CRIME
Taiwanese returned: CIB
Three Taiwanese in Georgia, who were forced into a telecom fraud operation, were returned to Taiwan safely months ago, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday in response to media reports that a Taiwanese gang was allegedly operating a fraud ring in the European nation. The bureau said that in May it had received reports of three Taiwanese being held captive in Georgia and forced to engage in telecom fraud. Some of the 400 Taiwanese and Chinese in the hotel utilized by the ring were tricked into entering the country, while others went voluntarily, although they expected to be compensated, the bureau said. It liaised with its office in the Netherlands and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to extract the three in June and July, and has opened an investigation into the case, the bureau said. It also said that there appears to have been Taiwanese operating a criminal enterprise in Georgia, with its members entering the country on a third passport, although they reportedly moved to Southeast Asia last month after attracting attention from local law enforcement.
DIPLOMACY
German agreement inked
Taiwan and Germany yesterday signed an agreement to establish a commission to promote and facilitate exchanges at the civil society level, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The agreement was signed remotely by Representative to Germany Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), who is based in Berlin, and German Deputy Representative to Taiwan Andreas Hofem in Taipei, the ministry said in a news release. Initiated by the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, the agreement is aimed at establishing a platform for enhanced bilateral dialogue at the level of civil society, the ministry said. The German office said in a news release that the commission would comprise 24 members — 12 from each side — and be headed by two chairs. German lawmaker Reinhard Butikofer has been named as one cochair and former National Chengchi University professor Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) has been named as the other, releases by the two sides said. The commission is to be launched next year and is to meet once a year, alternating between Germany and Taiwan, the German office said. The agreement is the third to be signed by the two sides this year, the other two being pacts on technology collaboration and judicial cooperation on criminal matters, the ministry said.
HEALTH
CDC nears vaccine goal
More than 6 million doses of publicly funded influenza vaccines have been administered this year, including to nearly half of people aged 65 or above, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Since its rollout on Oct. 2, 6.018 million doses of the flu vaccine had been administered, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) told reporters. In terms of age, 2.08 million people aged 65 or above, or 49.8 percent of that age group, have received a shot, just shy of the government’s goal of 55 percent, Lo said. In the 50-to-64 age group, 15.4 percent, or 813,000 people, have been vaccinated, as have 70,000 people aged 19 to 49 with chronic illnesses or other factors that put them at risk of severe complications from infection, he said. As of yesterday, 561,000 doses remained unadministered, he said, adding that the CDC would consider purchasing additional doses based on demand. The flu season typically begins in November and winds down in March.
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