■ 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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
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