FISHERIES
Job screening tightened
The government has imposed stricter measures on the employment of foreign workers on Taiwanese fishing boats by requiring all applicants to present a clean criminal record certificate, Fisheries Agency Deputy Director-General Tsay Tzu-yaw (蔡日曜) announced on Tuesday. The measure, which takes effect three days after the announcement, is to be implemented as part of efforts to prevent crime on the high seas, said Tsay, who also suggested that ship owners hire workers from more than one country to lower the risk of foreign workers joining forces against their Taiwanese bosses. Under the new measure, foreigners applying for jobs on Taiwanese fishing vessels must present a clean criminal record certificate verified by the Taiwanese representative offices in their countries. The move was in response to the alleged July 16 murder of the Taiwanese skipper and chief engineer of a deep-ocean fishing boat registered in Suao (蘇澳), Yilan County, by its nine Indonesian crewmen.
CULTURE
Students to perform in Africa
Students from the Taipei National University of the Arts will give a variety of performances in Africa during their trip to Burkina Faso and Sao Tome and Principe next month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Invited by the ministry to promote bilateral cultural exchanges, the 12 students, accompanied by their professor, will depart for Sao Tome and Principe on Sept. 4, the ministry said. During their two-week trip to the two countries, the students will give percussion performances, sing Taiwanese folk songs and perform a traditional martial arts drama and modern dances, the ministry said. David Wang (王建業), director-general of the ministry’s Department of West Asian and African Affairs, will lead the group on the trip.
AGRICULTURE
Bi-color sweet corn unveiled
The Council of Agriculture on Tuesday unveiled its first bi-color sweet corn that can be grown in Taiwan’s baking-hot summer, with the aim of boosting farmers’ revenues by two to three times. Developed by the council’s research station for eight years, the No. 27 yellow-white sweet corn is more heat-resistant than other bi-color breeds favored in Taiwan — mostly foreign breeds that can only be planted in fall or winter, the council said. A trial of the No. 27 sweet corn began in June on two farms in Yunlin County, and the new breed can be priced as high as NT$17 per kilogram, compared with NT$6 to NT$8 for other local breeds of yellow sweet corn, the council said. The new breed’s higher price is attributed mainly to the fact that it is sweeter than yellow sweet corn. The council said small-scale mass production is scheduled for next year.
SOCIETY
Grandrider tour planned
An annual bike tour for elderly motorcyclists, affectionately dubbed “Grandriders,” will include more international participants this year, organizers said yesterday. Twenty motorcyclists from abroad will join 40 local riders on a four-day trip from Sept. 28, seeking to convey the message that one is never too old to do anything, the Hondao Senior Citizen’s Welfare Foundation said. Last year, 10 motorcyclists from the US were the first international participants to join the event, riding around the nation for a week. Although this year’s program is shorter, it has become more international, with seniors from the US, Europe and Asia expected to participate in a 350km ride from southern to central Taiwan, the foundation said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
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