■ WEATHER
Storm set to bring rain
Typhoon Jangmi may start bringing rain to the nation on Sunday, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the center of the storm was 1,390km east of Manila. It was moving northwest at 22kph. The bureau said the storm formed on Tuesday. It estimated that both the intensity and radius of the storm are likely to increase in the next few days. Wu Wang-hua (伍婉華), a bureau forecaster, said chances of rain in northern, central and southern Taiwan are high on Sunday owing to interaction between the storm and a seasonal wind from the northeast. Bad weather is forecast to continue until Tuesday.
■ SOCIETY
GIO launches video site
The Government Information Office (GIO) on Wednesday launched an online video-sharing site called “Taiwan Audio Video Interactive Service,” or “TAVIS.tw,” as a platform to upload video work as well as exchange experiences of shooting films. GIO Minister Vanessa Shih (史亞平) said that the GIO welcomed all original video in documentary, film, music video or animated formats for upload to the Web site. TAVIS.tw has been upgraded from a video-sharing Web site that the government set up in 2004. Shih said users can upload, view and share video clips after registering for a free account. Video clips uploaded to TAVIS.tw will be grouped into three channels — a Creativity Channel, an Enterprise Channel and a Revitalization Channel. The Creativity Channel is targeted at college students with the aim of developing new talent, the Enterprise Channel aims to garner work from competitions organized by the GIO and the Revitalization Channel is especially for senior citizens to encourage them to explore new possibilities after retirement, the GIO said.
■ HEALTH
Health spending to increase
The country will raise its health care spending to 7.5 percent of GDP from 6.2 percent because of increasing costs for medical services and an aging population, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said. “The growing number of elderly people and the rapid progress in medicine have largely increased costs for medical services,” Ma said in a statement released late on Wednesday. Ma did not give a time frame for the increased spending. Officials said previously that about 10 percent of Taiwan’s 23 million people are 65 or older, with that group expected to increase to around 20 percent of the population by 2025 and about 35.5 percent by 2050. Credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s said in April that the government would have to put more money into the national health insurance program, whose premiums have not been enough to cover its costs in recent years.
■ POLITICS
Chiu Yi withdraws lawsuit
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) withdrew a slander lawsuit against Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) chairman Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) and lawmaker evaluator Chen Ming-li (陳明里) yesterday. Chiu filed the lawsuit after he was mistakenly given the lowest score in the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee during a lawmaker performance evaluation last month. The CCW and Chen apologized and revised his rank the next day. However, Chiu yesterday said he had agreed to a proposal by the prosecutor to withdraw the lawsuit because he “felt sincerity” in the apology of the CCW and Chen.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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