■ Executive Yuan
Conservation fee proposed
The public will be charged a water-resource conser-vation fee if draft amend-ments to the Tap Water Law (自來水法) pass the legislature. According to a Cabinet official who asked not to be named, the draft, which is scheduled to be approved by the Cabinet during the weekly closed-door Cabinet meeting tomorrow, would authorize the Ministry of Economic Affairs to consult with local governments while mapping out the fee struc-ture. The draft would also mandate the establishment of a supervisory com-mittee to oversee the fund. "Taxa-tion levied on the water resources is different from other fees paid to the government agencies because it requires a more transparent mechanism to supervise the use of the fund," the official said.
■ Travel
New passport draws flak
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it is checking with officials in Bosnia and Slovakia over reports from local travel agencies that the two countries have refused to recognize Taiwan's new passport. "We are trying to understand what exactly has happened there, and are telling them that the new passport has nothing to do with politics," said ministry spokesman Richard Shih (石瑞琦). His comment came after travel agencies reported that both countries had recently barred the entry of visitors using the new passports. The government began issuing the new passports earlier this month. The new pass-port includes the word "Taiwan" in Roman script on the cover, underneath the nation's official title "Republic of China." Shih said the government has informed other countries of the change, telling them that it was merely for the convenience of Taiwanese travelers.
■ Cross-strait ties
Smugglers turn to marriage
Police reported yesterday a new scheme by human smugglers, known as "snakeheads," to import Chinese women to be used for prostitution. Police said snakeheads recently approached three Aborigi-nal men in Fuhsing village, Taoyuan County, and offered them an expenses-paid month in China plus NT$30,000 (US$887) apiece. The trio traveled to China, where the snakeheads arranged marriages for them with Chinese women. The women then came to Taiwan and registered their marriages and were then free to move around the country. Police said that the three men had knowingly helped the women come to Taiwan and had committed forgery. They were turned over to the Prosecutors' Office after an initial investigation. Police vowed to step up a crackdown on marriages of convenience.
■ Tourism
Vietnamese group to visit
Thirty-five Vietnamese journalists and businessmen from the tourism industry will arrive in Taipei today for a five-day visit at the invitation of the Tourism Bureau. A bureau official said yesterday that there is ample room for the devel-opment of tourism between the two countries because their trade relations are getting closer. There are about 30,000 Taiwanese doing business in Vietnam and many Vietnamese laborers work in Taiwan. There have also been many marriages between Viet-namese and Taiwanese.
The visitors will call on the China External Trade Development Council and visit several tourist attrac-tions during their stay.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese