Fri, Nov 25, 2005 page3

• Taiwan Quick Take

  • STAFF WRITER WITH AGENCIES
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  ■ Legislature
  Some NCC candidates named

  The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus named five of its nine nominees for the soon-to-be-established National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday. The caucus is scheduled to officially announce all of its nominees today, as will the other caucuses. The five people named yesterday are Weng Hsiu-chi (翁秀琪), chairman of the Public Television Service; Chang Tien-chin (張天欽), director of the NCC preparation office; Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉), a research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of Social Science; Hsu Song-ken (許松根), a professor of economics at Tamkang University; and (呂忠津), a professor of electrical engineering at National Tsing Hua University. DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that none of the nominees are DPP members and all of them have professional expertise. The Organic Law of the National Communications Commission (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法), stipulates that political parties must nominate 15 candidates for the committee and the final selections will be based upon each party's proportion of seats in the legislature.

  ■ Health

  Young men risk STDs

  A report released by the Taipei City Hospital system yesterday showed that men between 20 and 29 are at the greatest risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and heterosexuals are much more likely to acquire an STD than homosexuals. According to an STD report conducted by the Taipei City STD Lab between May and last month, of the 186 people who acquired an STD, more than 75 percent were male, while about 24 percent were women. Heterosexuals made up 85 percent of all STD patients, with about 8 percent homosexual. More than 66 percent of the STD patients had urethritis or cervicitis, and among the 66 percent, 23 percent of patients had gonorrhea. The hospital said the questionnaire found that about 62 percent of the patients did not use condoms when having sex.

  ■ Society

  AIDS inmates separated

  Prisons have begun to segregate prisoners infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS to curb the spread of AIDS in jails, an official said. "We are building separate wards for HIV-AIDS convicts in six prisons, and have begun moving these prisoners to those wards," an official from the Correction Department said. "With HIV/AIDS prisoners living in special wards, it is easier for us to take care of them and prevent the spread of AIDS," he said. Among the 60,000 prisoners in the 47 jails, there are 1,539 prisoners infected with the HIV virus or suffering from full-blown AIDS. The Ministry of Justice began to build wards for HIV/AIDS convicts earlier this year due to the sharp rise in infections among drug using inmates.

  ■ Politics

  Soong story `incorrect'

  The Presidential Office yesterday rebutted a report in a Chinese-language daily that claimed the office's Personnel Department had confirmed People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) was not paid during the period he served as a secretary of the office while holding posts in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). According to the Department of Public Affairs, a letter from the Personnel Department replying to PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) was to clarify that the office's materials regarding salary records had been destroyed. "What the president actually said was that serving as an official at the Presidential Office and in an important party position at the same time violates the law," the office said.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Podul intensifies as it approaches: CWA

  • 2

    Alcaraz battles as Shelton, Zverev ease through

  • 3

    Tropical Storm Podul strengthens into typhoon

  • 4

    Taipei, New Taipei step up anti-pickpocket measures

  • 5

    CWA likely to issue warning for Tropical Storm Podul