■ CRIME
NSC acts after threat
The National Security Council (NSC) ordered extra protection for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), after the Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper received a postcard yesterday containing a threat to attack the dental clinic where she works unless she apologizes on behalf of her father for comments he made last month. This referred to the president saying that pro-blue supporters should swim to China if they like China so much. The neatly handwritten postcard was mailed on Wednesday from a made-up address in Taipei City, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said. The bureau said the postcard had multiple sets of fingerprints on it but an investigation was underway to catch the perpetrator. The NSC has also alerted secret service agents to provide extra protection to guard Chen Hsing yu's residence and work place.
■ SPORTS
Stamps feature Wang
Taiwan Post next Monday will issue special stamp-collectors' folders featuring New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) for the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. Wang has been chosen by the Kaohsiung City Government as the official spokesperson for the international sports event. The stamps will be available in three different packages with varying prices. All three options include an A4-sized stamp bearing a picture of Wang. The priciest package, which will cost NT$300, will include three additional stamps of Wang in colors such as gold and silver. The middle option, costing NT$250, will include two additional Wang stamps in gold and silver, and the third package will include four additional stickers not featuring Wang. The folders will be available at post offices or on Taiwan Post's Web site.
■ CRIME
Teens arrested in Cambodia
Three Taiwanese nationals, including two teenage girls, have been arrested in Cambodia for trying to smuggle heroin out of the country, police said yesterday. The girls were identified as Lin Hui-min, 17, and Wu Chia-hsun, 16, who were each carrying 600g of the drug strapped to their thighs under their clothes at Phnom Penh International Airport, police said. Officers also arrested a man in the capital on Thursday in connection with the case, but did not provide details about him. The girls were detained on Wednesday after police searched them as they tried to board a flight to Hong Kong. "We always pay high attention to Taiwanese people now because so far most of the people arrested over drug crimes are Taiwanese nationals," airport police chief Chhuor Kimny said. Around half a dozen Taiwanese citizens have been detained trying to smuggle drugs through Phnom Penh airport in the past year.
■ TRADE
Agency welcomes Taiwan
The Agency for International Trade Information and Cooperation has granted Taiwan observer status for two years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The international agency functions as an intergovernmental initiative to help less-advantaged countries benefit from globalization by helping them take a more active part in the work of the WTO and other trade-related organizations, as well as trade negotiations. Taiwan's permanent representative to the WTO, Lin Yi-fu (林義夫), has obtained an invitation from the international trade agency's executive director to attend all decision-making meetings of the organization, the ministry said.
■ RESEARCH
Pearl yields increased
Mariculture researchers at National Penghu University (NPU) have improved techniques to cultivate black pearls, providing a higher yield rate and shorter breeding period, university sources said. Ueng Jinn-pyng (翁進坪), director of NPU's Netcage Aquaculture Product Technique Research Center, said that with the aid of improved techniques 100 black-lipped oysters in the test group produced a total of 20 black pearls -- each worth more than NT$10,000 (US$309). Ueng added that the breeding period from seed oyster to pearl harvest had been shorten to three years, a year less than the conventional method typically used in Japan.
■ LOTTERY
Winners donate to charity
Three out of five people who shared the nearly NT$1.3 billion (US$40.24 million) prize in Tuesday's Big Lotto donated part of their winnings to charity, a Taiwan Lottery official said yesterday. Shan Jui-chiang (尚瑞強), chairman of the Taiwan Lottery, said that each of the five winners will receive NT$250 million, but NT$200 million after tax. Shan said that one of the winners, a 30-year-old woman, won after spending NT$100 on lottery tickets. She donated NT$3 million to charity. Another winner, a woman in her 60s, bought a single NT$50 lottery ticket and donated NT$100,000. Another winner is a middle-aged man who spent NT$2,000 on lottery tickets. He donated NT$500,000 of his winnings, Shan said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
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