DIPLOMACY
Slovakia joins program
A working holiday program with Slovakia was launched yesterday, with young adults interested in working and traveling there now able to submit applications, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The program allows up to 100 people aged from 18 to 35 per year from each side to visit and work for up to a year, the ministry said, adding that the program is expected to help foster bilateral youth exchanges and add one more option for Taiwanese who hope to travel and work abroad. Slovakia is the sixth European nation and the 11th worldwide to establish a working holiday agreement with Taiwan. The other 10 countries are Germany, Ireland, Belgium, UK, Hungary, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
HEALTH
CDC warns on enterovirus
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday urged expectant women and families with infants and young children to stay vigilant for enterovirus after reporting another severe infection, this time in a seven-day-old boy. The newborn infected with Coxsackie B5 virus developed a fever, a blood coagulation disorder and hepatitis on Oct. 9, the agency said. After being treated in the intensive care unit for five days, his condition stabilized and he was discharged from the hospital, it said. Although the enterovirus season has passed its peak, CDC officials urged the public to continue to pay attention to personal hygiene. As of Wednesday last week, a total of six cases of enterovirus infection with severe complications had been confirmed, including a fatal case of echovirus 11 in a newborn, the CDC said. The agency urged pregnant women and families with children under five to be on high alert, as young children are especially prone to infection. Children showing symptoms such as persistent fever, drowsiness, inactivity or continual vomiting should be taken to a doctor for treatment, the CDC advised.
ASTRONOMY
Massive sunspots visible
A large group of sunspots can be seen with the protective measures and will remain visible until Tuesday, as solar activity peaks, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The sunspots, the largest since October 2003, cover an area 52 times the size of the Earth’s surface, the museum said. The intense solar activity could disrupt satellite-based communications such as cellphones and GPS, it said. Coded AR 2192, the sunspot group is most visible in the early morning and late afternoon when sunlight is less intense, the museum said. It advised skygazers to use solar filters instead of sunglasses to protect their eyes.
HEALTH
Blood test card unveiled
A research team at National Cheng Kung University in Greater Tainan yesterday unveiled a pocket-sized blood test card that can identify blood type and finish cross-matching in minutes. Unlike conventional examinations that require a test tube of blood, the “smart blood card” needs less than 1cm3 of blood to come up with results within five minutes, said Chang Hsien-chang (張憲彰), a professor of biomedical engineering who lead the team. Chang’s team say they are confident that the efficiency and low cost of the card will cater to such markets such as medium or small hospitals, where blood bank centrifuges are usually used to check blood samples. Chang said his team has been in talks with a major medical equipment manufacturer to partner on producing the cards.
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