■POLITICS
Session to begin on Feb. 23
Legislators across party lines reached a consensus yesterday to begin the spring legislative session on Feb. 23. On the opening day of the new session, the legislature will invite Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and other Cabinet officials to give administrative reports and answer questions in a general assembly. The legislature will also start the process for the confirmation of Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘), the deputy justice minister who was nominated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to become state prosecutor-general after the new session begins. The Legislative Yuan’s justice and interior committees will first review Huang’s qualifications and capabilities and then lawmakers will vote on his confirmation.
■DIPLOMACY
Group touts visa-free status
A group of Taiwanese legislators currently on a visit to Rome asked Spain to support visa-free privileges for Taiwanese visitors to the EU. Citing the UK as an example, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said the number of Taiwanese visitors to the UK increased by 40 percent during the six months after the UK granted Taiwanese visitors visa-free entry last March. Lin, a member of the group of legislators representing the Taiwan-Spain Parliament Friendship Group, said the number of Taiwanese visitors to Spain — one of the most popular European countries among Taiwanese — would also greatly increase if the country were to grant Taiwanese visitors visa-free entry. The number of Taiwanese visitors to Europe posted a continuous drop between 2005 and 2008 — from 281,022 in 2005 to 225,023 in 2008, figures compiled by the Ministry of the Interior showed.
■DIPLOMACY
Mission plants rice in Haiti
A technical mission of the Taipei-based International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) stationed in Haiti has donated US$50,000 and purchased 50 tonnes of Haitian grown rice to aid post-quake refugees, chief of the technical group, Carlos Hsiang (向水松), said yesterday. Hsiang said the rice, with its “Taichung-shien No. 10” strain from Taiwan, was planted by local Haitian farmers on a 3,000 hectare farm in the Artibonite region with the mission’s assistance. Purchasing locally cultivated produce or goods to aid quake survivors is the best form of assistance for Haiti’s people, Hsiang said, because farmers will be given an outlet for their harvests and businessmen a market for their products. Artibonite is a major grain-producing region in central Haiti, suited for planting grains.
■HEALTH
DOH urges swine flu shots
The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday urged the public to get vaccinated against A(H1N1) influenza as a precaution against any new outbreaks during the Lunar New Year holiday, but added that the second wave of the epidemic has tapered off. Getting A(H1N1) flu shots is crucial to preventing the spread of the virus, DOH Deputy Minister Chang Shen-chwen (張上淳) said, adding that no new hospitalized A(H1N1) cases have been recorded recently because of the national vaccination program that was launched late last year. Asked whether the vaccine was safe for pregnant women, Chang said it was, adding that the Influenza Advisory Committee had agreed at a meeting last week that pregnant women should get the vaccine.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
Nearly 800 Indian tourists are to arrive this week on an incentive tour organized by Indian company Asian Painted Ltd, making it the largest tour group from the South Asian nation to visit since the COVID-19 pandemic. The travelers are scheduled to arrive in six batches from Sunday to Feb. 25 for five-day tours, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The tour would take the travelers, most of whom are visiting Taiwan for the first time, to several tourist sites in Taipei and Yilan County, including tea houses in Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Ximending (西門町) areas. They would also visit
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,