■ SPORTS
Council moving south
The Sports Affairs Council, currently located in Taipei, is moving south and will start its operations in Kaohsiung beginning next month, council Deputy Chairman Lee Kao-hsiang (李高祥) said yesterday. The move is part of the administration's policy to relocate some government offices to the south to balance regional development and follows the Council of Agriculture's Fisheries Agency move to Kaohsiung late last year. The council will be relocated to the National Sports Training Center in Tsoying (左營), Kaohsiung City. Lee said the Cabinet had appropriated NT$28.37 million (US$735,400) for the relocation, including a monthly living allowance of NT$20,000 for each of the 114 staffers as compensation for the inconvenience.
■ POLITICS
KMT confirms nominations
The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) highest decision-making body yesterday confirmed the nomination of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and KMT Legislator Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) for the positions of speaker and deputy speaker respectively. The party decided to support Wang's proposed re-election as speaker after it won a landslide victory in the legislative elections, and selected Tseng as its deputy speaker candidate via a straw poll on Monday. The KMT's Central Standing Committee also passed amendments for the regulations on the establishment of the party's integrity committee yesterday, expanding its scope by increasing the number of members from 11 to 15. KMT spokesman Huang Yu-cheng (黃玉振) said the party is seeking to include more professionals in the committee to prevent inter-party corruption.
■ DIPLOMACY
Amendment includes Taiwan
By a vote of 25-3, the WHO executive board yesterday passed a China-sponsored amendment to the International Health Regulations of 2005 that includes Taiwan in the global health framework in principle, Taiwan's representative to Geneva Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) told CNA yesterday. Despite earlier media reports saying that China wanted to block Taiwan's representation in the health agreement with its draft amendment, Shen said that Taiwan "did not lose" as the "universal application" clause proposed by Taiwan's allies, also called the "Taiwan clause," was in the amendment. The issue of Taiwan's representation in the regulations had been taken seriously and fully debated by the board, Shen said.
■ POLITICS
Alleged gangster released
A campaign worker for Democratic Progressive Party legislator-elect Yu Tien (余天), alleged gangster Wang Ying-lan (王瑛嵐), was released yesterday on NT$100,000 (US$3,000) bail over his alleged involvement in a case of threatening the supporters of an opposition candidate during the legislative election campaign. Police suspected that Wang warned a borough warden, Chuang Chin-lung (莊金龍), an entertainer better known as Kao Chun (高群), and other wardens not to support Yu's opponent, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Chun-hsiao (朱俊曉), and not to perform at Chu's campaign rallies. Police said Wang told Chuang he would gather some gangsters at Chung's home to "drink tea." Yu defeated Chu by a narrow margin in the Jan. 12 legislative elections, and Chu said he would file a lawsuit seeking to annul Yu's victory.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
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