■ DIPLOMACY
Taiwan gave to Clinton
Taiwan was listed among the governments, individuals and businesses who contributed to former US president Bill Clinton’s charitable causes, records from the William J. Clinton Foundation showed on Thursday. In 2004, then-president Chen Shui-bian’s administration (陳水扁) made the donation via the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US. The foundation’s Web site showed that Taiwan was listed in the range of US$1 million to US$5 million donors.
■ EDUCATION
Photonics college to open
The nation’s first college of photonics, located in Tainan County, is scheduled to begin operations next year. The college is housed in the Tainan branch of National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Gueiren Township (歸仁). The university’s main campus is in Hsinchu City, where it already has a department of photonics, with two graduate institutes. The Tainan branch, construction of which began in 2005, will have a total of five graduate institutes within five years to cultivate photonics talent. Three graduate institutes that have already been built will start enrolling students next year in photonics engineering, lighting and energy and biomedical photonics technology, an official said.
■ CRIME
Drugs found on cargo flight
About 30kg of ketamine arrived on one of the first direct cargo flights from China, a customs official said yesterday. Airport customs agents in Taipei found the drug on Thursday packed into eight boxes on a Chinese cargo plane, the official said. “Our expectation was that direct cargo links could possibly lead to drug smuggling,” said Lin Shu-chi (林樹吉), deputy Taipei Customs Office head. “I can’t say this was beyond our imagination.” The ketamine was worth NT$930,000, Lin said. A 31-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in connection with the ketamine, which was destined for a convenience store in central Taiwan, media said.
■ MEDICINE
Companies ink agreement
A pharmaceutical company has signed a letter of intent with a Chinese company to ensure an adequate and steady supply of Chinese herbal medicine to the Taiwanese market, company officials said yesterday. Ninety percent of Taiwan’s herbal medicine is imported from China. Scientific Pharmaceutical Elite Co and Guangdong Kangmei Pharmaceutical Holding Co plan to increase Taiwan’s supply of Chinese herbal medicine, jointly develop new herbal drugs and work together to tap the global market.
■ SHIPPING
Crew accidentally poisoned
A crewman was killed and three others were poisoned yesterday in an accident on a Panama-registered cargo vessel sailing off the coast of Hsinchu County, rescue authorities said. The National Airborne Service Corps said it received a distress call at around 10:20am when the four victims — all Chinese — lost consciousness. A helicopter was sent to airlift the victims separately to two hospitals in Taichung City. One of the victims was dead upon arrival, the corps said. Chan Yu-che (詹毓哲), a toxicologist at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, who treated two of the patients, said the accident took place when the crewmen were performing an inspection on the lower deck of the vessel, which was transporting fuel coke. Chan speculated that the crewmen were overcome by methane that accumulated because of poor ventilation. The three surviving crewmen were in stable condition, doctors said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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