■Education
Exam postponed
The STYLE/JET examina-tion, which was scheduled to take place tomorrow around the country, has been post-poned due to the concerns over the spread of SARS. The company in charge of the exam, Caves Educational Training, said that because of the rising numbers of suspected SARS cases in
the last two days and concern over the health of the examinees, it decided to push back the exam date. Caves will call or fax all the examinees, their parents or teachers regarding the new exam date. Most of those who had registered for the exam were children aged between seven and 12.
■ Health
Lin urges cooperation
Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) expressed his appreciation yesterday
to those who have been put into quarantine because of concern about the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Lin said that while it is understandable that those who are confined within the Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital might feel that they are healthy and should not have to stay there, the SARS incubation period still has not been determined. He urged those who are isolated to comply with quarantine regulations, adding that those who recently returned from the seriously affected areas of China, Hong Kong and Macau should also heighten their guard. He
also said the government
is putting together a medical team to be sent to China to help Taiwanese business-people who have fallen ill with the disease there.
■ Legislature
Logjam over money
The ruling and opposition parties yesterday failed to reach an agreement for setting up a monitoring mechanism regulating township administration's use of the extra NT$8.4 billion fund within the proposed NT$58 billion public construction project fund. "The DPP insisted that using those allocated budget should be supervised by certain mechanisms," said DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), while KMT law-makers contended that township governments only have to submit their plans to the central administration before the plans are reviewed by the legislature. The review mechanism must be set for monitoring the use of money to make sure the money will be used effec-tively, Chen emphasized.
■ Development
Bio fest set for November
The 2003 International Bio Festival will be held in Taipei Nov. 6 to18, organizers of the event announced on Thursday. Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who doubles as president of the Institute of Biomedical Technology Industry -- one of the organizers of the festival -- said that the two-week event will include an award ceremony, academic discussions, a forum on venture capital and exhibi-tions. Wang said the festival is aimed at promoting the development and inter-nalization of the nation's biomedical technology industry by integrating all related resources.
■ Politics
TSU chief off to Japan
TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) left for Japan yesterday to attend the inauguration of a school established in honor of former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Huang said he will urge overseas Chinese in Japan to "uphold Taiwan's democratic fruits, Taiwan's indigenous government, Taiwan's course of reforms, Taiwan's national security, and Taiwan's political stability."
■Politics
DPP expels scandalized Lin
The DPP expelled Legislator Lin Chin-hsing (林進興) Thursday because of his indictment along with 39 others in the Kaohsiung City Council vote-buying scandal. The DPP Central Advisory Committee decided in a meeting to cancel Lin's party membership. Anticipating that he would be kicked out of the party, Lin was resigned to Thursday's decision, saying he will serve as an independent lawmaker for the time being. However, he said he is confident that the judiciary will clear his name eventually and that he will be allowed to rejoin the DPP once his innocence is proven. Lin was the only legislator embroiled in the vote-buying scandal that has seen 34 city councilors and six others indicted. He was accused of aiding his former wife, Councilor Chang Wen-hsiu (章玟琇), to accept bribes of NT$5 million from Councilor Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) in return for her promise to support Chu's bid for the council speakership.
■ Diplomacy
S Carolina shows support
The House and Senate of the state of South Carolina have passed a resolution, praising the Republic of China for its contributions to the promotion of world peace, democracy and human rights, and saying that the world should not acquiesce to any kind of military threat against Taiwan. According to the resolution, Taiwan is a "staunch long-term ally" of the US and that the two countries share the same ideals of freedom, and human rights. Taiwan has made remarkable achievements in promoting education, economic development and democracy, it says, adding that the state and Taiwan established sisterhood relations in 1981.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
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