TRADE
FDA seizes subpar foods
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday said that it discovered and intercepted 29 substandard food import items in the first two weeks of this month, many of which contained excessive levels of pesticide residue. Products that failed the check included fresh strawberries, melons and persimmons from Japan, as well as fresh cherries from Chile and ginseng from South Korea, the FDA said. Many of these items had been imported as Lunar New Year gifts, it said. Border inspections also found 2,779kg of edible bird’s nests from Vietnam that contained illegal preservatives, FDA division head Chen Ching-yu (陳慶裕) said, adding that the products were either returned to their country of origin or destroyed in line with import regulations.
CRIME
Father of murdered kids dies
A military serviceman who on Sunday allegedly killed his two sons at their home in Taichung before jumping out of the building in a suicide attempt died yesterday after being in a coma for four days, China Medical University Hospital said. The 25-year-old air force mechanic surnamed Hsiao (蕭) died in an intensive care unit from severe injuries due to his suicide attempt after allegedly killing his two young sons aged 18 months and two years, on Sunday. Taichung police said that a note left by Hsiao showed that he committed the killings and attempted suicide after refusing to sign divorce papers for his wife. Autopsies performed on the two children indicated that the elder son had a stab wound on his neck, while the younger one appeared to have been strangled, the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said on Tuesday.
ENTERTAINMENT
Ba Ge succumbs to cancer
Veteran TV host Ba Ge (巴戈) has died at the age of 67, friends in the entertainment industry said. Actor Chi Bo-ru (紀寶如) said Ba passed away from pancreatic cancer at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taoyuan on Wednesday evening. Born in 1954, Ba became a child actor at the age of eight. After graduating from what is now National Taiwan University of Arts, he began working for the Chinese Television System, going on to spend 36 years with the station as an actor and variety show host. Ba won the Golden Bell award for Best Host two years running in 1986 and 1987, and went on to win a third Golden Bell in 1991 for his variety show work with cohost Fang Fang-fang (方芳芳). Ba is survived by four children — two daughters, and two sons.
SOCIETY
Father Vonwyl passes at 90
Swiss missionary Father Gottfried Vonwyl of the Bethlehem Mission Society passed away on Sunday at Taitung St. Mary’s Hospital at the age of 90, after nearly six decades of service in Taiwan. Born in Switzerland in 1931, Vonwyl joined the Bethlehem Mission Society in 1956. After arriving in Taiwan in 1963, he served as a parish priest in Taitung, in charge of congregations in the parish community. Under his guidance, a kindergarten was opened in 1973 on a plot of land donated by the Bethlehem Mission Society, while a credit union was established in 1987 to provide loans for church-related construction or renovations. He was awarded “honorary citizenship of Taitung” in 2003 and granted Republic of China citizenship in 2017. The elderly missionary became wheelchair bound several years ago. A funeral mass is to be held tomorrow, the Bethlehem Mission Society said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
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