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Taiwan News Quick Take

■DIPLOMACY

AIT to settle name mixup

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that the US State Department would assign a Bureau of Consular Affairs specialist to ensure Taiwan’s official designation appears on the online application for permanent US residency. Department of North American Affairs Deputy-head Michael Hsu (徐佩勇) said a Taiwanese notified the ministry on Oct. 6 in an e-mail to Foreign Minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) that Taiwan was listed as “China-Taiwan” in the birthplace and mailing address pull-down menus. Hsu said the ministry immediately ordered Jason Yuan (袁健生), Taiwan’s representative to the US, to send a letter on the issue to Barbara Schrage, managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). The AIT has promised to promptly settle the problem with US government agencies, he said.



■DIPLOMACY

Obama advisers plan visit

A delegation of US president-elect Barack Obama’s top Asia policy advisers — also academics at the prominent US think tank the Brookings Institute — are scheduled to visit at the end of this month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The planned visit signifies the close relations between Taipei and the Obama team, the ministry said. The delegation will be co-headed by former American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Richard Bush and Brookings president Strobe Talbott, who served as the deputy secretary of state under former US president Bill Clinton. Talbott is tipped to be named a key player in the State Department in the Obama administration.



■RESCUE

Ocean search continues

Rescuers continued their search yesterday for 19 seamen reported missing after their fishing boat overturned and sank in shark-infested waters off Taiwan’s southern coast, officials said. “Hopes of finding the missing people is fading but we will not give up,” a transport ministry official said. “We’ve expanded the search area,” he said, adding that two helicopters and eight coastguard and naval vessels had been sent to the area where the trawler sank on Sunday after sending out a distress signal around 10pm. The crew included sailors from Taiwan, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. A panic-stricken survivor told rescuers that he had witnessed one of the crew members being attacked by sharks and washed away by high waves whipped up by strong winds. The coastguard, navy and police on Monday rescued nine of the 28-strong crew after the Fu Chi Hsiang No. 767, a 993-tonne fishing boat based in Kaohsiung City, sank late on Sunday. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.



■HEALTH

DOH to ban toxic material

Cosmetics containing the toxic chemical di-n-octyl phthalate will be banned starting next May, the Department of Health (DOH) announced yesterday. After that date, manufacturers, importers, exhibitors and sellers of such products could face penalties of up to one year imprisonment and fines of up to NT$150,000 (US$4,555), the DOH said. Chiu Pin-chi (邱品齊), head of the dermatology department at National Taiwan University Hospital’s Yunlin Branch, said that di-n-octyl phthalate is mainly used as a plasticizer and is also commonly used as a fixative in personal care products such as nail polish, perfume, hair gel and shower gel. Exposure to the chemical can disrupt the endocrine system and lead to feminization, Chiu said. Female fetuses exposed to the chemical may later experience precocious puberty, while males may later suffer from reproductive disorders.


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