■ Taxes
Offices to open today
Tax offices will be open today from 8am to 5:30pm to receive tax filings as 38 percent of the nation's 5 million single and joint taxpayers had not filed their tax reports as of Friday. Tomorrow will be the last day people can file their taxes and the tax offices will be open until 7pm while the 24-hour online tax-filing system will be open until midnight.
■ SARS
PFP gives thermometers
The PFP will begin today giving free thermometers to heads of neighborhoods and low-income families in Taipei county and city to help control the spread of SARS. PFP Legislator Kao Ming-chien (高明見) said yesterday that 10,000 thermometers will be distributed in the Taipei area. He expressed the hope that all citizens will support the campaign launched recently by the government to help control the disease by taking their own temperatures every day. He also hoped that the heads of neighborhoods will help senior citizens and disabled persons take their temperatures.
■ Tourism
Ban on Singapore lifted
The government yesterday resumed issuing visas to Singaporeans after the World Health Organization (WHO) removed the city-state from the list of SARS-affected countries. "We have instructed our representative office in Singapore to resume visa services," the foreign ministry said in a statement. According to the WHO, a SARS-affected country must have been without a new SARS infection for 20 days before it can be removed from the list of SARS-affected countries.
■ WHO
Protest organized in US
A group of Taiwanese-Americans staged a sit-in demonstration on Friday in front of the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles to protest against China's obstruction of Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Assembly as an observer. Led by leaders of the Taiwanese Association in Southern California and the US Formosan Foundation, the demonstrators shouted slogans and waved placards protesting China's opposition to Taiwan's admission to the World Health Organization before the 24-hour sit-in began at noon. Organizers said some 1,000 Taiwanese-Americans from Los Angeles and three neighboring counties will converge on the Chinese Consulate General this morning for another round of demonstrations.
■ Smoking
Kaohsiung shows off bikes
The Kaohsiung City Government marked the "World No Tobacco Day" with a team bicycle show in the courtyard of the government's offices yesterday. The city government invited the public to be creative and use their imagination with their bicycle teams while trying to raise public awareness of the no-smoking campaign. National Kaohsiung Hospitality University students had the most eye-catching bicycle team with students dressed as chefs and waiters and waitresses. They wore ribbons emblazoned with the words "choose smoke-free restaurants while eating." Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) noted that the smoking population in Kaohsiung is around 300,000. He said that SARS has killed more than 80 in Taiwan, and the public fear of respiratory disease is high. In fact, the number of deaths from smoking in Taiwan is more than 17,000 a year, he pointed out.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
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