■ Society
COA warns travelers
The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday reminded overseas citizens returning home for the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday next weekend against attempting to bring in food and fruit products from abroad. Officials from the Bureau of Animal and Plant Inspection and Quarantine said people should not bring in moon cakes containing meat or fresh fruit originating from China or Southeast Asian countries where foot and mouth disease, avian flu and swine streptococcus have been declared epidemic. Allowing uncheckd food and fruit imports from these areas could compromise the agricultural and livestock industries, officials said. They said sniffer dogs at airports and seaports are capable of sniffing out dozens of products, including mangoes, apples, pears, garlic, beef, pork, duck and chicken. Any food and fruit products discovered will be destroyed or shipped back to the point of origin, they said.
■ Society
Bathroom break costs driver
The government has decided to get tough on drivers who randomly answer the call of nature in public by fining on a man who urinated on the roadside, TVBS cable news channel reported yesterday. A Taipei court recently fined a man of NT$3,000 for stopping his car on the shoulder of a highway to answer the call of the nature, the station reported. The man said he had been caught in a traffic jam and could not find any rest rooms nearby. But the judge said what the man had done was not only obscene, but was also risky because he could cause an accident by stopping the car on the busy highway.
■ Education
Ministry seeking tutors
The Ministry of Education has been working with the National Youth Commission on a project to help both college and university students in financial straits and middle schools in remote areas. The ministry is using the commission's Web site to recruit 500 students from low-income families to give tutorial lessons in middle schools around the country. More than 1,100 students have applied so far, while more than 198 schools have requested after-school tutors. Each tutor will be paid NT$300 an hour by the ministry, with an additional travel subsidy of between NT$1,000 to NT$3,000, officials said. The plan will run on a trial basis from next month through Dec. 31.
■ Diplomacy
Chen denies frisking report
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) yesterday denied a news report that he had been treated improperly while transiting through a New York airport in May on a trip to two Caribbean allies. The report claimed that instead of being treated as dignitaries, Chen and his wife were treated as ordinary passengers and had to pass through security checks, including a body search. Chen denied the report and said that he had not been frisked. He said the US officials assigned to greet him at the airport had arrived late, which caused some confusion. "There was no offense" taken, he said, adding that US authorities had already apologized for the mix-up.
■ Sports
Taipei seeks IOC bid
Taipei has won the support of the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports for its bid to host the 2009 Congress of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), city officials said yesterday. . Taipei must submit its application to the IOC before Oct. 3. The host city for the 2009 event will be decided next year, the officials said.
Restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to be included in the Michelin Guide’s review for the first time this year, alongside existing entries from Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, the France-based culinary publication said yesterday. This year’s edition of the Michelin Guide Taiwan is to be unveiled on Aug. 19 in Taipei. In addition to the coveted star ratings, Michelin Taiwan would announce its “Bib Gourmand” selections — a distinction awarded to establishments offering high-quality food at moderate prices — on Aug. 12. This year’s Bib Gourmand list would also feature restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu
A firefighter yesterday died after falling into New Taipei City's Xindian River when a rescue dinghy capsized during a search mission for a man who was later found dead. The New Taipei City Fire Department said that it received a report at 4:12pm that a 50-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), had fallen into the river. A 32-year-old firefighter, surnamed Wu (吳), was among the rescuers deployed to look for Chen, the fire department said, adding that he and five other rescue personnel were in the dinghy when it capsized. Wu had no vital signs after being pulled from the water to the
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
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