■ Education
Corporal punishment banned
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Education Basic Law (教育基本法) on Tuesday, banning any form of corporal punishment in schools and making Taiwan the 109th country in the world to protect students with formal legislation. The Humanistic Education Foundation -- the prime mover behind the legislation -- welcomed the news after lawmakers passed the amendment following a third reading. According to a spokesman for the foundation, the amended law will benefit the nation's 5.3 million students. He said that all students are entitled to the right not to be subjected to physical punishment, be they in public or private kindergartens, elementary schools, high schools, colleges or any other educational institutions.
■ Politics
Shaw changes hospitals
The wife of Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) was moved to a hospital in Taichung yesterday due to her improved condition. After spending 26 days at Chi Mei Medical Center in Tainan County, Shaw Hsiao-ling (邵曉鈴) was transported to China Medical University Hospital in Taichung. Before her departure, Hu thanked Chi Mei Medical Center for accomplishing a "mission impossible" and gave the hospital superintendent, who was also a high-school classmate, Chan Chi-shean (詹啟賢), a big hug. Hu told reporters that an expert who had helped built dinosaur models for the movie Jurassic Park had offered to help make an artificial arm for his wife, to replace her amputated left arm. "I hope it does not turn out to be a dinosaur's arm," Hu said jokingly, drawing laughter from reporters.
■ Transport
MOTC to rule on `accident'
Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications Ho Nuan-hsuen (何煖軒) said yesterday that the transportation ministry would decide tomorrow whether an incident that occurred last Tuesday in Tsoying (左營) could be defined as an "accident." Last month, the ministry's inspectors committee required that the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp must turn in an accident-free record for at least a month before they could be issued an operational permit. However, two accidents have already occurred since the announcement. Last Tuesday, one of the points on railway tracks was found to be split open for reasons unknown. Ho said at the legislature's Transportation Committee that the ministry would defer to the judgment of the inspectors committee. Inspectors would also determine whether test runs should start from scratch, he added.
■ Education
Test results released
The Ministry of Education released the results of its first test to certify Chinese language instructors yesterday. Last month, some 2,000 aspiring Chinese teachers took the examination, which consists of five sections to evaluate examinees' grasp of Mandarin, as well as pedagogical skills, local media said. The ministry announced in a press release yesterday that just 72 examinees had passed all five sections. The ministry will confer three-year teaching certificates to the 72 successful examinees later this month, allowing them to market themselves as officially accredited Chinese language instructors, the release said, adding that certified teachers will need to renew their accreditation every three years.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
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