■TRAVEL
Pet food not for import
Quarantine authorities yesterday advised people against bringing pet food to Taiwan from abroad because some of the products may include ingredients that are barred from entering the country. The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) made the announcement after inspectors from the Consumer Production Commission and the Taipei County Government found pet food at a pet store in the county containing US beef and offal. An investigation found the store owner was smuggling the products from the US into Taiwan for sale, a BAPHIQ official said.
■TRAVEL
Free Thailand visas end
Thailand resumed a policy of charging NT$1,100 for tourist visas yesterday after its visa-free policy, in place over the past year as part of its tourism stimulus measures, expired a day earlier. Officials at the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Taipei office said they could not comment on the possibility that the free visa policy would be extended into next year, because they had not received any official instructions on the matter. The Thai government has agreed to extend the tourism stimulus measures from April 1 to March 31 next year, but before the extension takes effect, Taiwanese will still have to pay for a visa to visit the country. The Tourism Authority said details related to the measures, proposed by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, still needed to be discussed with the Thai foreign ministry and immigration bureau before they are implemented by the government. In addition to the visa fee exemption for foreign tourists, visitors will be granted US$10,000 in riot insurance covering any harm or delays they face while in Thailand because of political demonstrations or riots.
■CRIME
MOJ plans female jail
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) yesterday said it would establish the nation’s first women’s detention center in July in line with its policy of protecting women’s rights. Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) told a press conference that the detention center, to be built in Shilin (士林), Taipei City, would house female detainees from Taipei, Keelung and Taoyuan. The ministry has tried to improve prison and detention center facilities amid criticism that they are overcrowded. Wang said the ministry plans to build more detention centers and prisons for female detainees and inmates to safeguard women’s rights. Starting in January, all prisons and detention centers must add hot shower time for female detainees and prisoners and arrange for doctors to conduct periodical cervical screening tests, Wang said. She added that the ministry was adding female members to its parole review committee.
■TRANSPORTATION
Ships collide near Kinmen
A Taiwanese naval supply vessel collided with a Chinese freighter in thick fog near Kinmen on Thursday, Navy Fleet Command said that day. The supply ship Chung Pang, part of the Navy’s 151st Fleet, was on a routine mission when it was involved in a glancing collision with the Shunlong No. 6 5 nautical miles (9.3km) off Kinmen’s Liaoluo Port, the fleet command said. The Chung Pang was on its way from Taiwan to Kinmen, while the Chinese boat was heading south to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, from Zejiang when the incident took place. The Coast Guard Administration was investigating the cause of the collision.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
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