Amendments to the Senior Citizens’ Welfare Act (老人福利法) were passed by the legislature yesterday to flesh out legal backing for services for the elderly as the nation’s percentage of senior citizens keeps rising.
The amendments eliminated a clause mandating that the elderly have to have lived in a city or county for a certain time before being eligible to apply for subsidies, while clearing the rules that all subsidies are to be given in cash and cannot be detained, given away or used to pay bail.
Local governments have placed restrictions on elderly residents applying for subsidies for daily living costs and caretaking services, mandating that they must have a registered address within the city or county for at least six months to a year.
While local governments have been building public housing, this has not benefited the elderly, as they still face being sidelined by society, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chieh-ju (陳節如) said.
The elderly find it difficult to rent accommodation because landlords are unwilling to lease to them or they are unable to afford the rent being asked, Chen said, adding that the amended laws have included a clause in Article 3 that local governments must provide more rented accommodation for the elderly and task a specific unit with helping the elderly to renting such accommodation.
Article 33 of the amended act states that local governments should seek to promote social housing to clear any obstacles the elderly might have renting a home, Chen said, adding that local governments can also offer subsidies to landlords so that they can make repairs and offer their property for rent to the elderly.
The legislature also passed an amendment to the Customs Import Tariff Act (海關進口稅則) to lift all tariffs on vehicles dedicated to transporting disabled people.
The amendment allows imported vehicles purchased by local governments to transport disabled people and approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to be free from import tariffs.
In addition, in accordance with decisions made by regional leaders at a 2012 APEC meeting in Vladivostok, the amendment also lowers the tariffs on four types of wind power and renewable energy generators to 5 percent.
The goal of the amendment is to show the international community that Taiwan is serious about clean sources of energy and to stimulate the domestic market for renewable energy in the hope of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, officials said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS