■ Cross-Strait
MAC hopes for peace
The Mainland Affairs Council expressed hope yesterday that Beijing will handle cross-strait relations in a peaceful manner. Council Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (劉德勳) made the remarks one day after the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee opened its annual meeting in Beijing. Liu said the council will keep tabs on the meeting, but hopes that Beijing will deal with bilateral relations in a "peaceful, pragmatic and regional" manner based on the premise of maintaining cross-strait stability.
■ Conservation
COA to address landslides
The Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday it will organize a two-day seminar in early October on slopeland disaster prevention as part of its efforts to upgrade soil and water conservation technologies. Officials from the council's Soil and Water Conservation Bureau said landslide and mudflow prevention experts from Switzerland, Italy, Austria, the US, Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam will be invited to attend the Oct. 5-6 seminar to offer their views and counseling on relevant subjects. Since the magnitude 7.3 921 Earthquake in 1999, the officials said, geological conditions in mountainous regions have become more fragile and prone to various forms of disasters, including cave-ins, landslides and mudflows.
■ Charity
Wheelchairs donated
Taiwan has donated 23 wheelchairs to a school for the physically challenged in Soweto, South Africa. The donation was jointly made by the Taipei Liaison Office in Johannesburg and the Nan Hua Buddhist Temple, the South African branch of the Taiwan-based Fo Guang Shan. Winnie Madikzela-Mandela, ex-wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela, who was present at the donation ceremony, said the wheelchairs will help the students live like normal people and help them realize their dreams.
■ Crime
Two held in sex trade case
Cambodian police said yesterday they have arrested two men from Taiwan accused of trying to lure young women into the overseas sex trade. The two men and their Vietnamese translator were nabbed at Phnom Penh's main hospital on Thursday where they had taken two girls, age 18 and 19, for a medical examination. "They were lured with a promise to marry Taiwanese men," said Meng Say of the police anti-trafficking unit. Impoverished Cambodia is a prime target for human traffickers promising marriage and good jobs to young girls who are then forced into servitude or the sex trade. In its latest report on human trafficking, the US praised Cambodia for more arrests and prosecutions of traffickers in 2003.
■ Tourism
Japan relaxes visa rules
Beginning this month, Japan will relax visa regulations for Taiwanese tour groups visiting Japan for educational purposes, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement released yesterday. The new regulations will waive the requirement for a visa application, photos and processing fee for tour groups whose visit to Japan is for educational purposes. To get a 30-day visa, it will now be sufficient to have a valid passport, itinerary for the duration of stay in Japan and an official invitation from the head of an educational institution.
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