-hsin (陳定信), president of National Taiwan University Hospital, will be in charge of organizing the project. Lee expressed his confidence in the lineup of academics, saying it is expected that the 16-member research unit will be able to develop the vaccines within a six-month to one-year period.
■ Crime
Robbers shoot police officer
Two gunmen shot a police officer 11 times during a robbery at the Motor Vehicles Office in Taichung City yesterday. They escaped with NT$10 million. The police officer, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was taken to the Taichung Veterans General Hospital for treatment but his condition was not thought to be life-threatening. The two robbers hid in a toilet at the office until cash trucks arrived at around 5pm, when the office closed. After opening fire on two police officers, the robbers fled on a motorcycle with the cash. Yesterday was the final day to pay vehicle license plate taxes, the police said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
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