■ TRANSPORTATION
Officials punished over MRT
The Taipei City Government yesterday took disciplinary action against 21 officials and staff deemed to be responsible for the frequent malfunctions on the Wenhu MRT Line. Taipei Secretariat Director Yang Hsi-an (楊錫安), who oversaw the MRT project, was given a demerit while Taipei Deputy Secretariat Director Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光), who was also responsible for overseeing the project, was given two warnings. Chairperson of the Public Construction Commission Fan Liang-shiow (范良銹), former director of Taipei City’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS), was given a written warning. Former director of the DORTS Tom Chang (常岐德), who stepped down last year following frequent system shutdowns and malfunctions on the line, escaped punishment due to his resignation, the city government said. The punishments follow the Control Yuan’s censure of the city government last month over the line.
■ TOURISM
Visa regulations relaxed
Taiwan is to extend by two months the period for which entry visas can be used by Chinese visitors, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. “We hope the new regulation will boost the number of mainland visitors to Taiwan ... and allow them more flexibility in planning their trips,” said an official from the ministry. Although Chinese visitors will now have three months in which to make their trip instead of just one, they will still only be allowed to spend a maximum of 15 days in Taiwan. More than 1.2 million Chinese have visited Taiwan since rules on Chinese tourists were first relaxed in July 2008, government data shows.
■ SOCIETY
Biker begins Taiwan trip
A 62-year-old Japanese man who has traveled around the world by motorcycle began a trip around Taiwan yesterday. Takashi Kasori began his motorcycle journeys in Africa when he was 20 and has since visited 133 countries and covered more than 1.25 million kilometers, a distance equal to circling the planet 31 times. He also holds a Guinness World Record for visiting 3,000 Japanese hot springs in 300 days on his motorbike in 2007. Kasori has traveled to the Andes in South America, Ayers Rock in Australia, and along the Silk Road in China. He said his most memorable destination is the Sahara desert, which he crossed in a series of 14 trips over a period of two-and-a-half years. “I see the motorcycle as part of my life,” Kasori said, adding that he tied himself to the vehicle when he was sleeping in the desert. This is the first time Kasori has visited Taiwan and he plans to visit temples during his six-day trip.
■ EDUCATION
Control Yuan gives censures
The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of Education and local governments for failing to regulate schools that impose additional fees on elementary and junior school students, saying that many schools invent various pretexts to charge students additional fees. The government watchdog said the agencies censured had failed in their duties after ignoring a problem parents have long complained about. The Control Yuan demanded the agencies come up with effective solutions at the earliest possible opportunity. Control Yuan member Frank Wu (吳豐山) said some schools asked students to pay utility and maintenance fees for attending swimming classes and computer equipment maintenance fees for attending computer classes, which are supposed to be part of tuition fees.
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
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