■ Travel
CAL says pilot wasn't drunk
China Airlines spokesman Joseph Wu (武志厚) yesterday clarified reports that one of the company's pilots was stopped from flying last Thursday because his blood-alcohol level exceeded the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) limit for pilots. According to Wu, different methods of reporting the same blood-alcohol content had led to a misunderstanding. He said that the captain's breath test result was 0.087 percent, the equivalent of 0.017 percent in Taiwan. He said the FAA's limit for pilots is 0.2 percent, or 0.040 percent by the standards used in this country. "The pilot's blood-alcohol content was actually far below the limit," Wu said. Wire agency reports said FAA rules prohibit pilots from flying with blood alcohol content above 0.040 percent. The reports also quoted FAA spokeswoman Joette Storm as saying the pilot was carrying an opened alcoholic-beverage bottle in his carry-on luggage. The pilot was to fly an Airbus A340 from Anchorage, Alaska, to New York last Thursday, but Wu indicated that the airlines replaced him to avoid a delay. However, a reliable source contradicted Wu, stating that there had been no changes in the flight crew last Thursday.
■ Health
Officials praise WHO
The government yesterday hailed the World Health Organization (WHO) for revising the nation's death toll from SARS to 37 from the previously listed 180, saying it would help the epidemic be better understood by the world. The WHO made the adjustment on Sept. 26 after ruling that 143 of the fatalities on the initial list had not in fact died from the disease. "After all the handling of the epidemic should be done in a scientific way, and the revision would lead us closer to reality and therefore help reinforce our preparations for the challenges ahead," Center for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said. The result came after the center, in accordance with WHO standards, reclassified data regarding the patients suspected of being infected with SARS. "What we have done was given credit by WHO," Shih said. The government had previously reported that 71 people died from SARS.
■ Transport
Stored-value tickets halted
Taipei City's Bureau of Transportation said that it had stopped accepting stored-value bus tickets as of yesterday. The tickets are replaced by the Easy Card and coins. Stored-value ticket machines, nicknamed "green babies," will be removed. People who still have stored-value bus tickets can ask for a refund at 30 MRT stations and 10 branches of the Taipei Bus Administration before Sept. 30 next year. A bureau official said the machines broke down easily, a major complaint of passengers.
■ Aid groups
Kid's charity changes name
Taiwan District of Kiwanis International, the local branch of the international organization committed to promoting child welfare, yesterday welcomed its new president and celebrated Kiwanis International's decision to change the title of the local chapter. The local group, formerly called the Republic of China district, received a letter from the organization's headquarters on Sept. 8 agreeing to the name change. The branch wanted the change because people often mistook it for a chapter from China. The aid the Taiwanese branch delivered was often mistaken as help from China, the branch said. "We do not want to be mistaken anymore," said a branch spokesman.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition