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Taiwan Quick Take

■ IMMIGRATION
Rules tightened for Chinese
Beginning next month, Chinese immigrants must provide proof that they earn at least NT$17,280 a month and have savings of at least NT$414,720 to be considered eligible for permanent residency, the Ministry of the Interior said in press release. The previous savings requirement -- still in effect until the end of this month -- was NT$380,160, the ministry said. The changes are necessary to ensure that Chinese immigrants, the largest immigrant group in the country, won't pose an undue strain on social services, the ministry said.

■ TRANSPORT
Yuchang road to open
The Directorate General of Highways said yesterday that the Yuchang Highway, a 36.3km road that crosses the coastal mountain range on the east coast, will open to traffic on Saturday. Director-General James Chen (陳晉源) said the highway would open to the public at 2pm after an opening ceremony is held at 10am. Taiwan Mobile Corp will install a wireless base station near the Yuchang Tunnel today. FarEasTone and Chunghwa Telecom have already installed facilities, Chen said.

■ CRIME
Arson case `solved': police
The Kaohsiung City Police Bureau announced yesterday that its officers had solved an arson case that left four members of a family dead and two others injured in a laundry on June 5. Bureau Director-General Tsai Yi-jen (蔡以仁) told a press conference that a suspect was detained on Tuesday night. Although the suspect, a Cheng Shiu University lecturer surnamed Chen, had remained silent during questioning, evidence collected from his house, witness statements and Chen's mental health record had convinced prosecutors that he was the culprit. Surveillance footage from nearby convenience stores taken on the night of the fire showed a man running out of the alley where the shop was located seconds before the fire broke out, Tsai said. Police claimed that Chen's medical records showed that he suffers from delusions and was inclined to commit arson or murder.

■ POLITICS
Beauty pageant targets UN
The Taiwan United Nations Alliance is planning to hold the first "Mr and Miss UN" beauty pageant in September to help boost the nation's bid to join the UN using the name "Taiwan." Candidates must be aged between 18 and 30. The two winners will travel to the US and join the country's UN bid when the annual UN General Assembly meeting is held in September. The Democratic Progressive Party has collected enough signatures on the initial petition for a proposed referendum on using the name "Taiwan" to join the UN. The Referendum Review Committee will hold a public hearing on June 22 to determine the legality of the proposed initiative. The DPP is required to collect more than 820,000 signatures on a second petition to make the proposal valid.

■ HEALTH
`Zongzi' warning issued
A Tzu-Chi Buddhist General Hospital dietician urged people to refrain from eating more than three zongzi (粽子) a day. The Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on June 19 this year, is the traditional time to eat the pyramid-shaped dumplings made of glutinous rice stuffed with meat, peanuts, egg yolk or other fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. Lai Chu-ching (賴淑菁), who works at the hospital's Taichung County branch, said each zongzi contains between 400 and 600 calories.

■ CRIME
Fraud busters to visit Seoul
The National Police Agency (NPA) plans to send a delegation of experienced fraud busters to Seoul tomorrow to attend a seminar on strategies to fight various forms of fraud. The delegation, to be headed by police official Liu Kuo (劉闊), will share their experience with South Korean police, who are having trouble fighting fraud committed by cross-border syndicates, particularly those based in China, an NPA official said. Several senior South Korean criminal investigators recently visited the NPA to study Taiwan's approach to fighting crimes committed by fraudsters in China after cross-strait fraud rings began expanding their operations from Taiwan to South Korea, the official said. "Cross-strait fraud rings have been committing fraudulent crimes by phone or using Internet `Trojan horse' programs to steal personal information," he said.

■ HEALTH
Tests fail to detect cancer
A woman in Hualien County has been diagnosed with cervical cancer six years after she contracted the disease, even though she has had an annual pap smear for the past five years, doctors said yesterday. The 33-year-old mother of two displayed normal results for her pap smears for five consecutive years, doctors said. Cervical cancer was detected only after her sixth annual pap smear this year, they said. Liao Chi-yuan (廖基元), a gynecologist and obstetrician at Hualien's Mennonite Christian Hospital, said that there was only a 60 percent to 80 percent accuracy rate for conventional pap smear screening that uses a manual method to review samples. Liao suggested that women make sure their pap smears are reviewed using computer-aided imaging, which is not covered by National Health Insurance.

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