HEALTH
Tainted beans found: group
The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday said that pesticide residues exceeded allowable limits in three of 60 agricultural products it recently tested. Among the three cases it tested, black beans sold in a Greater Kaohsiung store were the most seriously contaminated, containing 0.14 parts per million (ppm) of fipronil — more than 100 times the legal limit. The other cases involved red beans sold in stores in Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung that contained such pesticides as imidacloprid and carbofuran. The Council of Agriculture has barred the use of carbofuran on red beans. The EU has banned the pesticides until next year amid concerns that they contribute to colony collapse disorder among honeybees. The council said that 80 percent of Taiwan’s red beans are imported. The vast majority of soybeans and black beans are imported, while green beans are also mostly imported, it added.
DIPLOMACY
Birthday ball for the queen
The British office in Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 88th birthday with a party set for tomorrow. The celebration in Taipei is to be hosted British Trade and Cultural Office Director Chris Wood. The office said the event would include screenings of several short videos to introduce different aspects of the UK, including Sounds of Great Britain, UK — Your Destination for Investment and Romeo & Juliet as presented by the Royal Ballet. Meanwhile, a series of local events to mark the 450th birth anniversary of William Shakespeare are also set for this year as part of global celebrations of the bard and his legacy, Wood said. Planned festivities include a staging of Romeo and Juliet by the Royal Ballet at Taipei’s National Theater later this month, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in October.
DIPLOMACY
Burkina Faso official visiting
Burkinabe Foreign Minister Djibril Bassole is in Taipei to discuss bilateral cooperation projects for the coming two years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Bassole and Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) are co-hosting the 10th meeting of the Taiwan-Burkina Faso bilateral cooperation commission, which opens in Taipei today, the ministry said. The two-day meeting will focus on cooperation in the areas of vocational training, agriculture, medicine and solar energy over the next two years, and will be attended by senior officials from related agencies.
CHEMISTRY
Chemist wins Italian award
A Taiwanese researcher has won an award in chemistry from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Italy, Academia Sinica announced yesterday. Peng Shie-ming (彭旭明), an academic and former vice president of Academia Sinica, was awarded the Luigi Tartufari International Prize in Chemistry along with Italian chemist Luisa de Cola, the organization said in a statement. Peng is an expert in inorganic chemistry and crystallography, and is noted for his work in the synthesis and structure of transition metal complexes, it said. Transition metal complexes have important applications in molecular electronics and magnetic materials. An award ceremony is to be held on June 26 at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Founded in 1603 in Rome, the academy is one of the oldest scientific academies in the world and included Galileo Galilei among its first members.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese