■IMMIGRATION
MOI may lower threshold
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) adopted a draft amendment to the Regulations Governing Visiting, Residence and Permanent Residence of Aliens on Thursday in a move it hopes will attract more foreigners to invest in Taiwan. At present, Article 12 of the regulations stipulates that foreigners who invest NT$30 million (US$891,950) or more in Taiwan and create at least five jobs for locals for three years can be granted permanent residency. The same article also says that individuals who deposit immigration investments of NT$30 million into a designated financial institution for five years can obtain permanent residency. The proposed amendment to Article 12 of the regulations would halve the investment threshold for foreign investors applying for permanent residency to NT$15 million. The draft amendment will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval.
■RETAIL
Flower prices rise
Local flower prices have risen by between 10 percent and 20 percent in recent days because of a reduced supply resulting from cold weather, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) said yesterday. Chen said that a cold front that hit between Jan. 9 and Jan. 15 drove down the flower supply by 30 percent to 40 percent ahead of the Lunar New Year festival when compared with last year, leading to hikes in flower prices on the local market. With the approach of the holiday tomorrow, farmers are busy harvesting flowers to meet market demand. It is expected that they will be able to meet demand and will supply good quality flowers, Chen said. Taiwanese usually decorate their homes with flower arrangements during the holiday, using various types of blooms including lilies, swordlilies, anthuriums, balloon flowers and African daisies.
■AGRICULTURE
Young farmer honored
A graduate student at National Chiayi University (NCU) who also owns Taiwan’s largest organic farm was selected yesterday as one of the top 10 farmers in the country. Lee Wei-yu (李惟裕), who is attending NCU’s Graduate Institute of Agriculture, was the only student to make the prestigious Top Ten Outstanding Farmers list this year. Lee and nine other nominees are scheduled to be conferred the prestigious honor in April by the Council of Agriculture. Lee and three friends established Ten Ha Organic Farm in Tainan County’s Rende Township (仁德) three years ago. In a short period of time, Lee and his partners turned the vast 16-hectare tract of barren land into fertile farmland using ecological methods and organic fertilizers.
■ARCHITECTURE
Dutch firm wins bid
Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) beat 135 rivals from 24 countries on Thursday to win the contract to design a world-class performing arts center in Taipei. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) announced that OMA, designer of many world-famous landmarks, had been chosen to design the Taipei Performing Arts Center. OMA will form a consortium with Taiwan’s Artech Inc to design the 2.2-hectare center, which will house one 1,500-seat theater and two 800-seat theaters. Designing the center will take about one year. It is scheduled to open in 2013. The Taipei City Government will also invite international architectural teams to design two other cultural facilities: the Taipei Pop Music Center and Taipei City Museum.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of