■ POLITICS
Watchdog cases piling up
The number of cases backlogged at the Control Yuan has reached 32,034, officials said yesterday. The watchdog arm of the government has been paralyzed since Jan. 31, 2005, when the terms of the previous members expired and no replacements were appointed. Among the thousands of cases, more than 1,300 involve civil servants accused of irregularities, such as taking bribes from construction companies. Other cases concern allegations of misbehavior by military personnel and charges of negligence at state enterprises resulting in frequent construction accidents. The officials said that the Legislative Yuan’s failure over the last three years to approve the list of Control Yuan members proposed by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has obstructed the supervisory function of the watchdog and violated the rights of citizens who have filed grievances with it.
■ POLITICS
Wang mulls Paralympics
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday that he was considering leading the nation’s delegation to the 2008 Paralympics, which will be held in Beijing in September. Wang said he would consider attending if it would benefit Taiwan. China would like Taiwan to send a delegation to the event, which is scheduled to run from Sept. 6 to Sept. 17, Wang said. But Wang said China had yet to send him an invitation to attend the world’s biggest sports event for people with physical disabilities. He said he would make a decision as soon as he received an invitation. As to whether he would attend the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, Wang said it would not be an appropriate time to visit China in his capacity as legislative speaker. However, he had been invited by Chinese authorities, he said.
■ IMMIGRATION
MAC mulls visa change
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday it would consider easing visa restrictions on Chinese coming to Taiwan to facilitate an influx of Chinese tourists starting next month. During a question-and-answer session at the legislature, MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said the government would assess the possibility of allowing landing visas for Chinese tourists and promised to have a more definitive answer in one month. All Chinese nationals must apply for a Taiwan entry permit before entering the country. The process usually takes three or four days.
■ HEALTH
Travel warning issued
A health official advised the public on Tuesday to refrain from taking young children with them while traveling to Japan because of reports of a large number of cases of pertussis, better known as whooping cough. Chou Chih-hao (周志浩), deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control, said the number of cases in Japan reached 2,177 this year. That number represents a new high for the period in nearly a decade, Chou said. Chou warned parents not to take children under 12 months to Japan and said that if they did, they should avoid crowded or poorly ventilated places. He said that whooping cough often peaks in Japan between May and July and that although there have been no domestic outbreaks in recent years and no imported cases last year, the public should remain on guard, given the close exchanges between the two countries.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
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