■HEALTH
CDC wants clean hands
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday called on the public to take personal hygiene seriously and to wash their hands frequently, saying that two cases of severe enterovirus have been reported this year. A six-year-old boy has been released from hospital while a three-year-old boy from Yunlin County was still receiving treatment, CDC deputy director Shih Wen-yih (施文儀) said. The center said that with the peak season for intestinal disease expected in two to three weeks, parents and teachers should ensure that children wash their hands thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap before meals.
■LAWSUITS
First lady wins case
The Taiwan High Court yesterday ruled that political commentator Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒) must pay first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) NT$600,000 (US$18,800) in compensation for alleging that she stole newspapers from Harvard University’s Harvard-Yenching Library when she was a student there. Chin made the allegation during President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) presidential campaign in 2008. Chow immediately filed a lawsuit against Chin with the Taipei District Court, demanding that he publish an apology in four major newspapers while asking for NT$5 million (US$162,000) in compensation, which she said she would donate to charity. The Taipei District Court said Chin must compensate Chow and post an apology in four major newspapers. The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld the district court’s ruling. Chin can appeal with the Supreme Court.
■FESTIVALS
Children’s films in spotlight
A children’s film festival will be held in Taipei City and feature 130 films from 30 countries, an organizer said yesterday. This year’s Taiwan International Children’s Film Festival (TICFF), a biennial event dedicated to children under the age of 12, will be held at the Vie Show Cinemas Taipei Hsinyi and Eslite Hsinyi bookstore from Thursday through April 11. One of the opening films is Bye-Bye Morakot, a documentary about the life of children affected by the devastating typhoon, which hit Taiwan in August, organizer Wang Chung-wen (王瓊文) said. The festival, organized by Public Television Service since 2004, will also present works directed by Taiwanese children from schools across the country.
■FOREIGN AID
Tzu Chi helps Chileans
Volunteers from the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟功德會) recently distributed vital supplies, including food and blankets, to the victims of a powerful earthquake that hit Chile late last month, the charity said yesterday. The magnitude 8.8 earthquake occurred off Chile’s western coast on Feb. 27, killing hundreds of people and displacing tens of thousands. Estimates put the damage at more than US$30 billion. Seventy-two Tzu Chi volunteers from Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia and the US began the two-day relief operation on Saturday in Dichato, one of the hardest-hit areas, Tzu Chi said in a news release. The group then travelled to Tumbes and Cobquecura to continue aid distribution, Tzu Chi said. A total of 2,500 earthquake-affected households received the supplies, which include cooking oil, sugar, salt, flour, noodle, powdered milk and blankets, the organization said, adding that the relief operations helped more than 8,500 people. Tzu Chi’s next distribution program to Chilean quake victims is scheduled for May.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its