■ Civic groups
MOI to revise rules
The Ministry of the Interior is planning to ease the requirements to charter national civic groups. The ministry will revise the Regulations for Registration of Social Entities (社會團體許可立案作業規定) with regard to the management of civic groups. The overhaul is expected to delete the requirement of including cities with the status of a special municipality. The stipulations covering founding members' household registration will be changed from 11 different areas to seven, and those seven locations could just be the counties and cities where the members work. Another regulation, which stipulates that a group that wishes to apply as a city or county-wide civic group needs the household registrations of its founding members to be located in more than half of a city or a county's villages and townships, is also expected to be dropped.
■ Culture
Nobel winner in Taoyuan
West Indian dramatist and poet Derek Walcott, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize for literature, was scheduled to appear at a colloquium at Yuan Ze University in Taoyuan yesterday afternoon. Walcott, who is also a painter and a professor at a number of prestigious universities in the US, was expected to have a "transcultural dialogue" with Far East Group Chairman Tony Hsu and several renowned writers in Taiwan, including Chen Juo-hsi, at the colloquium. Walcott's writings are rich in cultural nuance, employing such topics as racial issues, identity and alienation of cultures, as well as the position of languages. Walcott, who skillfully fuses folk island culture with the classical and avant-garde in his poems, could be an encouragement to Taiwan's literary circles at a time when Taiwan is enthusiastically promoting maritime culture, said a spokesman for the Kaohsiung City Government, which invited Walcott to Taiwan to take part in the 2005 World Poetry Festival in Kaohsiung.
■ Transit
MRT contract awarded
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp yesterday announced it had contracted Continental Engineering Corp (大陸工程) to construct a 2.7km-long section of the MRT's Hsinyi Line (信義線) Construction will be launched next month, at the earliest. The MRT company said that if they can contract out another section on the Hsinyi line by March this year, the 6.4km-long Hsinyi line will be completed by 2011. Once complete, the west-east line will cut the traveling time between Taipei Main Station and Taipei 101 or the World Trade Center to 11 minutes. Continental Engineering Corp, which won the NT$8.74 billion contract, said that the section starts at the Hsinyi-Yungkang intersection and ends at Hsinyi-Anhe intersection. The section will run through Daan Station on the Muzha Line while another station will be established at Ta-an Forest Park.
■ Health
Officials receive awards
At the Department of Health's 34th anniversary yesterday, Minister of Health Hou Sheng-mou (侯勝茂) presented the Minister Award to former minister Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and former director-general of the Center for Disease Control, Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁), for their dedication to health promotion during their term. Hou lauded Chen for launching the reform of the National Health Insurance, saying that Chen has helped enhance the quality of medical service by establishing family doctor and referral systems. Su, meanwhile, was honored for establishing a hospital reporting network to fight SARS, thereby laying the groundwork for flu prevention.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or