FOOD SAFETY
Japanese fish intercepted
A shipment of more than 18,000kg of frozen fish from Japan was rejected at the border due to excessive levels of cadmium, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. The batch of 18,450kg of frozen banded blue sprat would be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, the agency said in its weekly report on intercepted imports. The Japanese fish was among nine shipments stopped at Taiwan’s border over the past week, including fresh mangosteens from Thailand, cassava cakes from Indonesia, green beans from South Africa and black sesame from Myanmar, it said. Over the past six months, two shipments of frozen Japanese banded blue sprat imported by two different companies had been found to contain excessive levels of cadmium, prompting the FDA to increase the frequency of checks, it said. A 2,696kg batch of fresh mangosteens from Thailand imported by the Greather Fruit Trading Co was also found to contain excessive levels of cadmium, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
NATIONAL DEFENSE
Bureau names female chief
The military is soon to welcome its first female Political Warfare Bureau chief, Lieutenant General Chen Yu-lin (陳育琳), a military source said. Chen, the director-general of the Army Command Headquarters’ Political Warfare Department, is to take up the post as head of the bureau on Sunday, the day Lieutenant General Yang An (楊安) retires from the position, the source said. The Political Warfare Bureau is responsible for psychological warfare to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s decades-long efforts to gain influence over individuals and organizations inside and outside of China, including in Taiwan. Chen’s current post is to be assumed by former military spokesman Major General Shih Shun-wen (史順文), who heads the Sixth Army Corps’ Political Warfare Department, the source said. As the position of chief of the Army Command Headquarters’ Political Warfare Department is reserved for a two-star general, Shih is soon to be promoted, they said.
DIPLOMACY
Taipei, Seoul mayors meet
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) on Monday met with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in the South Korean capital to witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding on youth affairs cooperation between the two cities. At the meeting, Chiang expressed the hope of promoting mutual visits by talented young people from the two cities and sharing spaces in the cities’ innovation incubation centers. Commending Seoul’s “Happy Youth Project,” which aims to increase the city’s investment in its 3 million young citizens by nearly ninefold, Chiang said that Taipei would soon establish a youth affairs department, and he hoped to draw on Seoul’s experience to shape it. The youth policies adopted by Seoul include technical training to match post-graduation employment and increasing investment in housing for young people, Oh said. The city has also established a planning group to develop other policies oriented toward young people, he said. Chiang also spoke of the friendship between Taipei and Seoul, which are celebrating their 55th year as sister cities.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
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