■ HEALTH
Lack of staff worries CDC
Public health offices around the country are worried that there will be too few medical workers to carry out the A(H1N1) immunization program that began yesterday. A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) official said only 500 hospitals have registered so far to participate in the inoculation program, compared to 3,500 hospitals that signed up to offer free shots for seasonal flu. The CDC said 2.99 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine are being distributed, while it expects to give 12 million shots of the A(H1N1) vaccine by the Lunar New Year holiday next year. That has led authorities to conclude that the staff at the 500 hospitals are too few to carry out the program, the official said.
■ SOCIETY
Pillar collapse kills one
One worker was killed and four others injured in an accident yesterday at an airport mass rapid transit (MRT) line construction site in Sinjhuang (新莊), Taipei County. Firefighters said a 13m tall pillar that was under construction and four adjoining scaffolds collapsed onto the workers. There was no immediate explanation of why the pillar fell. The construction site is part of a 51km MRT line that will connect Taipei to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
■ EVENTS
Kaohsiung zoo to reopen
Shoushan Zoo in Kaohsiung City will fully reopen to the public on Saturday to mark the zoo’s 30th anniversary, the city government said yesterday. The city’s Tourism Bureau said the zoo’s newly renovated African animals section, Taiwanese animals section, primates section, big birds section and a new petting farm for children would open for the first time since the zoo was closed for renovation in January. Through Nov. 15 admission to the zoo will be free, the bureau said.
■ EDUCATION
Yang named AAU chief
Henry Yang (楊祖佑), an academician at the Academia Sinica, has been elected as chairman of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a group of 62 top research universities in the US and Canada. Yang, who is now the chancellor of the University of California at Santa Barbara, took over the position on Oct. 20, The institute said in a statement on Saturday. Yang has been a member of the AAU’s executive committee since 2005. Yang, an expert in automotive and aeronautics engineering, was elected to the Academia Sinica in 1992. He is also a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Dredging proposal submitted
A proposal to dredge 65 million cubic meters of silt and soil from the nation’s riverbeds and reservoirs over the next year to reduce the risk of flooding will be discussed at an Executive Yuan meeting this week, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said yesterday. Improving water management has been high on the government’s priority list since Typhoon Morakot, he said. If the proposal is approved, the volume of silt and soil to be dredged annually will be two to three times the 20 million cubic meters dug up per year in the past. Most of the dredged-up sediment would be used in land reclamation projects or stored, Shih said. However, 10 million cubic meters will be flushed downstream as part of a reservoir desilting process and another 10 million cubic meters in uninhabited mountain areas will not be removed to help stabilize the slopes, he said.
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
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
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