■ TB rate causes concern
A medical researcher noted yesterday that the number of people dying from tuberculosis in Taiwan is 20 times the figure in the US, which he said proved that the quality of the nation's medical services needed to be improved. Wen Chi-pang (溫啟邦), a fellow at the Health Policy Research Division of the National Health Research Institute, made the remarks in his thesis presented at a conference promoting improvements to medical services. Wen said the number of people dying from tuberculosis had decreased in the last 10 years thanks to improvements in medical technology. Taipei City registered the lowest rate in 2002, with Taitung County registering the highest rate, at five times Taipei's level. The rate in mountainous areas was 126 times higher than the US rate.
■ Crime
Hotline for kidnap hoaxes
The education ministry has decided to set up emergency hotlines for parents to report attempts of extortion through hoax kidnappings of students, a radio station reported yesterday. The education ministry issued the order because criminals were making phone calls to students' parents, claiming they had kidnapped their children and would kill them unless the parents paid them off, the Broadcasting Corporation of China said. Some parents had taken the threats seriously and followed the instructions, sending money to the criminals' bank accounts, only to find out later that their children were safe in school. Some schools had established hotlines even before the ministry's order, the report said.
■ Crime
Campaign targets fraud
Heads of law enforcement and prosecuting agencies will meet tomorrow to figure out more effective ways to fight rampant fraud. The meeting was decided upon following an announcement by Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) on Friday that he was declaring an all-out war against gangs conspiring to defraud the community. Top officials from different government departments, including incoming National Police Administration Director-General Hsieh Yin-tang (謝銀黨), will attend the meeting. Increasing numbers of people, including the minister himself, have fallen victim to crimes of fraud, including credit-card fraud and elaborate ATM card scams.
■ Diplomacy
Officials meet EBRD head
A delegation headed by Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂), Taiwan's representative to London, met with Jean Lemierre, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), yesterday to discuss ways of promoting bilateral cooperation. The Taiwan delegation, consisting of financial officials and diplomats, will also attend the 13th annual meeting of the EBRD in London today and tomorrow, including its Board of Governors' meeting, business forum and donors' meeting. Tien said before the meeting that Taiwan shared the EBRD's aim of promoting democracy and the market economy, and that he looked forward to closer cooperation with the EBRD. Founded in 1991 following the collapse of communism in eastern and central Europe, the EBRD has promoted investment as a means of developing market economies and democracies in 27 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Taiwanese officials opened an office with the EBRD in February.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but