■AGRICULTURE
Farm plays Bach for cows
A farm in Hualien County has pulled out all the stops, including playing classical music by Bach, to soothe its dairy cows during the scorching summer days and boost milk yields. Milk production from the dairy cows raised at the Shin Kong Chao Feng Ranch and Resort in Fenglin Township (鳳林) has declined about 20 percent since earlier this month as temperatures have shot up to around 35ºC, a farm official said. Taking its cue from research that classical music soothes cows and boosts milk yields, the farm has been playing Bach to its 350 dairy cows to help the animals relax during milking and increase their appetite, said Fang Jui-lung (方瑞隆), head of the farm’s husbandry department.
■CRIME
Legislative aide arrested
A legislative assistant, along with 11 other individuals, was arrested on Tuesday in Taoyuan County on suspicion of selling drugs to foreign workers. Taoyuan police said they seized amphetamines and Erinim at the residence of Peng Tien-le (彭天樂), an aide to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千), and other locations. Peng was suspected of hiring illegal foreign workers to sell the drugs to other foreign workers. Peng, who is said to be well-connected in Taoyuan, had served as Sun’s assistant for three years. When asked for comment, Sun said he fired Peng on Tuesday, adding that he was greatly disappointed by the matter.
■SOCIETY
Lotto winner claims prize
The winner of NT$480 million (US$14.9 million) in a lottery draw has finally claimed the jackpot after agonizing over the decision for 55 days because she feared she would meet the same sorry fate as lotto winners she read about in other countries. The NT$480 million jackpot in the April 8 lottery was an accumulation of prize money rolled over from eight previous drawings without a winner, Taiwan Lottery said. The sole winner was a married woman with two children from Taipei City, it said. The woman said she could not sleep that night as she thought of how to deal with the unexpected fortune. She and her husband, who both work as public servants, even considered giving up the money, remembering the stories she read about overnight millionaires ending up in dire straits after hitting the jackpot. After much deliberation, the couple came forward to claim the money, setting a record for the longest period before collecting the cash prize since the lottery began. Taiwan Lottery said the couple would donate NT$20 million to charity.
■DIPLOMACY
UN appoints local charity
The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSCO) has designated the Taiwan-based Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation a special consultant. Her Rey-sheng (何日生), a spokesperson for the foundation, said the designation, made by the ECOSCO in New York on Monday, is an affirmation of the foundation’s charity work in more than 70 countries around the world. With this new status, the spokesperson said, the foundation will be able to participate in the council’s economic and social development activities, providing relevant advice and information to UN representatives, member states and civil society. It will also have access to various ECOSCO meetings and be able offer its opinions in writing or orally. In addition, Tzu Chi’s charity activities around the world will now be protected by the UN.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods