By Tsai Tsung-hsun, Wu Hsin-tien and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writerNational Chung Cheng University said it is getting ready to file patents for a device developed by its students that detects the African swine fever virus. The invention won silver at this year’s International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition, which took place this month, the school said on Thursday. Team leader Wang Wei-cheng (王瑋晟) said the best way to prevent the virus from spreading is to shorten the time it takes to diagnose it. The machine includes a mini-lab that employs the specialized functions of the CRISPR-Cas system and fluorescent dye PicoGreen, the team said. Meat products from China and Vietnam have tested positive for the virus, indicating that the two nations have not yet contained the outbreak, the bureau said.

The US Navy regularly conducts “freedom of navigation” operations in the disputed South China Sea, to which Taiwan, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei have competing claims over all or parts of the waterway. “Recently, the US has used the pretext of ‘freedom of navigation’ to frequently send warships to the South China Sea area to cause trouble,” it said. China has laid claim to nearly all of the South China Sea and has built numerous military outposts on the small islands and atolls of the region, angering other claimants. In the past few months, the US military has stepped up its freedom of navigation operations in the region, irking Beijing, but not sparking any direct confrontation thus far. China has effectively drawn a property line around the whole of the Paracels archipelago to claim the entire territory.

By Jason Pan / Staff reporterMembers of the Green Party Taiwan and Taiwan Action Party Alliance yesterday filed a judicial complaint against former Taiwan Provincial Government secretary for foreign affairs Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英), saying that he undermined national security when he publicly declared that he represents the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to monitor the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections. “Kuo has openly stated that he is working for the CCP. That is an obvious breach of the National Security Act, and he is likely developing spy networks and providing highly classified materials to China,” Green Party Taiwan executive member Chang Chu-chin (張竹芩) said. “Kuo says he works for the CCP, but he is receiving a pension from our government, the Republic of China,” alliance legislative candidate Yang Chih-yuan (楊智淵) said. Kuo previously served in the now-defunct Government Information Office in Toronto.

AFP, SEOULSouth Korea yesterday decided against scrapping a critical military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan in a dramatic 11th-hour U-turn that will come as a relief to the US. Kim You-geun, a national security official at Seoul’s presidential Blue House, confirmed that the Japan–South Korea General Security of Military Information Agreement would not be allowed to lapse at midnight. Seoul and Tokyo are both major US allies seen as an anchor of stability in a tinderbox region with overbearing China and wayward, nuclear-armed North Korea. “We continue to strongly demand South Korea to remedy as soon as possible the current situation that violates the international law.”The agreement, signed in 2016, enabled the two US allies to share military secrets, particularly over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile capacity. Ditching the pact would have been “a huge setback for one of the pillars of East Asia’s security that Japan, South Korea and the United States have established,” said Kenichiro Sasae, a former top Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs official and ambassador to the US.

“We’re looking at that,” Trump said in answer to a reporter’s question about the tariffs, after touring the plant, which assembles Mac pro desktop computers, with Apple chief executive Tim Cook. Cook, who has a strong relationship with Trump, has sought relief for Apple from the US tariffs, which are part of a months-long tit-for-tat trade dispute between the world’s largest economies. Apple in September announced it would make its new Mac Pro computers in Austin. The announcement came days after US trade regulators approved 10 out of 15 requests for tariff exemptions filed by Apple amid a broader reprieve on levies on computer parts. Earlier this month, Apple also asked the Trump administration to waive tariffs on Chinese-made Apple Watches, iPhone components and other consumer products.

As a result, the supply and demand balance is starting to improve,” Mehrotra told Unique Satellite TV (非凡電視) in Taipei on Wednesday. “When I look beyond the calendar first quarter of 2020, I see healthy demand trends for DRAM in all end markets. Taiwan is the biggest DRAM production site for Micron, the world’s third-largest DRAM chipmaker with a market share of 20 percent last quarter. To cope with rising demand, Micron is expanding its cleanroom space in Taichung, Mehrotra said. Upon completion, Taiwan will become “the world’s leader in DRAM technology and production capability,” he said.

The changes would step up the enforcement of regulations and offer incentives for civil servants to observe rules for protecting classified materials, the bureau said. Some personnel even use classified equipment for personal use, which increases the risk of leaking classified information, it said. Government agencies at every level must enforce security protocols and defense mechanisms for the proper handling of classified equipment, the bureau said. The amendments say that an emergency that compromises the safety of classified equipment and documents would require their evacuation or immediate destruction. In 2005, a Chinese Trojan horse program embedded in an e-mail was sent to the university’s staff e-mail system and gained access to the network, she said.

Established in 1887 when Taiwan was still governed by China’s Qing Dynasty, Chang Jung was the first girls’ senior-high school — at the time a private institution — to offer Western-style classes. The school required the young women to have unbound feet and taught them how to write, count and embroider. Liu Tsai-sang (劉採桑), 98, said that the girls’ dormitory was on the second floor of the “Red Building,” named for its color. Chen An-ching (陳安靜), 94, brought an embroidery piece to the celebration that she finished as a student at the school 76 years ago. The school is considering turning a section of the Red Building into a school museum, dean Tsai Yu-min (蔡玉敏) said, adding that the school would call on all alumnae to donate photographs, mementos or accounts of their school days.

The boy’s family was shocked, as there was not a family history of diabetes, Ting said. At 174.5cm tall, the boy weighed 95.9kg, with a body mass index (BMI) of 31.5kg per cubic meter — much higher than the average of 18kg per cubic meter for a boy his age, Ting said. The boy had also developed acanthosis nigricans, a condition where brown or black areas discolor the skin around the neck, armpits and other skin folds in people with obesity, Ting said. About 30 percent of elementary and junior-high school children nationwide are obese, Ting said, citing Ministry of Education data. However, if a child’s diet and exercise are improved at an early age, they are more likely than an adult would to reverse symptoms of obesity, Ting said.

By Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNAThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing regulations on a possible carcinogen in vegetable oils, glycidyl fatty acid esters, which if passed would make Taiwan the first nation in Asia to regulate the substance. FDA Food Safety Section head Liao Chia-ding (廖家鼎) yesterday said that the glycidyl fatty acid esters were only recently discovered and are created primarily during high-head deodorization and deacidification of plant oils. The US, Japan and Hong Kong have yet to regulate glycidyl fatty acid esters, while the EU is the only government with regulations regarding them, he said. After several meetings with firms in the food industry, the FDA plans to reference EU regulations for its draft legislation, setting 1,000 micrograms per kilogram (mcg/kg) as the maximum limit for glycidyl fatty acid esters in food products, Liao said. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies glycidyl fatty acid esters in Group 2A, meaning there is limited evidence a substance is carcinogenic in humans, but there is sufficient evidence it causes cancer in animals, he said.

As Miller intended, people saw The Crucible as an allegory for the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Un-American Activities’ hunt for communist sympathizers. Three years after The Crucible opened, Miller himself was questioned by committee. In a piece published in the The New Yorker magazine on Oct. 13, 1966, about the writing of the play and his memories of that time, Miller wrote: “Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The play ran three-and-a-half hours with an intermission. ■ More information and ticket links can be found on the company’s Web site Crucible page (www.vscinemas.com.tw/vsweb/film/detail.aspx?id=4182).

Asia University Hospital Eye Center deputy director Lin Chun-ju (林純如), who treated the patient surnamed Chang, said that before the retinal detachment occurred, the patient had 20/25 vision in the left eye and 20/20 vision in the right eye when using glasses or contacts. However, the patient’s long-term use of steroids triggered early cataracts, causing the vision in both eyes to drop to 20/200, Lin said, without specifying the gender of the patient. Because the patient also suffers from allergic conjunctivitis — commonly known as “pink eye,” which occurs when the eye comes into contact with allergens — and was rubbing their eyes too hard, the force applied to right eye caused the retina to detach, Lin said. Momentary pain or irritation around the eyes after using these drugs is normal, she added. The doctor asked parents to remind children with eye allergies not to rub their eyes too hard, especially those taking steroids to treat another condition.

Taian TRA Station isn’t in Miaoli County’s Taian Township (泰安鄉), but rather in Houli District (后里區) in Taichung City. It’s less than 500m from the southbank of the Daan River (大安溪), the other side of which belongs to Miaoli County’s Sanyi Township (三義鄉). Far fewer people go to Taian Railway Cultural Park (泰安鐵道文化園區), which preserves the old Taian station. To do so, turn right as you exit the current railway station. These remain in place, and it’s possible to walk northeast along them for about 700m to Daan River Iron Bridge.

By Natasha Li / Staff reporterStainless steel pipe manufacturer Froch Enterprise Co (彰源企業) is to invest more than NT$600 million (US$19.66 million) to set up a new plant in Yunlin County’s Douliou City (斗六), the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday, as it added the firm’s application to the list of companies returning to invest in Taiwan. A total of 154 companies have pledged up to NT$697.7 billion in investments since the ministry started a program in January to encourage Taiwanese firms to return and invest at home. Taichung-based Gain How Printing Co (健豪印刷) plans to invest NT$1.3 billion by introducing smart production lines at a new plant in the Taichung Industrial Park (台中工業區) as it looks to sharpen its competitive edge, the ministry said. Wooden furniture hardware manufacturer Zyh Yin Enterprise Co (至盈實業), which supplies Swedish furniture retailer IKEA, is to invest more than NT$900 million by establishing a smart production plant in Kaohsiung’s Yanchao District (燕巢). The program, launched in July, has welcomed 24 companies’ applications, representing more than NT$54.1 billion in investments thus far, the ministry said.

The Chinese-language United Daily News on Wednesday quoted a member of the HSR Extension Viability Assessment Committee as saying that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications had delivered the report to the Cabinet, despite the member’s objection. The committee in late September favored a proposed route that would extend the line from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Lioukuaicuo Station in Pingtung. To the Execuitve Yuan’s knowledge, the opinions of the committee members were recorded in the report along with the meeting’s conclusions, she said. The report is being reviewed by the council, she said, adding that the Cabinet hopes that the council would render an objective and professional evaluation. Of the 233 firms, 137 have started operations at industrial zones and require a combined 126,000 tonnes of water daily, it said, adding that after covering their daily water use, the nation still has 1.1 million tonnes of water on tap for the needs of industrial zones.