■ Politics
Ma denies museum rumors
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday dismissed local reports that the Taipei City Government was planning to use the party's Taipei headquarters to house a "Taipei City Museum." According to the head of the Taipei City Government's metropolitan development bureau, Hsu Chih-chien (許志堅), a meeting was held on Tuesday to discuss possible locations for a new city museum. Although different venues were discussed, the KMT's headquarters was not mentioned as one of the options, he said. If the Taipei City Government decided to use the KMT headquarters for its city museum, it would need to negotiate with the party on whether to buy the property, which could be advantageous for the KMT, which is said to be facing financial problems.
■ Diplomacy
Foreign officials to visit
Officials in charge of economic development from eight of the nation's diplomatic allies in Central and South America will visit Taiwan to attend a month-long workshop on the country's experience in economic development and planning scheduled to start on Monday, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday. The Latin American officials will learn about Taiwan's economic development and planning by attending over 20 classes to be given by local economics officials and experts at the Grand Hotel in Taipei and via field trips to related locations and venues, said Chen Cheng-chung (陳正忠), secretary-general of the International Cooperation and Development Fund, a MOFA operation.
■ Labor
Most choose new pensions
More than 2 million workers have chosen to change to the revised pension system, while more than 1 million prefer the old system, initial tallies compiled by the Council for Labor Affairs show. Under the old system, a worker must work for the same employer for 15 consecutive years and reach the age of 55, or for 25 consecutive years, to be eligible for a retirement pension. If a worker were to quit before he met one of the two conditions, he or she would get nothing. Under the new system, a worker's employer must deposit an amount equal to at least 6 percent of the employee's salary into his pension account, which he or she can "carry around" when moving to a new company.
■ Politics
KMT wants new blood
Six young newly-elected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) national delegates yesterday appealed to party chairman-elect and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to let delegates directly elect Central Standing Committee members during the upcoming National Congress. Currently, the 31 members are elected by the Central Committee members. During the party's National Congress, scheduled for Aug. 19 and 20, Ma is to take the oath of office and the more than 1,000 newly-elected party delegates will elect 210 Central Committee members, who will then elect 31 Central Standing Committee members. In addition to saving time and money as well as narrowing the gap between management and grass-roots supporters, the young delegates yesterday said that the direct election would inject younger blood to the committee.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
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