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Taiwan News Quick Take

■ SPORTS

Baseball players questioned

Banciao prosecutors summoned 14 members of the dmedia T-Rex baseball team yesterday morning over match-fixing allegations. Prosecutors had not yet finished interviewing them at the Bureau of Investigation’s Taipei Branch Office on Keelung Road as of press time last night. Two of the players were summoned as witnesses while the rest were listed as defendants. The match-fixing allegations first came to light on Oct. 9, with gangsters allegedly trying to influence the T-Rex’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) games. The team was kicked out of the league after prosecutors began their probe. CPBL president Chao Shou-po (趙守博) said that any players detained or released on bail would never play in the league again.



■ HEALTH

Taipei promises more tests

The threat of melamine in foods from China is not over, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday, adding that the city government would continue random tests on food products next month. Reporting on his administration’s food safety measures at Taipei City Hall, Hau agreed with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors in condemning China for exporting tainted products. DPP Taipei City Councilor Chou Po-ya (周柏雅) called on the city government to set up a “Chinese products” section at supermarkets to help consumers distinguish between Chinese products and those imported from other countries, but Hau declined to make any promises. He said his government would respect retailers decisions on how to arrange their products, but the city’s health department would continue to test foods and other products.



■ HUMAN RIGHTS

Taiwan has more to do: AIT

Taiwan has made great strides to combat human trafficking, but there was still more to do, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Stephen Young said yesterday at the 2008 International Conference on Strategies for Combating Human Trafficking. Taiwan has stepped up its efforts in recent years to prosecute traffickers, institute measures to protect the victims’ right to work and set up victim care programs by providing shelter and counseling services, he said. However, Taiwan still needed to push a comprehensive trafficking law through the legislature, standardize victim protection and strengthen inter-agency coordination, he said. As a non-UN member, Taiwan is not subjected to the UN protocol on human trafficking. However, the US State Department includes Taiwan in its annual Trafficking in Persons report which has listed Taiwan as a “tier 2” country two years in a row for failing to comply with the minimum standards for elimination of human trafficking.



■ ECONOMY

COA hosts second fair

The Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday that it would launch its second wave of the “Made in Taiwan is Best” activities with a promotional fair tomorrow and Sunday at the former Songshan Tobacco Plant in Taipei City. The council’s “Come and Buy Our Agricultural Goods” event drew thousands of shoppers last weekend and rang up more than NT$7 million (US$213,700) in sales, the council said, adding that this weekend’s fair would focus on meats and seafood, offering trout and chicken at bargain prices.



■ HEALTH

Flu shots still available

Around 1.63 million people have received free flu shots this month under an annual government-funded flu inoculation program targeting vulnerable groups, an official at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The free shots were for senior citizens aged 65 and older, residents and staff at nursing homes, children between the ages of six months and three years, and first through fourth graders at elementary schools. Patients suffering from serious illnesses, workers in the poultry and livestock industries and animal disease control personnel also qualified for free shots. The flu season normally peaks in late November. As it takes about two weeks for the vaccine to produce an immunity, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ting (林頂) advised people to get vaccinated before the end of this month. Lin said the CDC had purchased 3.2 million doses of flu vaccine to meet this year’s demand. If there were doses left over at the end of next month they would be available to other citizens from Dec. 1, he said.



■ SOCIETY

None killed in quake abroad

So far no Taiwanese have been reported among the victims of the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that devastated Pakistan this week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The quake that hit Baluchistan before dawn on Wednesday killed at least 200 people, injured hundreds and left at least 20,000 homeless. “As of now, no Taiwanese citizens have been [reported] injured or killed,” Ali Yang (楊心怡), deputy director-general of the Department of West Asian Affairs, told a regular press briefing. Yang said the foreign ministry was evaluating the situation to see whether any assistance from Taiwan was necessary.


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