SOCIETY
Bakers win bread awards
A pair of Taiwanese bakers won the biennial World of Bread competition in Saint-Etienne, France, on Sunday and also took first prize in the artistic piece category. Baker Chen Yung-hsin (陳永信) and his assistant, Guo Jia-wen (郭家文), were awarded the Ambassadors’ Trophy, emerging as the overall winners in a competition that required the contestants to bake 12 types of bread in several categories, including an artistic bread contest. Chen and Guo completed the tasks within eight hours, said Chang Ming-hsu (張明旭), a professor at National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism, who led the team to the biennial contest. In the artistic piece category, the Taiwanese bakers created a loaf in the shape of a bull, with a set of horns that weighed 1kg, Chang said. They were awarded first prize for that entry, he said. France won the overall second prize, followed by Belgium, Italy, Japan and Australia.
CULTURE
Hakka festival planned
The Hsinchu County Government is to hold a festival next month to promote Hakka culture. The Taiwan International Festival of Hakka Culture is to run from Oct. 14 to Oct. 25, the county government said, adding that it hopes the integration of the different participants — including those in industry, government, academia, and research and development — could rejuvenate Hakka culture and elevate its global presence. The first few days of the festival are to focus on a conference on global Hakka development and an industry fair, it said. The feature events take place on Oct. 17, with a series of street performances, a Hakka drum demonstration and a decorative lighting display, it added.
AIRLINES
China Airlines ranked No. 2
China Airlines placed second among a top 10 of passengers’ choice airline brands for this year, according to Design Air, a leading Web site for airline product news and reviews. Design Air said it was surprised to see China Airlines so high on the list, but “there seems to be a lot of love for the carrier in Taiwan, maybe due to its next-generation program, which has seen new uniforms, food, in-flight entertainment, hard products, aircraft and lounges rolled out across its network,” it said, adding the Design Air judges were impressed by the firm’s turnaround over the past 18 months. China Airlines said that since it began using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in October last year, with oriental aesthetics and modern technology in cabin design, it has brought a new experience to its passengers. Cathay Pacific placed No. 1, while Eva Air was third in a lineup of mostly Asia-Pacific arlines, including Singapore Airlines (fourth), Hawaiian Airlines (fifth) and Qantas (seventh).
SOCIETY
Dog departs for Canada
An eight-month-old mixed breed dog departed for his adopted family in Canada on Sunday, a lucky turn in his young life that nearly ended prematurely earlier this year, an animal charity group said. The young black male dog named Lucky was picked up as a stray puppy in February in Kaohsiung, said Ni Jing-tai (倪京台), a spokesman for Animal Rescue Team Taiwan, adding that it nearly died of multiple wounds that might have been caused by other strays. Veterinarians saved its life, but the dog lost the use of its hind legs because of the wounds. The animal moves around with the use of wheels strapped to its body. An animal welfare group based in Canada learned the story of Lucky’s recovery and found a family for him, Ni said.
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