CRIME
Three suspects returned
Three Taiwanese accused of fraud and illegal possession of firearms were repatriated from Macau yesterday to face charges, National Police Agency (NPA) officials said. The repatriation was jointly executed by the agency and the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department based on a joint crime--fighting mechanism between Taiwan and China, agency officials said. The suspects include a 61-year-old man, only identified with his surname of Chang (張), who has been wanted by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office since February last year on charges of fraud and forgery. Chang is suspected of tricking businesses in Taiwan out of a total of NT$100 million (US$3.48 million) before fleeing to China, the agency said. The other two suspects are a 48-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳) and a 43-year-old man, surnamed Hung (洪). They both are wanted on separate charges of violating the Act on Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例) and the Narcotics Endangerment Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例).
HEALTH
Concert focuses on autism
A large outdoor music concert and festival will be held in Taipei on Aug 13 to raise public awareness of autism, said the Kanner Support Group, a foundation dedicated to supporting families with autistic children. Well-known local artists, including Dream Girls, a band popular with teenagers, will be performing free of charge. Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said the event will give Taipei residents a chance to interact with those who suffer from autism, a neural disorder which is characterized by speech difficulties and impaired social skills. Jiang has a son with autism.
ENTERTAINMENT
County takes on violin record
The Changhua County Government on Thursday called on all violin students under the age of 18 to take part in an event in September that hopes to get 5,000 people to play their violins at the same time to break the Guinness World Record. To help promote the event, TV host Janet Hsieh (謝怡芬) and more than 100 schoolchildren staged a performance on Thursday. The mass performance will showcase the county’s musical education, said Changhua County Commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), who added that it will also be a part of the celebrations for the National Games, to be held in the county from Oct. 22 to Oct. 27. The current record for mass violin playing was set in London in 1925 with 4,000 people taking part, Cho said.
DESIGN
Journal gains wide presence
Taiwan’s International Journal of Design has become the first of its kind in the world to be included in three authoritative international citation indexes at the same time, the National Science Council (NSC) said. The journal was included in the Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index this year. Founded in April 2007 by the Taiwan-based Chinese Institute of Design, the journal covers a range of design research areas from product design, visual design, interface and interactive design, to animation and game design, and construction and city design. As of April, the journal had received more than 500 essay submissions from 40 countries, but accepted only 79 of them. Its Web site, www.ijdesign.org, had been viewed more than 800,000 times by people from 200 countries and territories worldwide, with each of the published journals viewed more than 10,000 times.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
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
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