■ CHARITY
Tzu Chi distributes rice
The Chiayi County branch of the Tzu Chi General Hospital has reaped a greater-than-expected harvest of organic rice and will distribute the crop to followers of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation around the world, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday. Ho Zi-yi (何姿儀), a section chief of Tzu Chi General Hospital’s Dalin Branch in charge of human affairs, said a total of 840kg of the rice was harvested last week from an experimental farm operated by the branch. The organic rice will be packed into small gift bags to be distributed worldwide to enable Tzu Chi followers to share the harvest, Ho said. She said the harvest of the Taigeng No. 2 rice strain was considered a precious gift from God, as rice farmers in eastern Taiwan lost all of the year’s first harvest of the Taigeng No. 4 rice strain because of a string of cold spells in April.
■ MEDICINE
Patient makes 576 visits
A patient suffering from blood coagulation abnormalities and mental disorders was the most frequent user of the National Health Insurance (NHI) system in 2007, making 576 insurance-covered medical visits during the year, the Bureau of National Health Insurance said yesterday. This means that the patient visited hospitals almost twice a day except for holidays, said Tsai Shu-ling (蔡淑鈴), manager of the bureau’s Medical Affairs Section. Tsai mentioned the case while briefing the NHI Supervisory Committee on the bureau’s measures to control abuses of the insurance program. She said that at present, any person covered by the insurance system who makes more than 200 medical visits a year or more than 20 visits in a month will be monitored and offered counseling by the bureau. There were 376 people who made more than 200 doctor visits in 2007, and 9,176 people who made more than 20 visits in a given month last year, she said.
■ CULTURE
Anti-waste concert planned
A number of social activist musicians and bands, led by the Amis activist singer Panay, will hold a concert tomorrow in support of a campaign against Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower, 台電) plan to build a nuclear waste storage facility in Daren Township (達仁) — a traditional domain of the Paiwan Aborigines — in Taitung County. The concert will be held from 2pm to 5:30pm tomorrow at the Red House Market (紅樓創意市集) in Ximending (西門町) shopping district in Taipei City, near exit 1 of the Ximen MRT station.
■ AGRICULTURE
Officials head to Beijing
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), Taichung County Commissioner Huang Chung-sheng (黃仲生) and Changhua County Commissioner Cho Poh-yuan (卓伯源) departed for Beijing yesterday to promote agricultural products from central Taiwan. Cho, heading the group that also comprises members of an alliance of industrial and business associations from Taichung City and Taichung, Changhua and Nantou counties, said the group’s mission in Beijing is to promote Taiwanese products and tourism to consumers in the vast markets of China’s inner provinces. Hu said that since last year, the group has traveled to Hong Kong, Macau and Xiamen to promote agricultural products from central Taiwan. The group took tonnes of agricultural produce with them, including freshly picked grapes and guavas.
■ DIPLOMACY
MOFA touts youth diplomats
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday launched its first “international youth diplomats exchange project” to offer university students the chance to serve as young diplomats to help Taiwan expand cultural and educational exchanges with youth in countries with which it has diplomatic relations. Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) said at a ceremony to present flags to mark the establishment of the young diplomatic missions that the new project aims to pass on Taiwan’s rich experience and “soft power” in culture, advanced technology and education to its diplomatic allies. “We hope that our allies will benefit from young diplomats like you, who are tasked with introducing Taiwan’s development experience to your counterparts through the sharing of your knowledge and talents,” Ou said. The ministry said National Taiwan University, National Chengchi University and Fu Jen Catholic University would form six student groups to visit Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the Pacific — Palau, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Nauru and Kiribati — during the summer vacation. The universities will also organize activities to exchange culture and knowledge with youngsters from those countries.
■ POLITICS
Premier to visit Tainan
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) is scheduled to visit Tainan on Tuesday for a briefing by Tainan Mayor Hsu Tien-tsai (許添財) and Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) on why the city and county should be merged and upgraded to a municipal city. A 25-person ad hoc committee convened by the Ministry of the Interior unanimously approved the upgrade of Taipei County to a municipal city and the mergers of Taichung City and county and Kaohsiung City and county on Tuesday night. The committee, however, failed to reach a consensus on Tainan City and County’s proposal to be merged and upgraded to a municipal city. Tainan’s application will be referred to the Executive Yuan for a final decision. Liu’s planned trip was interpreted by some observers yesterday as a hint that the merger and upgrade plan might be approved by the Executive Yuan.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition