■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.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS