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Taiwan News Quick Take

■ HEALTH

New labels for the blind

Health authorities yesterday introduced braille labels indicating dosage and other key information for prescription bottles. Twelve embossed symbols marked with braille, indicate how often to take the medicine, the dose to take and the medication's use. A sun with braille print indicates the medicine should be taken during the day, while a bowl of rice with chopsticks indicates the medicine should be taken before a meal and an empty bowl with a pair of chopsticks means it should be taken after a meal. The labels cost NT$50 each.



■ POLITICS

Deities lend a hand

Traditional deities might help promote the nation's bid for membership in the UN, some temple administrators said yesterday, one day after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) unveiled a campaign called "all deities safeguard Taiwan" during a visit to Kaohsiung's Tsaotien Temple. Temple communities said they would announce details in a press conference next week to help out with publicizing the UN bid. They said the publicity would take the form of annual tours of deity statues, such as Matsu statues, which could also be taken to New York to promote the bid. The campaign was inspired by a deity procession in front of UN headquarters in New York prior to the UN Assembly opening in September. The Presidential Office has encouraged the initiative, saying the use of creative projects that showcase Taiwanese culture would be "sure to attract more media attention."



■ ENVIRONMENT

Activists to hold parade

Environmental activists calling for concrete action to cut carbon-dioxide emissions yesterday invited the public to take part in a parade to raise public awareness about global warming on Saturday. "[East] Asia is the region with the worst global warming situation," Yang Chao-yueh (楊肇岳), a professor at National Taiwan University Oceanography, told a press conference. "In the past 50 years, average temperatures in the region have risen about 1oC ... It may not sound like a big deal now, but if we don't do anything at all, the situation will worsen -- and in 50 years, we'll suffer." Taiwan Environmental Protection Union secretary-general Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said the public should start to "use more public transportation and save energy." The parade will begin at 1:30pm at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Ho said.



■ EARTHQUAKES

Morning quake rattles south

A 5.3-magnitude earthquake jolted the southern half of the nation yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said, but there were no reports of damage or casualties. The tremor struck at 9:41am and was centered 21km southeast of Lidao Village (利稻), Haituan Township (海端), in the mountains of Taitung County, the bureau said. It occurred at the relatively shallow depth of 8km, and was felt as far away as Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and the Hengchun Peninsula.



■ CRIME

Inside job alleged

Ground crew at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are suspected of colluding with smugglers in the trafficking of deer velvet -- the skin that covers a deer's horn -- which carries a tariff of up to 500 percent, an aviation police official said yesterday. Customs officials discovered eight cases of fresh deer velvet from Macau in a van leaving an airport warehouse on Nov. 3, he said. The shipment had not cleared customs and had not been authorized to be removed.

■ CRIME

Customs adds up seizures

A total of 329kg of illicit drugs has been seized this year so far, the Taipei Customs Office said. A spokesman said narcotics seizures last month totaled 25kg, including 23.6kg of ketamine and 1.33kg of heroin. He said about 45 percent of the drugs were detected by X-ray scanners at points of entry, while 33 percent were found with the help of informers. Most of the drugs seized were shipped via international express parcel services or carried by passengers who hid narcotics in their check-in luggage or carry-on bags. In addition to drugs, customs officials also confiscated 185kg of fresh deer antler velvet, 170 antelope horns, 276kg of hairy crabs, 100 counterfeit credit cards and a large number of pirated video games.



■ HEALTH

Drug warning issued

The Department of Health yesterday issued an additional warning about the drug Desmopressin. The spray form of the drug, marketed under the brand name Minirin, is associated with hyponatremia, which can lead to deadly seizures, the department said in a release. The department asked doctors to exercise caution when prescribing the drug. The second warning came after the US Food and Drug Administration cautioned against using the drug on Tuesday. The drug is no longer approved to control bed-wetting by children in the US. The department revised the approved uses for the drug to exclude bed-wetting earlier this year after the UK's Department of Health showed links between the drug and violent seizures. Desmopressin nasal spray is only approved in Taiwan to treat certain cases of diabetes and to test kidney functions, the department said.
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