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Taiwan Quick Take

■ SOCIETY
Fire wrecks Keelung market
A pre-dawn fire in Keelung early yesterday destroyed a marketplace and all its food stalls. The Keelung City Fire Bureau said fire trucks were dispatched to the Jenai marketplace after the blaze was reported at 1:43am. Bureau officials said the fire started on the second floor of the marketplace and firemen arriving at the scene heard gas cylinders exploding. Forty-eight residents living on the third to the 10th floors above the market escaped to the top of the building and were rescued by firemen. The fire department battled the blaze for five-and-a-half hours before bringing it under control. As of press time, experts were still examining the scene to determine the cause of the fire.

■ HEALTH
Saudis study NHI system
Saudi Arabian officials responsible for health affairs are in Taipei to study the national health insurance (NHI) system, an Institute for Information Industry (III) spokesman said yesterday. Thirteen officials from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health attended the opening yesterday of a 42-day study program organized by the institute on the national health system and privatizing hospitals. Chu Hai-yen (朱海燕), deputy director of the III's Information Engineering Institute, said his organization contacted the Saudi health ministry last September after learning Riyadh wanted to improve its health insurance system. While Saudi citizens are eligible for a public medical care system, the program does not cover the large number of foreigners working in that country, Chu said. He said Saudi Arabia's attempt to replicate Taiwan's health insurance system has drawn the attention of other Middle Eastern countries looking to upgrade their health programs.

■ ENVIRONMENT
Cracker gets EPA extension
Formosa Chemical Corp's Sixth Naphtha Cracking Project in Mailiao (麥寮), Yunlin County, will not have to pay a NT$7 million (US$212,000) fine for failing to reduce its water usage, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday. The company was fined for not reducing its water usage to 25.7 tonnes a day. EPA Deputy Director Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬) said last night that in March Formosa was given an extension to reduce its water usage and that extension expired yesterday. He said the company turned in a report yesterday on its progress in reducing water consumption. But the EPA will need two to three days to conduct on-site inspections to see if the cracker has met all the requirements, so the penalty would not take effect immediately. "The EPA will combine details listed in the report as well as those observed through on-site inspections in our review of the case," he said.

■ POLITICS
Hsieh must choose soon: Lu
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) should pick his running mate quickly so that aspirants will not feel so anxious, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday. Lu said that she "sympathized" with those hoping to pair up with Hsieh for next year's election and she understood their apprehension. She said she respected the means vice presidential hopefuls had used to find favor in Hsieh's eyes. Former deputy premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), a Hakka from Miaoli County, has repeatedly expressed interest in pairing up with Hsieh, saying that she would be glad to take on the responsibility of running for vice president.

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