Blind boy leads book borrowers in KaohsiungBy Hsu Li-chuan and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerAn 11-year-old blind boy has received a “Love Reading Expert” award from the Kaohsiung Main Public Library for reading 161 books last year. Wu Ching-yu (吳晉宇) did not let visual loss stop him learning, the library said. Wu lost his vision due to retinal detachment at birth and had to spend his first two years in hospital. Wu Ching-yu, right, accompanied by his father, reads a book at the Kaohsiung Main Public Library on Friday. The Love Reading Expert award, which was established by the Ministry of Education, encourages reading and honors 24 winners every year.

Virus Outbreak: New rules for domestic flights announcedBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporter, with CNAPassengers on domestic flights would not be allowed to board if their temperature is more than 37.5°C or if they refuse to have their temperatures taken, Uni Air (立榮航空) and Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) said yesterday. Several airlines have decided to suspend flights to Taiwan amid plummeting demand and increasingly tight border controls around the world. Thai AirAsia on Saturday said it was canceling all international flights from Wednesday to April 25, including its Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport-Chiang Mai route. AirAsia said its Taoyuan-Sabah flights and Kaohsiung International Airport-Kuala Lumpur flights, as well as all long-haul flights starting with the code D7, would be canceled until Tuesday next week, while flights from Taoyuan to Nagoya, Japan, would be canceled until April 24. Jetstar Asia Airways said it was suspending all flights from today to April 15, and Malinda Air said its Taoyuan-Kuala Lumpur flights would be canceled through April 30.

The proposal came after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) sparked controversy by asking for confidential military information from the Ministry of National Defense. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator-at-large Wu Sz-huai wipes his forehead during a meeting at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on March 13. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei TimesThe legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee is to review the proposal. Lai called on the KMT caucus to support his proposal, which he said would “save them a lot of trouble” if passed. However, the proposal is too personal and its scope needs to be more clearly defined to avoid it having overly deep implications, he said.

Speed control system to help save leopard catsBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterThe Directorate-General of Highways is installing an average speed control system along a section of Highway No. 13 in Miaoli County to prevent leopard cats being killed by traffic. 3 in Miaoli’s Jhuolan Township (卓蘭), where leopard cats appear frequently. Because the natural habitats of leopard cats are sundered by highways, they are often killed by traffic, it added. The agency said that it produced a film documenting the leopard cat’s recovery and its return to its natural habitat, which can be viewed at http://a1.pise.pw/QTKKA.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the center, said all flight transits would be banned through April 7. Visitors to a New Taipei City columbarium yesterday present offerings and pray, with tables spaced further apart than normal for social distancing as part of COVID-19 disease prevention measures. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei TimesThe health minister said the 16 latest cases were 13 imported ones and three domestic, including a nurse at a long-term care center, the health minister said. All 81 people at the care center — 53 residents and 28 staff — were tested by the CECC on Saturday night, and the results so far have all been negative, he said. “We still define the current situation as sporadic local transmission,” he said when reporters asked if Taiwan has entered the “community spread” stage.

John J. Tkacik, Jr. On Taiwan: Taiwan’s place on the coronavirus mapSwirling within the cybersphere’s vast ocean of reports, statistics and graphs about the international coronavirus pandemic, there is a short sentence out there in the worldwide web, which the Chinese government doesn’t want people to notice. A Johns Hopkins engineering professor assembled the map’s dashboard, and a Chinese doctoral student, Ensheng Dong (董恩盛), took over as the map’s webmaster. The JHU map lumped Taiwan’s numbers together with China’s, and consequently buried some extremely important epidemiological data. State called JHU and, after a friendly conversation, “Taiwan*” was restored in all its ambiguous glory to the JHU map — with an asterisk. So, Messrs. Dong’s and Du’s vision of their JHU map database accessing Taiwan’s health data, together with Japan’s, Korea’s, Singapore’s, and Hong Kong’s, is not far-fetched.

When he reemerged two years later at the age of 32 with the essay Annual Ring (年輪), he had become Yang Mu (楊牧). But Yang had little interest in social issues when he arrived, writes Chang Hui-ching (張惠菁) in his biography Yang Mu (楊牧). In 1967, the anti-Vietnam War protests reached its height at Berkeley, and Yang often saw students clashing with the police. “Berkeley made me open my eyes and observe and recognize this society with urgency,” Yang writes. Later that year, he became Yang Mu.

Virus Outbreak: Former nurse pays Chen Shih-chung homage in latteBy Dennis Xie / Staff writer, with CNAA coffee shop owner, who was previously a nurse, created a “4D” latte art sculpture of Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to thank him for recognizing the efforts of frontline nurses amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Few people understand the painstaking nature of a nurse’s job, but Chen gave several pep talks to nurses, recognizing and validating their hard work, Tseng Hsiao-chiao (曾筱喬), who runs a coffee shop in Pingtung County’s Chaojhou Township (潮州), said on Monday. Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei TimesSome people have visited the shop to take phtographs with the creation, she said. If kept in a freezer, in can last even longer, she added. She once carried a lunch box to work when she was still a nurse, but found that she did not have a minute to eat it during the whole day, she said.

