Fri, Jul 07, 2017 page4

• Taiwan News Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  CRIME

  Customs seizes fake drugs

  Customs authorities confiscated a package of drugs from China containing two banned pharmaceutical products disguised as a Japanese constipation remedy brand, the Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday. The counterfeit medicine looks almost the same as the genuine product, but contains a combination of the banned substances sibutramine and phenolphthalein, which are carcinogenic and could be fatal to humans, administration official Dai Hsueh-yung (戴雪詠) said. Sibutramine is the active ingredient in Reductil, a weight-loss drug that was banned because it increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and even death, while phenolphthalein is an ingredient once found in over-the-counter laxatives until it was labeled as a potential carcinogen.

  IMMIGRATION

  Indonesian dies in escape

  A female Indonesian migrant worker yesterday died after she jumped from the third floor of a building and sustained head injuries during a raid, the National Immigration Agency said. The Taoyuan office of the agency’s Northern Taiwan Administration Corps received a tip-off on Wednesday night of a number of absconded migrant workers at a factory in the city’s Tayuan District (大園). During the raid, immigration officers found 17 allegedly illegal migrant workers, four of whom tried to flee, including the female worker in her 30s identified as Danisah, they said. She showed no vital signs before arriving at a hospital, where she was pronounced dead by doctors after failed attempts to resuscitate her. Several others sustained minor injuries. Authorities have begun an investigation of the incident and have notified the employers of the migrant workers. To ensure the security of the upcoming Summer Universiade in Taipei, immigration authorities said they have stepped up inspections of large public places and possible hideouts for absconded migrant workers.

  SOCIETY

  Cost of living 34th highest

  Taiwan’s cost of living index was the 34th-highest among 115 nations in a mid-year reported released by global online data Web site Numbeo. The online database determines a nation’s cost of living index by comparing rent, groceries and restaurant indices with local purchasing power. The report showed that Bermuda has replaced Switzerland as having the highest cost of living, followed by Iceland in third, Norway and the Bahamas. Denmark, the US Virgin Islands, Japan, Israel and Singapore rounded out the top 10 nations on the list.

  ENTERTAINMENT

  Online videos a part of life

  Taiwanese spend an average of 7.3 hours per week watching online video programming, with one in four spending more than 12 hours per week, an Institute for Information Industry survey found. Watching online videos has become part of the daily life of people younger than 44, the survey found, with 25 percent of respondents in the 25 to 34 age group spending more than 12 hours per week and 56 percent of those in the 35 to 44 demographic spending more than five hours per week. The best-known brand name for online video is iQiyi, with 94.7 percent of those polled knowing the name, followed by KKTV at 75 percent, the Innovative DigiTech-Enabled Applications and Service Institute said. The survey found that Netflix enjoys the highest customer loyalty, with 42.3 percent of respondents expressing interest in continuing to subscribe, followed by Taiwan Mobile’s myVideo service at 31.3 percent.
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