■ Public Affairs
Anti-war protest planned
Several civic organizations are planning to stage a demonstration on Saturday in conjunction with a global rally against a possible US-led war on Iraq. An official
of the Labor Rights Asso-ciation said yesterday that his group and others had completed a joint declara-tion against the war and
will present it to the American Institute in Taiwan. The declaration states their opposition to any supportive measures by Taiwan's government to a US-lead invasion of Iraq, or to the solution of interna-tional disputes by war. The declaration also sets forth
its support for a peaceful solution by the UN to the Iraq problem. The official said the groups will solicit public support through the Internet and hope to mobil-ize at least 150 people to stage a protest in front of the AIT office in Taipei.
■ Culture
Tchen to visit Europe
Council for Cultural Affairs Chairwoman Tchen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀) said yesterday she will head a delegation of government officials and prominent artists which will visit Europe next week to promote cultural exchanges. "The visit is also aimed at learning from European experience in development of the creative cultural industry," Tchen said. She said the delegation will travel to Britain and Denmark because the London Institute of Con-temporary Arts and the Danish Council of Cultural Development invited her to visit. Noting that the creative cultural industry is one of the major fields to be subject to intensified development under the ambitious Challenge 2008 national development plan, Tchen said her council will adopt concrete measures to help boost the cultural industry's development. Tchen said she will also explore the possi-bility of forming a club of creative cultural industry operators and establishing a forum for international exchanges.
■ Public security
Drug seizures down last year
Police seized nearly 800kg of drugs in the first 11 months of last year, a 40 percent decrease from the same period in 2001, according to statistics released yesterday by the National Police Administration. The number of drug cases cracked by police during that time totaled 23,395, a year-on-year decrease of 3,916 cases, or 14.34 percent, the statistics showed. However, there was a 8.97 percent rise in cases involving the first category of drugs (heroin, morphine, opium and cocaine) -- to 11,974 -- over 2001 and a 77 percent rise in cases involving third-category drugs (FM2 and Ketamine) to 4,642 cases. But cases involving second-category drugs (opium poppies, marijuana, amphetamines and MDMA) dropped 50.52 percent from the year before to 6,779 cases.
■ Public security
Police raid nets pirate VCDs
Taichung police said yes-terday that they had seized more than 60,000 fake VCDs on Monday in two separate raids. More than 30,000 pirated VCDs based on popular TV soap operas in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and China were con-fiscated, along with some 38,000 pornographic VCDs. Eight suspects were detained in the raids, including two minors. Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) expressed satis-faction with the results of the police efforts against intellectual property piracy, but said he agreed with remarks made by Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) that the sentences for violating intellectual property rights are too light.
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