■ Elections
Poll decision delayed
The Central Election Commission (CEC) failed to decide yesterday on whether to combine the elections for county commissioners and city mayors, city and county councilors and village and township mayors at the end of the year. "It is a decision left to be made by the Taiwan Election Commission and City and County Election Commissions," CEC Deputy Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐) said. The Taiwan Election Commission is scheduled to hold a meeting on the matter next Tuesday. The majority of the CEC commissioners were in favor of combining the three local government elections, Teng said.
■ Crime
Prosecutors to aid police
Minister of Justice Morely Shih (施茂林) said yesterday that with major criminal cases remaining unsolved, he has asked chief prosecutors of the district prosecutor's offices around the nation to work with police to effectively clear the docket. He has also asked State Public Prosecutor-General Wu Ying-chao (吳英昭) to convene a major conference on social order. Shih's remarks came in the wake of attacks on two policemen in broad daylight on Sunday that left one dead and another seriously injured, as well as a kidnapping case involving a notorious wanted man. Both cases are unsolved. Shih said that the manpower of some local prosecutor's offices is limited, and they are often burdened with matters involving public prosecution. For this reason, prosecutors must work and coordinate well with police to safeguard social order, Shih said.
■ Education
Schools agree on exchange
Officials from National Chiao Tung University and the University of Illinois signed a memorandum of under- standing (MOU) on Tuesday. Peter Wu, dean of Chiao Tung University's College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Richard Balhut, head of Illinois school's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, signed the MOU on behalf of their schools. Under the MOU, 19 Chiao Tung students will go to Illinois. Balhut said that he hopes all his department's students can have the experience of learning through international exchanges, adding that his university has cooperated with universities in Japan and South Korea.
■ Agriculture
China's offer dismissed
An agricultural official said yesterday that Beijing's promise to offer preferential tariffs to agricultural exports from Taiwan is a lot of hot air. Tsai Chang-lung (蔡長龍), president of the Taiwan Provincial Fruit Trade Association, made the remarks at an exhibition of Taiwanese fruit in Beijing organized by the association, the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council and the Hong-Kong based Chinese Commercial and Industrial Coordination Society. Tsai said that Southeast Asian fruit exports to China enjoy tariff-free preferences. He urged China to quickly offer tariff-free preferences and more convenient customs procedures for Taiwanese farmers to show its goodwill.
■ Travel
US bans lighters on planes
Beginning today, lighters are banned on all inbound flights into the US and its territories. "This measure is in parallel with the latest regulation set by the US Transportation Security Administration," Huang Shun-chao (黃順超), security inspection chief of the Aviation Police Office, said yesterday. Lighters may not be placed in checked-in baggage, carry-on items or carried by passengers.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
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