■ 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.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS