■ HEALTH
Free liver screening
The Liver Disease Prevention and Treatment Research Foundation will offer free hepatitis screening tests at the Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital on Saturday. Hsu Chin-chuan (�?t), chief executive officer of the foundation, invited residents in the south yesterday to head to the hospital to get tested. Hsu said that liver disease is one of the main causes of death in Taiwan. He said that a higher ratio of people in remote areas suffer from liver cancer than in urban areas and that the survival rate among liver cancer patients in southern Taiwan was lower than in the north. One of the main reasons for this is “a lack of accurate knowledge concerning liver protection” in these areas, Hsu said, adding that many people suffering from liver problems in these areas often buy liver tonics and medicines advertised on unlicensed radio stations. Between 10,000 and 12,000 people die of liver cancer in Taiwan each year, with about 70 percent of the cases caused by hepatitis B and about 20 percent by hepatitis C, he said.
■ EVENTS
Cycling cup also about food
The 2008 Giant Cup Cycling Competition, scheduled to start on May 31, is not only an annual event for cycling lovers, but also for those who love local delicacies in Taichung County, Taichung County Government executive officer Su Guo-jyh said yesterday. The activity, now in its 14th year, will combine competition, food and scenery to attract cycling enthusiasts and food lovers. People can sign up for the 160km “Tachia-Kukuan Self-challenge Cycling Team” for a two-day, one-night event, he said. Participants will have a chance to taste famous local delicacies, such as butter cake and taro ice cream along the way, as well as experiencing an ecologically and environmentally friendly trip, he said. “For just NT$2,500, you can enjoy scenic views, hot springs and gourmet food along the way,” Su said.
■ SOCIETY
Taiwan photo relay posted
Photos of Taiwan taken by 190 photographers nationwide in a round-the-clock photo relay on April 26 have been posted on a blog, organizers said yesterday. The “24 hours in Taiwan” photographic activity gathered a number of pictures taken from all walks of life during one day, including some that show the production of tofu; vendors serving delicacies at night markets in the early hours; and a postman delivering mail early in the morning. Yang Chin-huango (楊錦煌), who initiated the activity, said a similar activity was held on Aug. 19, 1992, bringing together 192 photographers who recorded the lives of Taiwanese in the economic, political and social spheres. The photos can be viewed at www.wretch.cc/blog/yangphoto.
■ FOOD
Price of salt unchanged
Despite suffering from rising raw commodity prices and production costs, Taiyen (臺鹽), the only salt maker in the country, said yesterday it would not raise the price of salt. “Because of higher production costs, the company recorded a meager NT$47 million [US$1.54 million] in net profit last year, compared with NT$342 million in 2006,” Taiyen chairman Wu Chi-chang (吳啟章) said at a Legislative Yuan hearing. The company, which was privatized in 2003 as part of the nation’s commitments to the WTO, has faced serious competition from foreign imports of salt since 2004. Wu said the company’s low-price strategy, used to win back customers from its competitors, also led to shrinking revenues.
■ HEALTH
Cervical cancer testing low
While cervical cancer remains the second most common form of cancer among women in Taiwan, the screening rate is still low and the majority of Taiwanese women have little knowledge about the disease, the Formosa Cancer Foundation said yesterday. The foundation urged women to get both pap smear tests and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent the disease. Yuan Chiu-chung (袁九重), superintendent of the Taipei City Hospital for Women and Children, said that many women in Taiwan do not receive regular pap smear tests for cervical cancer because they feel shy about going to see a doctor. A survey conducted by the foundation among 1,092 women aged 16 or over found that 30 percent of the respondents did not know how to prevent getting cervical cancer, with 20 percent believing that without sexual experience, they will not get the disease.
■ AGRICULTURE
Program enrollment begins
Enrollment has opened for the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) popular “Wandervogel” program this year, offering 1,200 people between the ages of 18 and 35 a chance to experience farm life and to consider working in the agricultural sector. Since the program began in 2006 as part of the COA’s efforts to inject new blood into the aging agricultural population, the number of applicants has exceeded the number of places offered each year, COA officials said yesterday. Registration kicked off on Tuesday for seven “Wandervogel” camps at COA-run agricultural research and extension stations in Taoyuan, Miaoli, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Taitung and Hualien, and for a fishery camp at the COA Fisheries Research Institute in Keelung.
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