■ Society
Leaders bid farewell to Sun
The funeral of former premier Sun Yun-suan (孫運璿) yesterday saw the attendance of most of the country's political leaders, including President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), as well as the heads of opposition parties. Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) officiated at the memorial ceremony, which was held at the Chieshou chapel at Veterans General Hospital in Taipei. Three former premiers -- Lee Huan (李煥), Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) and Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) draped the national flag on Sun's coffin. Sun, known as the major architect of Taiwan's economic and industrial development in the 1980s, died on Feb. 15 at the age of 93. He served as premier from 1978 to 1984. KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), along with his two deputies Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) and Helen Lin (林澄枝), also draped the KMT party flag over Sun's coffin during the ceremony. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and his deputy Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) attended the ceremony.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
■ Health
Chickens to be cooped up
County and city governments nationwide are expected to promulgate a set of new rules aimed at preventing bird flu by March 15, which include requiring poultry farmers to raise chickens indoors between September and April, Council of Agriculture officials said yesterday. The officials said that the September-April period is the season when migratory birds are on the move and that keeping chickens outside will increase the chances of poultry coming into contact with the wild birds -- potential carriers of the bird flu virus.
■ Agriculture
Shots for hogs to stop
The Council of Agriculture (COA) said it will stop vaccinating hogs on the outlying island of Penghu against foot-and-mouth disease on a trial basis from March 1. If all goes well, shots for hogs on Taiwan proper will be stopped from June, COA officials said. If no fresh cases of the disease are reported after one year of stopping vaccinations, Taiwan will apply to the France-based animal health organization Office Internationale Des Epizooties (OIE) to reinstate Taiwan as a foot-and-mouth disease free country. A major epidemic in March 1997 prompted the government to order a mass slaughter of livestock. In 1999, cattle on the outlying island of Kinmen were found to be infected. No new cases have been reported since February 2001.
■ Charity
Tzu Chi helps Leyte victims
A group of volunteers from the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation arrived yesterday in a disaster-hit area in the south of the Philippine island of Leyte with sufficient relief supplements for the needs of some 500 people, according to the Tzu Chi branch in the Philippine city of Cebu. Rescue efforts restarted on Friday after heavy rain interrupted the work that began after a devastating landslide buried the village of Guinsaugon. So far, Philippine soldiers and rescue personnel from other countries, including the US, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan, have dug out 130 bodies, but there are still over 900 people missing, all of whom are feared dead, the group said.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we