■ SOCIETY
Chess tournament begins
The 2007 World Computer Chinese Chess Championship will begin today at two universities in Tainan, the organizers of the event said yesterday. The three-day competition is being jointly organized by Chang-Jung Christian University, National University of Tainan and the Taiwanese Association for Artificial Intelligence. It will be divided into two sections with 15 teams from the US, France, China and Taiwan competing in Group A using self-developed computer programs, a spokesman said. In Group B, nearly 100 members of the public from Taiwan and China will play against computers. The winners from each section will challenge Taiwan's best Chinese chess player, Wu Kuei-lin (吳貴臨). The event also includes a forum in which academics from Taiwan and Japan are invited to discuss issues concerning computer Chinese chess, the spokesman said.
■ HEALTH
Dengue fever alarm sounded
A 68-year-old woman in Tainan contracted the first case of indigenous dengue hemorrhagic fever this year, the Center of Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a more serious form of the disease that can often prove fatal. The woman fell ill last Wednesday, and was reported as a possible dengue case on the same day, the CDC said. Residents of Tainan and surrounding areas are urged to be vigilant about clearing up puddles of water where the mosquito that spreads the disease can breed, especially given the rainy weather in recent days. "The alarm needs to be sounded for the Tainan area," CDC deputy director Chou Chih-hao (周志浩) said.
■ BUSINESS
TTLC wins 42 quality medals
The Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (TTLC) announced yesterday that it won 42 quality medals at this year's world quality selections for wine and food products organized by Monde Selection in Barcelona, Spain. The medals brought home by TTLC include the International Quality Trophy, which was awarded to five beer products made by the state-owned company. The company's victory in the world contest is the culmination of its successful improvements to its wine and tobacco products, and will sharpen its competitiveness in international markets, the spokesman said. Monde Selection is an international institute for quality selections founded in 1961 and is the most representative and oldest organization in the field of quality selections worldwide.
■ CRIME
Bogus officials arrested
The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) announced on Thursday that it had arrested two men who disguised themselves as national security officials in an attempt to pressure government agencies to prolong their rights to exploit a mine in Kaohsiung. The two suspects, Chen Hsing-hung (陳信宏) and Chen Kuo-hui (陳國輝), were detained by CIB agents after their true identities were discovered by the National Security Bureau on information provided by Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) officials. The pair admitted to having disguised themselves as security officials and using false name cards during a meeting with the EPA secretary-general, during which they tried to pressure EPA personnel to agree to extend their mining rights. The two men claimed that they are shareholders of a mining company registered in Kaohsiung County, and pressured officials to allow the company to continue operations.
■ CRIME
Man tried for trafficking
A Taiwanese man is set to go on trial in Vietnam this month charged with trafficking Vietnamese women in Malaysia, Vietnamese state media said yesterday. Tsai Hsien, 46, is to go on trial with five Vietnamese, including his wife, in Ho Chi Minh City on July 26, the Vietnam News Agency said. Investigators in Vietnam said they had evidence that the group had arranged fake marriages for more than 100 women, but then forced the women to remarry or work as prostitutes after coming to Malaysia. They said the women were sold for between US$1,500 and US$2,000 each. If found guilty, Tsai faces up to 20 years in jail.
■ PUBLIC SAFETY
EPA to limit chemical use
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will soon limit the use of nonylphenol chemicals (NPs) in all food stuffs, wax and detergents, setting a ceiling concentration of 0.1 percent, EPA officials said yesterday. The new regulation, which should come into effect in September, was announced amid increasing concerns over the health hazards posed by NPs, they said. Officials revealed that the EPA is also discussing the possibility of declaring NPs and nonylphenol ethoxylates -- compounds made from NPs -- hazardous materials, in the hope that this classification would facilitate further restrictions on the use of NPs. The chemical structure of NPs is very similar to that of estrogen, they noted, and male animals that ingest such chemicals after they are discharged into the environment have proven susceptible to reproductive difficulties, growth retardation and hormonal disruption. The chemicals have also been implicated in a number of human health issues, including infertility and breast cancer. In a survey by National Taiwan University, researchers collected 75 common cleaners and found that 66 percent of them contain NPs or NP-related chemicals.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods