SOCIETY
No sedatives at preschool
Mass spectrometry testing found no traces of barbiturates in a blood sample from a student at a preschool in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止) amid a scare over the alleged use of sedatives at preschools, the city’s health department said yesterday. The city government said the results confirmed that none of the 80 students tested at the preschool had ingested sedatives. New Taipei City offered students at the Sijhih preschool free urine and blood tests to allay parents’ concerns after the parents of one the school’s students tested their child’s urine for sedatives earlier this month, but the low level of benzodiazepine detected was considered negative.
DIPLOMACY
Belize delegation arrives
Belizean Minister of National Defense and Border Security Florencio Marin arrived in Taiwan yesterday on his first trip to the nation, which ends on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said. Marin plans to visit the Ministry of National Defense, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, which is Taiwan’s top military research unit, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and local shipbuilding companies, MOFA said in a news release. Marin is leading a six-member delegation that includes Belizean Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Christopher Coye, and Belizean Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Defense and Border Security Dario Tapia, it added. Marin previously served as deputy prime minister under former Belizean prime minister George Cadle Price, as well as deputy leader of the opposition People’s United Party. Taiwan established official diplomatic ties with the Central American country in 1989.
TRAFFIC
Truck kills pedestrian
A 20-year-old man died on Sunday night shortly after being struck by a tow truck as he was crossing a street in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重), city authorities said. The man, surnamed Men (門), was walking on a pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Shuiyang and Chenggong roads when he was hit by the truck at about 8pm, the New Taipei City Police Department said, without saying whether the pedestrian light was green. The tow truck hit Men head-on, and its windshield cracked on impact, police said. The 34-year-old driver of the tow truck, surnamed Chang (張), apparently did not see Men on the crosswalk, police said. Chang tested negative for alcohol, they said. Police said there were no CCTV cameras at the intersection, but they have interviewed eyewitnesses and collected evidence. Shuiyang Road is a five-lane motorway divided by a traffic island, with a speed limit of 50kph.
HEALTH
Vaccine payout approved
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has agreed to pay NT$500,000 under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to a man in his 30s who developed adverse reactions to the AstraZeneca vaccine for COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control said on Saturday. The man, a New Taipei City resident surnamed Su (粟), developed a fever and a headache nine days after receiving a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. He immediately sought medical attention, and was later diagnosed as having thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, a rare blood-clotting condition, the centers said. Health authorities linked the cause to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the ministry 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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