■ Crime
Sex offenders to be tagged
The government will order "high risk" sex offenders to wear electronic tags on their release from jail in a bid to reduce sex crimes, justice officials said yesterday. Under the revised Sexual Violation Prevention Law (性侵害防治法), "high risk" sex criminals, such as serial rapists and those who had attempted to escape from prison, would be required to wear the electronic bracelets upon their release, said an official at the Department of Rehabilitation and Social Protection. Police would be mobilized if they were detected wandering in restricted areas or during their curfew hours. "We hope the new measure will help reduce sex crimes and better protect women's welfare," the official said. The official declined to say how many people would be subject to the new rule, which takes effect on Aug. 5, but local media estimated the number at several hundred.
■ Health
QC program set to begin
In a bid to improve medical service, a hospital quality-control (QC) program will be launched next month to stop hospitals from turning away patients or limiting the number of out-patients, officials said yesterday. "The new version of the Hospital Excellence Plan will be introduced in April. The program will strike a balance between patients' right to medical care and the quality of medical services," Department of Health Minister Hou Sheng-mou (侯勝茂) said at the Legislative Yuan yesterday. Last year, the Bureau of National Health Insurance held a six-month-long trial run of the plan, in which hospitals that met several quality standards got a higher rate of co-payment from the bureau. However, many hospitals ended up turning away people in order to meet the criteria. "We didn't name the new program the Hospital Excellence Plan, because some hospitals' blunders last year created a bad impression. But the spirit to enhance the quality of medical services remains unchanged," bureau president Liu Chien-hsiang (劉見祥) said.
■ Politics
Chiu to enter Taichung race
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) plans to announce his resignation on Monday so that he can throw his hat into the ring for the election for commissioner in his native Taichung County. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chiu was elected a legislator from his hometown in 1999 and retained the position until last May, when he was named to the council post. Chiu is one of several top officials planning to leave their posts in the central government to run for local government jobs.
■ Education
Cellphone classes planned
Telephone companies are expected to start providing English lessons over cellphones in a bid to tap into the young student market, researchers said yesterday. The companies may start using the phones to teach users English vocabulary, reading and pronunciation as early as next month, the Institute for Information Industry said. The service will use colored, animated images as well as sound, said institute researcher Wang Pai-pin, who developed the system and sold it to the phone companies. Charges for the service will start at about NT$200 a month, Wang said. Phone companies have had little success so far tapping the children's market despite aggressive promotions and price cuts. "Parents are reluctant to buy cellphones for their children for fear they could hinder their studies," Wang said.
■ Sports
Olympic torch relay unlikely
Taiwan enjoys equal status to that of China on the International Olympic Committee and will not accept Beijing's plan to make Taiwan one of the destinations in a "domestic route" for the torch relay for the 2008 Olympic Games, an official said yesterday. Chu Shou-chien (朱壽騫), vice chairman of the National Council for Physical Fitness and Sports, said it is still too early to react to the issue because the plan is not yet final and the Games are still three years away. Liu Qi, president of Beijing's organizing committee for the Games, said recently that the "domestic route" of the torch relay will include Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
■ Culture
Honduran official visits
Honduran Ambassador Marlene Villela visited Miaoli County Commissioner Fu Hsueh-peng (傅學鵬) yesterday to discuss the 2005 Miaoli International Mask Festival, which will be held March 26 to May 29. The festival will center around the old civilizations of Central and South America including Aztec, Inca and Maya cultures. Villela said she was interested to see that the incorporation of locally crafted wooden frames would be used during the show, evidence of how the integration of the two forms could enhance the entire exhibition and further develop tourism. Masks from Honduras will be on display at the show, Villela said, adding that her country's cultural affairs department will send two artists to Taiwan to tape the festival for reference should Honduras decide to put on a similar show. The festival will also feature a lion dance, magic and variety shows, drama performances and folk dances.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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