DIPLOMACY
France’s Olivier Cadic lands
French Senator Olivier Cadic has arrived on his third visit to Taiwan and is to meet with high-level government officials over the next four days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Cadic, the vice president of the French Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces, is to be the guest of honor at banquets hosted by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roy Lee (李淳) and Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), chairperson of the Taiwan-France Interparliamentary Amity Association, the ministry said. The senator is also scheduled to meet with French business representatives and expatriates in Taiwan and visit Penghu County, it said. Cadic’s visit is the fourth by a French parliamentary delegation this year.
CULTURE
Ministry obtains Paris booth
Taiwan has secured a display area in Paris for the Cultural Olympiad next year, Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲) said on Saturday. With the Paris Olympics scheduled for July 26 to Aug. 11 next year and the Summer Paralympics for Aug. 28 to Sept. 8 next year, a Cultural Olympiad is taking place across France to celebrate the upcoming athletic competitions. The Cultural Olympiad is to conclude at the end of the Paralympics. Shih, who is visiting Europe, said that Taiwan would attend the cultural celebration to showcase the nation. As next year is also the 30th anniversary of the Taiwan Cultural Center in Paris, Shih said: “We have already rented an area for Taiwan’s booth. Taiwan will not miss out.” The booth would focus on Taiwan’s freedom, democracy, human rights and cross-strait relations, he said. These issues would be addressed using a wide range of medis, including literature, film and fine art depicted using technology, he said.
DEFENSE
More corporals to be trained
The Ministry of National Defense has allocated funding to train more corporals after the government last year announced that the length of compulsory military service would be extended from four months to one year from January next year. The budget for next year, released on Aug. 31, showed that the ministry would promote 1,000 corporals from its pool of one-year draftees. Next year, Taiwan would have about 9,127 one-year draftees and 69,523 four-month conscripts, the ministry said. The new budget means that one in nine one-year draftees could be recruited as corporals. The number of one-year draftees is forecast to climb to about 35,050 in 2027, while that of four-month conscripts would drop to about 32,731.
CRIME
Doctor’s sentence upheld
The Supreme Court on Sept. 12 upheld a four-year sentence handed to a Taichung-based doctor charged with negligent homicide after he was found guilty of giving illegal injections that caused three heroin addicts seeking to treat their withdrawal symptoms to die of shock. The doctor, surnamed Lin (林), was convicted of illegally administering the jabs, which contained propofol, an anesthetic, mixed with anticholinergics, which are restricted substances. Taichung prosecutors found that the three addicts all died of shock at Lin’s clinic shortly after receiving the injections between June 2015 and April 2016. The Taichung District Court sentenced Lin to six years in jail on the grounds that he ignored the potential risks when administering the injections. The High Court’s Taichung branch reduced the sentence to four years after Lin reached settlements with all three families. The Supreme Court’s verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
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