■ Health
Baby food taken off shelves
The Department of Health (DOH) placed a temporary ban on a baby-food product after Israel's health department found high levels of cadmium in the carrot puree, which is manufactured by Gerber in the US. "Samples have been sent for further testing and we expect the results to come out within three days," said Hsiao Tung-ming (蕭東銘), deputy director of the DOH's Bureau of Food Safety. Hsiao said that taking the product off the market was a precautionary measure, as the product sold in Taiwan is not the same as the one that had been tested in Israel. The Israeli product is aimed at children between four and six months of age, while the product sold in Taiwan is meant for children older than six months, Hsiao said.
■ Politics
KMT will move, Ma says
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday confirmed a media report that the party is planning to relocate its headquarters after the Lunar New Year, which begins on Jan. 29 next year. Ma said that the plan has been made in consideration of the fact that the number of party officials has been reduced, but he added that the question of whether the building where the headquarters are currently located will be sold needs to be assessed further. KMT officials said yesterday that the party is studying the possibility of moving out of the current headquarters on Zhongshan S Road near the Presidential Office to Bade Road in a business district, probably after the Lunar New Year. In line with a KMT manpower streamlining project, the party will further cut the number of staff at the headquarters to around 100 by February next year.
■ Law and order
More police for Taichung?
Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) has promised to increase Taichung City's police force by 500 officers by the end of next year if a budget is available, Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) said yesterday. Hu said the city government hoped to recruit at least 2,000 police officers over the next four years. He said that Su made the promise while the two discussed the issue over the phone on Sunday. Hu said that law and order in the city had to be improved, and he added that the size of the city's police force fell well short of what it should be, given the size of the population. Hu had also urged President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the central government to honor promises delivered prior to the Dec. 3 elections, stressing that campaign promises are never "a trifling matter." Chen and Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) had promised to increase Taichung City's police force by 1,000 officers while campaigning for the Democratic Progressive Party candidate, who lost the race by a wide margin.
■ Transportation
Official defends KRTC
It's not a good option at present for the Kaohsiung City Government to rescind any contracts related to the construction of the city's mass rapid transit system construction, or for the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to take over the troubled project, the deputy mayor of Kaohsiung said yesterday. Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文隆) made the remarks at a joint news conference with Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) Chairman Chiang Yao-tzung and Fan Chen-po (范陳柏), CEO of the corporation, at Kaohsiung City Hall. The government has not considered either of the options, and it will not halt work on the construction project as this would only cause bigger problems and more damage, Cheng said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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