■ POLITICS
Eric Chu moves to Sanchong
Former vice premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) moved into his new residence in Sanchong City (三重), Taipei County, yesterday in preparation for November’s mayoral election, when Taipei County will be upgraded to a special municipality called Sinbei City. He paid courtesy calls on some of his neighbors, including the local borough chief, saying that he would develop Sanchong into “a beautiful waterfront city.” Chu, who is the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate for Sinbei, said he would use his new residence as his campaign office. The KMT has pinned its hopes on him after various opinion polls showed that Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), also of the KMT, would likely lose a bid for re-election, leaving Chu as the party’s best choice.
■ MEDICAL
Families give thanks
The families of three organ recipients expressed thanks to the family of a retired Canadian teacher in Tainan City yesterday. Hans Lammens, who lived in Tainan with his wife Sandra Lammens, fell off his bicycle on May 7 and died five days later. Lammens’ wife, an English teacher at National Nanke International Experimental High School, decided to donate his organs, including his heart, kidneys, liver, cornea and sclera. The husband of a kidney recipient, identified only by his family name Liu, presented flowers to her yesterday at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Hospital, where the organ transplant surgery took place on May 13. “Finally, my wife does not need to live in the hospital anymore,” said Liu, whose wife was required to visit the hospital three times a week for kidney dialysis. The Lammens’ family also gave the organ donor’s funeral and burial subsidies to charities.
■ ENTERTAINMENT
Ke Hsiang-ting passes away
Award-winning movie actor and founding member of a local trade union for actors, Ke Hsiang-ting (葛香亭), died on Sunday at his Taipei home at the age of 92. His family said his health had deteriorated in recent days and his children were at his bedside when he passed away. Born in China’s Jiangsu Province, Ke joined the military, where he began his acting career serving in the entertainment corps after arriving in Taiwan with the army. His involvement in the entertainment industry spanned six decades. He won a Golden Horse award in 1965 for best leading actor for his role in Beautiful Duckling and again in 1970 for The Evergreen Mountains. In 2005, he received a Golden Horse lifetime achievement award. Besides his work in front of the camera, he also worked to improve the welfare of those in the industry and in 1978 founded the Actor’s Union of the Republic of China.
■ POLITICS
Obesity survey awaited
NCKU announced yesterday that it would release the results of the country’s first university survey of the weights of students at the end of this month. NCKU authorities used the slogan “Check Your Weight, Before Losing It” to promote the survey, which was conducted last month. NCKU surveyed a total of 6,000 of its sophomores and juniors. The survey was aimed at spurring students to check their weight regularly, control their diet and get as much exercise as possible, the university said. NCKU authorities would not, however, take any action to force overweight students to lose weight, it said. Meanwhile, the university has invited nutritionists from NCKU Hospital to advise campus restaurants on how to offer low-fat, high-fiber meals to students.
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
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant