Mental health group: loneliness a growing problemALL AGES WELCOME Affecting both the young and the old, loneliness and its secondary effects are an increasingly big issue in Taiwan societyBy Chiu Chih-jou and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Mental Health Foundation on Tuesday called for more proactive policies to support mental health, as the top related news events of last year showed that loneliness has become a major issue in Taiwan. A sign bearing the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s name is pictured at its headquarters in Taipei in an undated photograph. It could indicate that society has insufficient mental support for those on society’s periphery, Yang said. Yang said mental health assessments could be part of vocational counseling or part of local and central labor departments, as a way to reach out and support those who need it. Foundation chairman Hu Hai-kuo (胡海國) said the government’s efforts to reinforce the mental health system were a good start, but insufficient.

3 leads roadkill rankingsKINETIC EFFECTS Wildlife over- and underpasses have helped decrease instances of roadkill, but Freeway No. 3 still leads the nation in total numbers, if not impact densityBy Wu Liang-yi / Staff reporterStatistics about animal roadkill on Taiwan’s freeways showed that the Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3 and the National Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. The Freeway Bureau first began surveying animal roadkill on freeways during a conservation project in 2007 to reduce the roadkill numbers during the mass migration of purple crow butterflies. The freeway roadkill survey is jointly conducted by the bureau’s Engineering Division, road cleaning and maintenance personnel, as well as incident response personnel, who keep records of the roadkill circumstances and species.

Legislature passes bill on lawmaker subsidiesStaff writer, with CNAThe legislature late on Friday passed an amendment stipulating that it must annually budget lawmaker subsidies from public funds, including office operating expenses and the salaries and allowances of publicly funded aides. The Legislative Yuan is pictured in Taipei on Friday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei TimesSubsequently, KMT Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) introduced a separate bill to amend the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法). Lawmakers can determine the amount of each aide’s wages, with payments disbursed by the Legislative Yuan on their behalf. Defining aides’ salaries as lawmaker subsidies could create legal ambiguities and shield legislators from liability, they said.

Chiayi man has 24 bladder stones removedUNWELCOME GUESTS Bladder stones can result from genetic predisposition, diet, a lack of consistent hydration, age or a number of other conditionsBy Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with CNAAn elderly man in Chiayi County recently had 24 stones removed from his bladder that a urologist surmised had been there for at least 10 years. Yang Ming Hospital urologist Huang Tsai-pei (黃才倍) yesterday said the man had rarely visited a urologist and did not know he had so many bladder stones. People with bladder stones usually have no notion of them except for experiencing voiding difficulties or blood in the urine, particularly because the bladder has great elasticity to stretch out to hold urine, he said. Stones removed from a man’s bladder are pictured in Chiayi County yesterday. The man had hard bladder stones with smooth surfaces, which could not be shattered via non-invasive method as easily as more loosely accreted stones in other patients, Huang said.

CTi TV still shut down: NCCNOT RETROACTIVE An amendment railroaded through the Legislative Yuan would not restore the TV channel, which was shut down for repeated violationsStaff writer, with CNAThe National Communications Commission (NCC) on Friday said that amendments to the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) passed by the Legislative Yuan earlier that day, which eases license renewal rules for news channels, would not restore the cable news broadcasting rights of Chung Tien Television (CTi TV). The legislation contains no retroactive provisions and would not affect CTi News, which was offlined in 2020, NCC Secretary-General Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) said. The changes have been dubbed the “CTi TV clause” by critics who say they could open a path for CTi News to regain its license after it was taken off the air on Dec. 12, 2020, when its license expired and was not renewed by the NCC. The broadcasting regulator rejected CTi News’ license renewal application on Nov. 18, 2020, citing “repeated rule violations” and “a failure of its internal discipline and control mechanisms.”CTi TV later entered into an administrative lawsuit with the NCC, which is still ongoing. Cheng said the case over the license renewal for CTi News is under further review by the High Administrative Court, with the legal proceedings ongoing.

Sub conducts shallow-water submerged tests‘MILESTONE’: President William Lai said that the trials demonstrated that Taiwan is among the few countries in the world that can build their own submarinesBy Su Yung-yao and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Hai Kun (海鯤) prototype submarine on Friday conducted “shallow-water submerged tests” following its first submerged test a day earlier, which CSBC Corp, Taiwan, the primary contractor of the indigenous defense program, said was successful. “The successful submerged sea trials of the Hai Kun are an important milestone in the navy’s history of autonomous shipbuilding,” President William Lai (賴清德) wrote on social media on Friday. The prototype submarine Hai Kun undergoes a submerged test in Kaohsiung on Friday. The Hai Kun was originally scheduled to complete sea trials by November last year, but the schedule was pushed back as it underwent final adjustments ahead of the submergence tests. With the Hai Kun undergoing submergence tests, a major component of Taiwan’s defense infrastructure is nearing completion.

Two children’s deaths in Taichung being investigatedStaff writer, with CNAAn investigation has been launched into the deaths of two children in Taichung who are suspected to have died from ingesting unidentified drugs, police said yesterday. Authorities said they received a report early yesterday morning, saying the two children had no heartbeat or signs of breathing. The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office is pictured in an undated photograph. The Taichung Social Affairs Bureau said social workers have been assigned to the children’s family to provide them withassistance, while some family members have been put in a safe place. Police said they have reported the case to the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office, which would join the investigations and conduct autopsies to underpin the cause of death and how they happened.

The captain surnamed Yu (尤) was detained for questioning after customs officials discovered a large cache of heroin during a shipboard inspection of the Yang Ming Horizon operated by Yang Ming Marine, Taiwan’s second-largest shipping line, when it arrived in Kaohsiung on Thursday, sources said. The Yang Ming Horizon departed from Hai Phong Port, Vietnam, early on Sunday last week. Its itinerary listed a stop in Hong Kong before sailing to Kaohsiung, sources said. The Yang Ming Horizon is pictured at Kaohsiung Harbor on Thurday. Cases implicating a globallyrecognized shipping company such as Yang Ming Marine are extremely rare, they said, adding that authorities will continue to investigate whether internal management lapses within the shipping company were involved and to determine whether other personnel or a larger transnational drug trafficking network might be connected to the case.

Lai urges unity against external and hostile forcesBy Chen Cheng-yu / Staff reporterPresident William Lai (賴清德) yesterday urged unity in the face of what he called external hostile forces. President William Lai, right, presents a posthumous presidential citation to a relative of former Formosa Political Prisoners Association chairman Liu Chin-shih during a memorial service in Taipei yesterday. Born in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳), Liu was only 12 years old when he and his father witnessed then-Taiwan governor Chen Yi’s (陳儀) troops shooting civilians, Lai said. Having seen the horrors of the 228 Massacre, the conviction that Taiwan must be independent was planted in Liu’s heart at that moment, Lai said. After Liu was released from prison, he and fellow survivors established the FPPA, Taiwan’s first association of political prisoners for supporting the families of the persecuted, which was a deeply moving effort, Lai said.

Executive Yuan vows to seek legal remedies to bills‘TAILORED’: The amendments to the ill-gotten assets act turn state property into the private holdings of specific political groups, a Cabinet spokesperson saidStaff writer, with CNAThe Cabinet said it would “seek lawful and constitutional remedies” over amendments to three laws passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday. Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) and the Cabinet plans to take legal and constitutional measures to seek redress as she criticized the legislature for failing to review the central government’s annual budget, but “passed bills that undermine press freedom and violate democratic constitutional principles.”The name of the Executive Yuan is pictured in Taipei in an undated photograph. Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei TimesThe amendment to the Satellite Broadcasting Act “is clearly tailored to a specific case, with political agendas interfering in independent agencies,” she said. Regarding the asset act, Lee said that since its enactment in 2016, the act has passed constitutional review by the Judicial Yuan, including the recognition of KMT-affiliated organizations such as the CYC. As for the amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan, Lee criticized the passage as rushed, saying that the amendment process bypassed proper democratic procedures and lacked meaningful debate.

Cold air mass to bring temperatures down nationwideStaff writer, with CNAWith a cold air mass approaching, temperatures in the northern half of Taiwan could dip as low as a wintery 12°C from early this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The green line represents the south, the brown line represents central Taiwan, the blue line represents Hualien and Taitung and the red line represents northern Taiwan and Yilan. Photo provide by the Central Weather AdministrationIn southern Taiwan, daytime temperatures reached 23°C to 26°C yesterday, it said. The CWA said the cold air mass is expected to bring in moisture to Taiwan and that mountains 3,000m or higher in northern Taiwan, including Yilan County, were likely to see snow last night. Snowfall is expected to continue tomorrow as the cold air mass keeps affecting the country, it said.

Taiwan ‘very important’ to Japan: academicStaff writer, with CNATaiwan is “very important” to Japan for three strategic reasons, a Japanese academic said on Friday while discussing scenarios under which the Japan Self-Defense Forces could be mobilized. Photo:ReutersAny contingency involving Taiwan would heighten Japan’s sense of insecurity, he said, adding that Taiwan lies only about 111km from Yonaguni Island, Japan’s westernmost point. Japan is increasingly dependent on semiconductors imported from Taiwan, which accounts about two-thirds of global semiconductor output, Kiridori said. What Takaichi said is if there is a naval blockade of Taiwan and if force is used, Japan could consider the situation a threat to its survival, he said. “We don’t want confrontation between the United States and China, and we don’t want a destabilized Taiwan Strait,” he added.

Fines for licenseless driving riseBy Chung Li-hua, Tsai Chung-jung and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writerIncreased fines for driving without a license took effect yesterday, with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications saying that the changes would hopefully deter illegal road use. The fine for riding a small motorcycle without a license rose to NT$36,000, and increased to NT$60,000 for cars. Photo: CNAThe vehicle would be impounded immediately and illegal drivers would have to pay to attend a traffic safety course, the ministry said. Previous efforts to curb licenseless driving included mandatory traffic safety courses, but the rules had no noticeable effect, as incidents have continued to rise, it said. Cases of minors driving without a license totaled 20,000, last year, while cases involving adults totaled 260,000, ministry data showed.

US approves major new arms sales to Israel, Saudi ArabiaAP, WASHINGTONThe administration of US President Donald Trump has approved a massive new series of arms sales to Israel and Saudi Arabia totaling US$6.67 billion and US$9 billion respectively. The US Department of State announced the sales late on Friday, as tensions rise in the region over the possibility of US military strikes on Iran. They were made public after the department notified the US Congress of its approval of the sales earlier the same day. The sales to Israel are split into four separate packages, with one for 30 Apache attack helicopters, and related equipment and weapons, and another for 3,250 light tactical vehicles. “The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” it added.

The person who died was a man in his 70s, a resident of Daan District (大安), the CDC said. Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of HealthAgency data showed that as of yesterday, there had been 44 hantavirus cases since 2017, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Min-cheng (林明誠) said. Hantavirus infection is highly correlated to exposure at workplaces, Lin said. For example, many of the people diagnosed with the disease worked at traditional markets or in related businesses, which increases the chances of being exposed to rodents, Lin said. Vector control measures and personal protection are important to prevent hantavirus infection, he said.