■ INSURANCE
No transfer for summer jobs
The Bureau of National Health Insurance yesterday said students who get summer jobs do not need to transfer their insurance to the company that employs them. The bureau said most students are insured under their parents and that when they start a temporary summer job, they do not need to transfer their national health insurance to their employer and then back under their parents after the job contract ends. The measure is meant to ensure that students who forget to make the transfer do not face a period without health insurance coverage, as well as save time and paperwork. The bureau said it had recently received an increasing number of inquiries about health insurance and summer jobs.
■ EXHIBITION
200,000th visitor expected
The Taiwan Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo is set to greet its 200,000th visitor today, 53 days into the expo, the pavilion’s manager said yesterday. The 200,000th visitor, who is expected to arrive in a 37-member tour group, will be presented with an 11.6-inch Acer notebook worth NT$29,800, pavilion manager Walter Yeh (葉明水) said. The 199,999th and 200,001st visitors will also receive 24-inch LCD monitors worth NT$15,000 each. Wang Chih-kang (王志剛), chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, which sponsored the Taiwan Pavilion, is scheduled to fly to Shanghai to preside over the occasion, Yeh said. The pavilion greeted its 100,000th visitor on May 25.
■ CRIMES
Councilor fined for assault
A politician was fined NT$122,000 yesterday after he was convicted of pushing a Chinese envoy to the ground in an incident that angered Beijing, court officials said. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Tainan City Councilor Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) was convicted in September last year and sentenced to a four-month jail term for “assaulting” Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) in 2008. Wang had pleaded not guilty, but his appeal was rejected by the High Court last month. He was allowed, as an alternative to jail, to pay a fine of NT$1,000 daily for four months. He paid the fine yesterday to close the case. The incident happened when Zhang was visiting Tainan, a DPP stronghold. The incident was caught on camera and triggered Beijing’s fury, with the Chinese government calling for the “severe punishment” of those found guilty.
■ DIPLOMACY
Taiwan to give US$50,000
The Republic of China embassy in El Salvador said yesterday it would provide US$50,000 to help improve the offices of the Central American country’s Presidential Commission for Customer Protection. The Taiwanese government will purchase office equipment, including laptops, PCs, scanners and printers, for the Presidential Commission’s help centers, the embassy said. Improving customer protection is a worldwide trend and since the commission was established in El Salvador, it has helped to safeguard customer rights by setting up centers in major cities across the country, the embassy said. The centers have received an increasing number of customer complaints and successfully assisted consumers in obtaining record levels of compensation from corporations, it said. El Salvador has expressed its appreciation to Ambassador Carlos Liao (廖世傑) and the Taiwanese government, saying that Taiwan’s donation would help the commission boost efficiency and enhance customer protection.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it