■ Weather
Typhoon to bring rain
Light Typhoon Melor, located 570km east of Manila at 8am yesterday, is expected to bring rain to eastern Taiwan in the next few days. According to Central Weather Bureau forecasts, from yesterday evening Melor would bring three or four days of rain to eastern Taiwan. Another typhoon, Parma, is currently moving away from Taiwan. The medium typhoon is unlikely to affect the nation's weather.
■ Education
Little English on islands
There is a noticeable gap between Taiwan proper and the smaller islands it controls regarding English-teaching resources and learning environments, according to a recent survey conducted by the privately run King Car Education Foundation. The poll results show that 93.6 percent of school children questioned around the country think it is important to learn English. However, the poll also revealed that only 34 percent of those polled really enjoy learning English, while 38 percent in Taipei County acknowledged that they learn English only in order to pass examinations. The results also show that a larger ratio of primary school students on the islands do not like learning English and that there are insufficient English textbooks and language learning activities at their schools. Some 47 percent of them said they have never read any English books, while about 44 percent said they have no confidence in talking with foreigners in English.
■ Politics
Siew off to Boao Forum
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) left for Hong Kong yesterday, on his way to an economic meeting in Boao, Hainan Province. Siew said the focus of the Boao forum will be discussion on the promotion of development and economic cooperation in Asia, and will not touch on cross-strait economic issues or issues concerning direct links. The Boao Forum, initiated by 26 countries, including Japan, Australia and the Philippines in 2001, is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization.
■ Culture
Aborigines want own council
The Pingpu Plains Aborigines Association of Taiwan (台灣平埔原住民協會) yesterday urged the government to establish a Cabinet-level council for Pingpu affairs. Pingpu Aborigines are the Aborigines living in the plains area. The group said that there were various Cabinet-level councils for Hakkas, oversea Chinese and Aborigines, but there was not such council for Pingpu people, and the Council of Indigenous People did not take charge of Pingpu affairs either. It said that having a separate Pingpu council could ease concerns of Aborigines in mountain areas that their resources would be divided. The association also wants the government to help maintain and promote their declining culture.
■ Crime
Police find drug factory
Police announced yesterday that they had raided a large amphetamine manufacturing factory in Kaohsiung seizing drugs with an estimated street value of NT$500 million. Police and investigation agents raided the factory in Taliao, Kaohsiung County, the previous day, seizing 14kg of amphetamine in solid form and nearly 700kg in liquid form, as well as a large amount of equipment used to manufacture the drug. Police arrested chief suspect Lee Wen-cheng (李文成) and were continuing to track down two other suspects, who were still at large.
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
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
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
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