■ Education
New English test introduced
The National Development Initiatives Institute, a local organization promoting the study of English, presented a new English proficiency test yesterday. Based on the Common European Framework (CEF), a standardized scale of English proficiency, the examination has been tested at some middle and senior high schools, colleges and universities and would be introduced at all schools nationwide, institute officials said yesterday. The "Global English Test" focuses on active communication skills, as well as listening comprehension, they said.
■ Transportation
Fog delays flights
Thick fog at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport delayed more than 30 departing flights yesterday morning, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded, an airport official said. The foggy conditions were created by a humid maritime airstream, reducing visibility to less than 200m, according to the Central Weather Bureau. Hundreds of people were stranded at the airport due to the delayed flights to Japan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, an airport official said. Five flights arriving from the US and Europe were diverted to Kaohsiung, the official said.
■ Weather
Cold front on the way
A cold front will approach Taiwan tomorrow, which will bring to an end this week's warm weather, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said temperatures in northern and northeastern areas will drop tomorrow because of the influence of a southbound cold front in the region. Chances are high for rain in northern Taiwan this weekend, the bureau said, adding that the weather would improve by Monday.
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 Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
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