■Agriculture
Vegetable center holds meet
About 50 experts from eight Southeast Asian nations gathered in Tainan yesterday for a four-day meeting to brainstorm ways to help eradicate the malnutrition faced by the poor in the region, said Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) yesterday. Tainan-based AVRDC was the host of the regional planning meeting for the project on "Promoting Utilization of Indigenous Vegetables for Improved Nutrition of Resource-Poor Households in Asia," funded by the Asian Development Bank. "The first phase of the project was more focused on the assembly, characterization and regeneration of the materials to promote indigenous vegetables," said Liwayway Engle, head of AVRDC's genetic resources and seed unit who acts as the project coordinator.
■ Sculpture
Hualien to host art festival
Hualien County and Seravezza, an Italian city renowned for its stone sculptures, will co-host an exhibition of stone sculptures in Hualien in October this year, Johnson Shen (沈中元), director of the county's culture bureau, announced yesterday. During the month-long exhibition, entitled "2003 Hualien International Stone Sculpture Festival: A Party for Two Stone Cities," ten stone sculptors, five from Taiwan and five from Italy, will chisel their works in Hualien. Hualien produces high-quality stones that are the favorites of stone sculptors. Seravezza, also well-known for its excellent stones, is a haven for stone sculptors from around the world, Shen said. The procedures of the artists' chiseling their works will be aired live online at stone.ccl.hlc.edu.tw, a Web site run by the National Taiwan University of Arts.
■ Police
Hseih names female chief
The chief of the presidential residence police authority, Hsieh Feng-feng (謝芬芬) has been named head of the Ilan County Police Department, Ilan County Chief Liu Shou-cheng (劉守成) said yesterday. The appointment, recommended by National Police Administration Director-General Wang Ginn-wang (王進旺), will make Hsieh the first woman police officer ever appointed to be head of any county or city police department. Hsieh became an inspector of the National Police Administration when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was elected. She had previously served as a squadron commander of the Taipei Municipal Juvenile Affairs Department when Chenwas mayor. She has also served as the chief of the presidential residence's bodyguards in addition to her NPA duties.
■ Drugs
Taiwan's efforts recognized
Taiwan's anti-drug efforts have been recognized internationally, Ministry of Justice (MOJ) officials said yesterday. Taiwan is not on a list of the main drug production and transshipment countries published Jan. 23 by the US government, the officials said, adding that it was the third consecutive year that Taiwan has not appeared on the list. A total of 23 countries were listed by the US government as the world's main drug producers and transshipment centers this year -- Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Myanmar, China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam. The MOJ will continue to implement the government's anti-drug policies and measures, the officials added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by