■ CRIME
Fake brands seized
Kaohsiung City police arrested a man suspected of selling counterfeit brand-name children's clothing, a police official said yesterday. Around 500 pieces of counterfeit goods were also seized in the raid. The official said that the suspect, surnamed Chang, was caught selling the high-quality counterfeit products at a market in the city. Police are investigating to locate the suppliers of the counterfeit products, the official said.
■ TRANSPORT
Alishan station reopens
The Alishan Railway Station in Chiayi County was reopened yesterday after years of reconstruction following damage sustained during the devastating 921 earthquake in 1999. The first train to depart from the station was an antique train with wooden carriages and powered by a steam locomotive. Chiayi Forest District Office Director Yeh Hsien-liang (葉賢良) said the two-story station is the largest wooden railway station in the country. From the balcony on the second floor of the station, travelers are able to see Alishan's (阿里山) scenic landscapes and "cloud sea," Yeh said. The station lies on the Alishan Forest Railway, which starts in Chiayi City and meanders through Chiayi and Nantou counties, carrying passengers up and down the mountain.
■ SCIENCE
Penghu hosts scientists
Magnetic field detection operations in a nationwide geological survey started this week on Penghu, the fourth and final stage of the project, academic sources said on Wednesday. The project, conducted by the Hsinchu-based Industrial Technology Research Institute, has already visited Ilan, Hualien and Pingtung counties, and its work in Penghu is expected to take 45 days. The institute said the goal of the project is to better understand the nation's geological structures, as well as to lay the foundation for future studies.
■ LIVESTOCK
Banned drug detected
A goose from a fowl farm in Taoyuan County has been found to contain salbutamol, a banned drug used to promote the growth of lean meat in livestock, the director general of the Department of Health's Bureau of Food Sanitation said yesterday. Cheng Hui-wen (鄭惠文) made the announcement while making public the results of the bureau's spot checks on marketed geese around the country last month. One of 19 samples for banned drug tests was found to have excessive traces of salbutamol, Cheng said, adding that the problematic sample was taken from the Yung Yu goose farm. The farm faces a fine of between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000, he said.
■ Tourism
Delegation targets Singapore
A tourism delegation organized by the Taiwan Visitors Association (TVA) will take part in a Singapore international travel fair to attract tourists from the city state. Speaking at a press conference, TVA Advisor Shao Chung-hua (邵仲華), who is leading the delegation, said Taiwan's Tourism Bureau has set a growth target rate for Singaporean and Malaysian tourists to Taiwan this year at 7 percent. According to Shao, around 180,000 tourists from Singapore visited Taiwan last year, an annual growth rate of 10.8 percent, while the number of tourists from Malaysia rose 7.2 percent. Meanwhile, Chi Cheng (紀政), chairman of the Organizing Committee for the 2009 World Games, to be held in Kaohsiung, will also lead a group to Singapore with a view to attracting visitors.
■ CULTURE
Cross-strait festival
A group of 110 academics and members of various performance troupes from Taiwan plan to take part in the first Cross-Taiwan Strait Folk Arts Festival from Sept. 21 to Sept. 24 in Xiamen, Fujian Province. A 20-member delegation from Kinmen County, led by the county government's Cultural Affairs Bureau Director Li Hsi-lung (李錫隆), will also attend the festival. All the Taiwanese participants are to travel directly to Xiamen by boat from the island of Kinmen. The festival is sponsored by the Chinese Friendship Association of Culture, the Xiamen municipal government and the Fujian Provincial Government.
■ DIPLOMACY
Vietnam protests airstrip
Vietnam issued a statement yesterday protesting against Taiwan's plan to build an airstrip on one of the disputed Spratly islands. Taiwanese defense officials have said they plan to build an airfield on what Vietnam calls Itu Aba, the largest of the Spratlys, a chain of islands and rocky outcrops in the South China Sea. "Vietnam possesses adequate historical evidence and legal foundations to proclaim its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa [Paracel] and Truong Sa [Spratly] archipelagos," Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said. "All activities in the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos which are not approved by Vietnam are violations of Vietnam's sovereignty in these areas and are devoid of legal merit," he said. Dung said Vietnam "urges Taiwan to immediately desist from continuing with its plan as well as similar activities in the Truong Sa archipelago." The Spratlys are claimed in full or in part by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
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