■DIPLOMACY
OCAC not being closed: Ma
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) will not be abolished, but merged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). Ma said that some people did not understand the government’s restructuring plan and thought that the commission was being closed. However, Ma said the commission would be merged with MOFA, which will become the ministry of foreign and overseas compatriot affairs. There will be a deputy minister in charge of overseas compatriot affairs, he said. Ma said one of the advantages is that the commission would receive more funding. The annual budget of the MOFA is about NT$25 billion (US$740 million), while that of the commission is about NT$1.3 billion, he said. The foreign ministry has 121 embassies and representative offices established in 87 countries. The commission has only 16 cultural and educational centers.
■AVIATION
Charter flights to double: CAA
The number of cross-strait charter flights is likely to double because airlines on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will not be able to accommodate the number of passengers scheduled to travel during the major national holidays in the next two months, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday. A number of national holidays occur next month and in May. Tomb-sweeping day falls on April 4, International Labor Day on May 1 and the Dragon Boat Festival on May 28. CAA Deputy Director-General Lin Shinn-der (林信得) said that on average, the occupancy rate of charter flights from Taiwan has topped 92 percent, whereas that on charter flights from China has reached approximately 70 percent. Judging by the customary rules for international flights, the situation meets the criteria for an increase in the number of flights, he said.
■ENVIRONMENT
EPA fights noise pollution
To encourage people to keep the noise down in public areas where quiet is called for, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday unveiled a “Quiet Sign,” that can be posted in hospitals, restaurants or hotel lobbies. The sign, which shows an index finger placed in front of a pair of lips under the roof of a house, was designed by Hsu Hui-ching (徐惠菁) and was selected by the EPA from a total of 245 entries, officials said. Though no penalties would be imposed upon people who continue to speak loudly or allow their mobile phones to blast out music in places that display the sign, the EPA hoped that the sign would help cultivate a more mature and civilized society where the rights of others are considered in public areas, officials said. To download the label, log onto ivy1.epa.gov.tw/noise/.
■EDUCATION
Internships to be offered
The Ministry of Education yesterday announced it would offer 35,000 paid internships to college students who graduated between the 2006 and the last academic year. Department of Technological and Vocational Education Director Chen Ming-yin (陳明印) told reporters that the ministry would persuade corporations to create 35,000 one-year internships for graduates and that the ministry would cover the students’ monthly salaries. Chen said students who enter the program would enjoy a monthly salary of NT$26,190, labor and health insurance included. The program is included in the government’s special budget request of NT$500 billion for the next four years, Chen said.
■CRIME
Taiwanese chemists busted
Four Taiwanese chemists were arrested in a raid on a drug factory that netted US$17 million worth of the popular new tranquilizer Erimin-5, Malaysian police said yesterday. “This is the first time that we have had such a big seizure of the Erimin drug,” anti-narcotics chief Zulhasnan Najib Baharudin said after the swoop on the illicit factory in southern Johor state. “We arrested five people in the drug lab raid and our investigations show four of them were from Taiwan and were the main chemists involved in manufacturing the drugs,” he said. Five Malaysians were also arrested during the subsequent investigation into the drug factory, he said. Zulhasnan said the lab could produce more than 20,000 pills per hour. “We believe this raid has ended a major drug distribution and manufacturing group in the country,” he said.
■SOCIETY
Animal agency upgraded
The Taipei City Government yesterday announced it would upgrade the Institute for Animal Health to the Animal Protection Administration as part of efforts to place more emphasis on animal rescue and adoption in the city. Created in 1968, the agency’s principal mission is the prevention of contagious diseases in animals. The upgrade of the agency is aimed at addressing growing concerns on animal abuse, rescue and adoption, the city government said. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the agency would integrate all animal management-related matters and focus more efforts in protecting animal rights. The stray-dog arrest team of the Taipei City’s Environmental Protection Department, for example, will be placed under the agency and be turned into an animal rescue team to build a friendlier environment for animals in Taipei City, Hau said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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