■ Education
Taipei surveys students
More than 2,000 children of mixed-marriages are enrolled in elementary schools in Taipei and about 40 percent of them have a hard time adapting to school life, according to the results of a survey released yesterday. Taipei City Government's Education Department conducted the survey last month and found that 2,199 children from mixed-marriage families are enrolled into primary schools around the city, accounting for 1.14 percent of the total enrollment. Most of them are from families with foreign parents and about 900 are from families with one or both parents from China, according to the survey.
■ Diplomacy
Gambian president visits
Gambian President Yahya Alphonse Jamus Jebulai Jammeh arrived in Taipei yesterday for a four-day state visit and was guest of honor at a banquet hosted by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Today Jammeh will go to Taoyuan to visit major construction projects, including the Chinese Petroleum Corp's new facilities. Jammeh will attend Double Ten National Day celebrations tomorrow, including a National Day rally and a fireworks show.
■ Diplomacy
Ombudsman pact signed
An international agreement between Taiwan and the Republic of Panama to enhance cooperation of the control power exercise was signed between Control Yuan President Fredrick Chien (錢復) and Panamanian Ombudsman Juan Antonio Tejada Espino yesterday. "The agreement testifies to the longstanding friendship between Taiwan and Panama while the signing assures that the two countries would further mutual exchanges on the exercise and the responsibility of the ombudsman authorities," Chien said.
■ Transportation
Better road signage urged
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) yesterday asked Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三) to drive the entire length of National Freeway Route No. 3 and pay particular attention to the poor condition of highway signs. During a question and answer session at the legislature, Chiu showed Lin several photographs, including one of a sign in the Kaohsiung area that translated the Chinese characters for "downtown" (市區) phonetically, reading "Shih Cyu." Chiu also presented pictures of a handwritten exit sign for Lungtan (龍潭) and signs completely covered by trees. She also complained that many of the signs are too small.
■ Agriculture
Coffee promotion scheduled
Taiwan Coffee Festival Day will be established tomorrow to celebrate coffee production, officials from the Yunlin County Government's Cultural Affairs Department announced yesterday. The county government will sponsor a coffee-tasting event in Taipei to allow 12 coffee planters from Kukeng township to show off their produce. Taipei boasts the biggest number of coffee drinkers in the country. Kukeng township is where coffee was first planted in Taiwan at the beginning of the 20th century and it is the major coffee-producing area in the country. The Taiwan Coffee Festival Day will be also marked at the Chienhushan Recreational World and the Tahuashan Area in Yunlin County from tomorrow to Sunday with a wide variety of activities, county officials said.
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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