Fri, Feb 15, 2008 page3

• Taiwan News Quick Take

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  ■ IMMIGRATION

  "Address updates needed

  National Immigration Agency Director Wu Chen-chi (吳振吉) yesterday urged foreign residents to inform the agency as soon as they move so that residency renewal notices can be delivered in time. He said the agency has found that most residents who overstay visas do so because they forget to renew them. "Many [foreigners] still do not receive a notice because they didn't change their mailing addresses after they moved," Wu said.

  ■ POLITICS

  Campaign subsidies set

  The Central Election Commission announced on Wednesday that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was eligible for a campaign subsidy of approximately NT$180 million (US$5.62 million), while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was eligible for a subsidy of approximately NT$250 million. The Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選罷法) says the government must provide campaign subsidies to political parties every year based on the results of the latest legislative elections. The latest elections took place on Jan. 12. Parties that garner more than 5 percent of the votes in the elections were eligible to receive subsidies each year during the current legislature, which runs from through Jan. 31, 2012. Of the 12 political parties that took part in the Jan. 12 polls, only the DPP and the KMT received more than 5 percent of the votes cast, the commission said.

  ■ TOURISM

  Tourist numbers lower

  Outbound passengers numbers during the Lunar New Year holiday was down by an average of between 10 percent and 15 percent compared with last year, the National Immigration Agency said on Wednesday. Agency statistics showed that the number of people entering and leaving the country totaled 385,829 between Feb. 6 and Feb.11, with the number of people leaving during the period totaling 193,223. During the last Lunar New Year, the number of people leaving and entering the country totaled 403,187, with 240,248 making outbound trips. That translates to nearly 10,000 fewer outbound passengers per day this year, the agency said. Tourism officials attributed the decrease to the weather, noting that major tourism destinations for Taiwanese in the past -- China, Japan and South Korea -- were also suffering cold spells. Nearly 10,000 people who had planned to travel overseas canceled their trips. This, coupled with family members of China-based Taiwanese businesspeople canceling trips to China, contributed to the decrease, the agency said.

  ■ HEALTH

  Japanese cooperation hailed

  A recent incident involving contaminated Chinese-made dumplings in Japan has proven that the food safety notification mechanisms between Taiwan and Japan work well, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Some 48 packages of Chinese-made dumplings sold by Mitsuke Co were imported to Taiwan last October and sold at a food fair in the SOGO Department Store in Taipei. However, those dumplings had been manufactured at a different time from the ones involved in the Japanese health scare ones and no one was reported ill. Peter Tsai (蔡明耀), deputy director of the Committee on Japanese Affairs, said Japan's Interchange Association Taipei Office had quickly notified the ministry that Taiwan could also have imported some of the toxic dumplings. "Taiwan and Japan have established a very good notification mechanism," he said.

  ■ AGRICULTURE

  "Losses continue to climb

  The Council of Agriculture said yesterday that the reported losses to the nation's fisheries and farms from the recent cold weather are continuing to climb. The council said it has logged NT$113 million (US$3.54 million) in damages since the cold temperature warning was first released by the Central Weather Bureau on Feb. 5. Approximately NT$77 million has been lost by fisheries and NT$36 million were agricultural losses, a council press release said. Although the bulk of the damage occurred in Penghu's cobia fisheries, the cold also damaged asian pear, grape, wax apple and peach crops in Ilan County, Taichung County, Kaohsiung County and Hsinchu County. Penghu's fish farmers now qualify for emergency natural disaster relief, the release said.

  ■ CRIME

  Drug `traffickers' arrested

  Police in Yunlin County said yesterday they caught 10 alleged drug traffickers the previous night in various southern counties, with four of the suspects from the same family. The four men, led by a 49-year-old suspect surnamed Lin, were uncle and cousins, police said. More than 60 policemen tracked the suspects for more than three months following a tip-off and staked out 17 recreational spots and playgrounds in Yunlin, Chiayi and Pingtung counties, where they arrested 10 men who were caught trying to sell a variety of illegal narcotics to customers. One accomplice was still at large. Police officers also seized 4.59kg of heroine, 0.56kg of amphetamine and small amounts of FM2 and ecstasy, as well as two sets of electronic scales, small distribution bags and pipes for smoking the drugs.
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