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Taiwan News Quick Take

■ DEVELOPMENT

ICDF to host workshops

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) will host 11 seminars this year to share the nation's experience in economic development with other countries. ICDF Deputy Secretary-General Lee Hsin-ying (李新穎) said yesterday that 275 officials and students from the nation's diplomatic allies and other developing countries will be invited to take part in the workshops. The first seminar on agribusiness strategy and value chain management will be held from Wednesday through April 15, Lee said. The ICDF has invited 25 officials from the diplomatic allies, he said. Participants will discuss ways to shift from traditional agricultural production and marketing to agribusiness and management, as well as strategic considerations, with discussions focusing on agricultural production chain and value-added benefit analyses and modern agribusiness management, Lee said.



■ TRAVEL

Warning on South Africa

The Consumer Protection Commission said yesterday that people should avoid traveling to South Africa because violent crime has continued to escalate. Liu Ching-fang (劉清芳), a section chief at the commission, said the commission had received a travel advisory from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Bureau of Consular Affairs, stating that the situation in South Africa had deteriorated and that armed robberies had been reported in areas with large concentrations of people of Chinese origin. Tourists passing through OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg often report that their cameras, mobile phones, laptops and other valued possessions were stolen, Liu said, adding that foreign tourists were being targeted at the airport, followed and mugged by armed criminals and that some robbers were even posing as police officers.



■ CRIME

Smuggled produce seized

Fifty-five tonnes of smuggled Chinese mushrooms and day lilies worth an estimated NT$27 million (US$900,000) were seized at the Taichung Harbor, a Taichung Customs Bureau official said yester-day. Taichung Customs officials boarded the North Korean cargo ship Rim Su Goon after it called at the harbor on Friday and seized the products before they could enter the local market. "The smuggled farm products were packed in `outer space' bags for long-term preservation and filled one of the cabins on the ship," a Taichung bureau official said. "It is harder to find smuggled products inside the cabins because customs officers normally only search the cargo holds."



■ HUMAN RIGHTS

Tibet petition gains speed

More than 1 million people worldwide have signed an online petition in support of human rights and dialogue in Tibet, Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) officials said during a press release from the congress' head-quarter in Dharamsala, India, on Saturday. Urging more people to join the movement, the TYC made the appeal following a bloody crackdown by Chinese authorities on Tibetan protesters in the past two weeks. Although Beijing has claimed there were only a few casualties, the Tibetan government-in-exile said that at least 100 people have died in the clashes. TYC vice president Dhondup Dorjee said that with the support of 1 million people, the petition had become the fastest-growing Internet campaign in history.
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