Chinese exercises not provocative: KMT lawmakerBy Chung Li-hua and Wu Su-wei / Staff reportersThere is a “huge” difference between Chinese warplanes flying around Taiwan and intruding into its airspace, and the former should not be deemed provocative, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) said, calling on the Ministry of National Defense not to mislead the public. Just as US aircraft flying by the nation should not be deemed provocative, neither should Chinese aircraft, Wu wrote in a question-and-answer session with the Executive Yuan on Wednesday last week. Wu last month called Chinese warplanes’ fly-bys “very unwise and inappropriate,” only to change his tone in a question addressed to the Executive Yuan later that month. Conversely, misinformation would sow panic.”Apart from the one incident in which Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the other Chinese fly-bys last month involved aircraft participating in long-distance drills, he said. The line has served as a military demarcation adhered to by both sides of the Taiwan Strait based on a tacit agreement, he said.

Virus Outbreak: CECC confirms 18 new COVID-19 casesEXPANDED CRITERIA: People who returned between March 8 and Wednesday from East Asian nations or the US and had respiratory symptoms are to be quarantinedBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced 18 imported cases of COVID-19, bringing Taiwan’s total number of confirmed cases to 235. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the 18 new cases were comprised of 12 women and six men. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung announces 18 new imported cases of COVID-19 at a daily Central Epidemic Command Center news conference in Taipei yesterday. “While we have chosen to test people we consider to be at higher risk, we must also ensure that people get tested immediately after the onset of symptoms,” Chen Shih-chung said. However, as these two weeks are a critical phase in fighting the spread of COVID-19, people who are in home quarantine should strictly conform to the regulations, Chen Shih-chung said.

Virus Outbreak: Foreign visitors to receive visa extensions: ministryCARROT AND STICK: A new program aims to encourage those who have overstayed their visas to turn themselves in before the NIA increases penalties and enforcementBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterForeign visitors who entered Taiwan before today would be granted automatic 30-day visa extensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. A few people wait at the passport office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Central Taiwan Office in Taichung yesterday. The bureau also referred to the Expanded Overstayers Voluntary Departure Program launched by the National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Friday. The masks for the South American ally were purchased by Taiwan’s representative office, not exported from Taiwan, it said. Foreign aid would only be provided after Taiwan meets its own needs for medical supplies amid the virus crisis, the ministry said, adding that it has asked judicial authorities to investigate the source of the misinformation.

Vina Formosa comes of ageTaichung’s Vino Formosa continues to rack up accolades with two golds earlier this month — and its winemaker has his sights set on recreating Taiwanese spirits from the Japanese eraBy Han Cheung / Staff reporterChen Chien-hao (陳千浩) never tasted proper red wine until he was 23. But more than two decades later in 2014, Chen’s Vino Formosa, a dessert wine made in collaboration with Taichung’s Shu Sheng Leisure Domaine (樹生酒莊), won its first international gold medal. Vino Formosa’s red wine, Vino Formosa Rosso, won yet another award earlier this month. But the sourness made our wine palatable in larger quantities.”Chen started entering Vino Formosa into international competitions in 2011. The current waiting list to purchase Vino Formosa is up to five years.

The US on Thursday introduced an economic stimulus package that would, if approved, give each US citizen US$1,200 and each child US$500, Lo said. Premier Su Tseng-chang, foreground, delivers the government’s general policy report during an interpellation session with Cabinet members at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. The government is rich, so it should be able to roll out more generous stimulus packages, he said. The government hopes to improve on the former administration’s policy by using a different approach, one that incentivizes people to go shopping, Su said. Other KMT lawmakers who had signed up to speak at the beginning of the meeting clamored for more generous stimulus packages.

Virus outbreak: Supplies of food, daily necessities sufficient: SuBy Sean Lin / Staff reporterPremier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday reassured the public that the nation has sufficient supplies of fresh produce and tissue paper, and that people can shop without worries. The public need not be alarmed over news of panic buying abroad, as supplies of food staples and daily necessities are under control, Su said. Photo copied by Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei TimesThe nation has sufficient food supplies, thanks to its robust agricultural, food processing and fishery industries, he said. It has more than enough tissue paper, with production running at only about 60 percent of capacity, he said. He asked Su to reassure the public that there is no need to engage in panic buying.

TAIEX rallies as National Stabilization Fund kicks inCURBING THE DECLINE: An analyst said that the fund and other measures sent the message that ‘the government would do something’ to strengthen the marketBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe TAIEX yesterday rallied 6.37 percent to 9,234.09 points after the government on Thursday pledged to activate the National Stabilization Fund. Turnover totaled NT$234.027 billion (US$7.72 billion), slightly down from NT$271.17 billion a day earlier, but higher than last month’s average of NT$146 billion, the data showed. A person wearing a mask yesterday walks past an electronic display board showing stock prices at a brokerage firm in Taipei. The measures included the central bank cutting rates by 25 basis points, the Financial Supervisory Commission’s ban on short-selling and the Ministry of Finance’s activation of the National Stabilization Fund, Chu said. The move would allow insurers to hold less capital when they increase investment in local stocks and thus ease the pressure of maintaining good capital adequacy, it said.