■ EDUCATION
Ministry warns on drugs
The Ministry of Education expressed concern yesterday over what it said is a worrying trend of drug abuse among younger students, including some in elementary school. In the past, drug abuse had mainly been found among students with more pocket money, but the problem had now spread to those from disadvantaged families without pocket money, said Wang Fu-lin (王福林), head of the ministry’s Department of Military Training Education. The ministry’s findings revealed that poorer students were gaining access to the substances through unemployed parents with a drug habit, Wang said.
■ DIPLOMACY
Medics head for rural India
An 11-member medical team from Taiwan left New Delhi on Monday to provide free treatment to poor inhabitants of remote areas in the Indian states of West Bengal and Sikkim. The team is composed of medical doctors and staff from the International Cooperation and Development Fund — an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that oversees Taiwan’s overseas development programs — and five hospitals. The team, carrying more than US$10,000 in medicine, is on a 10-day trip to the tribes and villages in the mountainous region wedged between Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and the North Bengal Plains of India.
■ ECONOMY
3C voucher show held
The Taipei Computer Association is organizing an exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Center from tomorrow until Monday to boost the sale of so-called 3C consumer electronics products through voucher spending. The association said the exhibition would offer good deals to consumers who purchase products with their government consumer vouchers.
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
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
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
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