■ HEALTH
Bureau warns against treats
The Bureau of Health Promotion is reminding those watching their weight to avoid indulging in too many Moon Festival treats or to exercise more as the holiday approaches. Just one small, 60g mooncake can contain as many as 300 calories, the bureau said yesterday. The bureau suggests cutting back on one bowl of rice or walking briskly for one hour to compensate for each 60g mooncake consumed. The bureau warned consumers to be wary of pomelos as well. Although fruit is healthy, the popular treat that is a staple on the Moon Festival table contains more calories than most people suspect. The bureau said that just two segments of a pomelo can contain 60 calories and eating a whole jumbo pomelo can mean an extra 600 calories. This year's Moon Festival falls on Tuesday.
■ CULTURE
Confucius gets birthday bash
Taipei Confucian Temple is organizing a celebration of Confucius' 2,557th birthday, which falls on Friday next week, a temple official said yesterday. The temple will hold a cultural fair along Dalong Street by the temple on Thursday and Friday next week with exhibits on temples and archeological findings in Datong District, where the temple is located. A photo exhibit featuring the nation's Confucian temples will open at the Taipei temple on Thursday and Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) will lead a ceremony the next day in honor of the "supreme teacher," the official said. Confucian groups from Japan, South Korea and Vietnam have been invited by the temple to take part in a seminar on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, the focus of which will be the impact of modernism on Confucianism and the future of Confucianism.
■ POLITICS
Nominees up for review
Lawmakers have reached a consensus on holding a vote next Thursday on whether to approve President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) nominations for the Judicial Yuan, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said on Tuesday after presiding over a consultative meeting of caucus whips from across party lines. The meeting agreed to hold three Committee of the Whole sessions to screen the nominees, with the Judicial Yuan presidential and vice presidential nominees to be screened today and the eight grand justice nominees to be screened tomorrow and on Wednesday, Wang said. The legislature plans to hold an extra session on Thursday to vote on the nominees, Wang said, adding that the vote on the Judicial Yuan presidential and vice presidential nominees would take place Thursday morning and the vote on the grand justice nominees would be held in the afternoon.
■ HEALTH
Officials push check-ups
The Taipei City Government yesterday encouraged residents to take advantage of Taipei Citizen Health cards and get free check-ups. The card, available since July, allows Taipei residents to receive a free health check-up after accumulating two card points by volunteering at local hospitals, receiving vaccines or attending forums on health-related issues. Card holders who earn 24 points are eligible for a free advanced health examination valued at NT$12,000 at any Taipei City Hospital branch, the city's Department of Health said. The department said only 27.8 percent of Taipei residents over the age of 65 visit their doctors for regular check-ups -- a figure the department hopes to raise through the points program. All registered Taipei residents are eligible for the card.
■ CRIME
Illegal butcher arrested
Prosecutors and police arrested a man yesterday during a raid on an illegal slaughter house in Tuku Township (土庫), Yunlin County. More than two tonnes of suspect beef, bones and offal were seized in four freezers in the slaughter house and in the house of the suspect, identified only by his surname, Wang. Investigators had been keeping tabs on Wang for nearly six months before staging the raid after being tipped off that Wang had been butchering sick cattle and selling them to meat wholesalers, vendors and meat processors. Wang was preparing to sell a large amount of the beef in the run-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls next Tuesday, according to the police.
■ CRIME
Woman hides as man
Police have arrested a female criminal who has been on the run disguised as a man for eight years, press reports said yesterday. Chen Hui-fang (陳慧芳), 33, was convicted eight years ago of armed burglary and Internet fraud but failed to turn herself in to serve her sentence. Chen disguised herself so well that even her girlfriend did not know that "he" was a she. To convince her girlfriend that she was a man, Chen tied a fake penis -- a condom filled with cotton -- between her thighs, press reports said. Over the years, Chen continued to commit crimes and was caught once, but police released her after questioning. When she was caught again on Monday, police realized that Chen was using a fake ID card and did not "look like" a man, because Chen had no Adam's apple and had no hair on her upper lip. When police threatened to take Chen for a medical examination to clarify her sex, she admitted her identity.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai