EDUCATION
Youngsters miss sleep
About 80 percent of elementary and junior-high school students are not getting enough sleep and about 20 percent say they were overloaded with schoolwork, a survey released on Wednesday shows. Child Welfare League Foundation chief executive Wang Yu-min (王育敏) said parents’ high expectations for their children and feelings of uncertainty about the education system were the two major causes of pressure on children. The foundation conducted the survey early last month among 3,115 fifth to eighth-graders nationwide and found that only 18 percent of respondents said they slept more than eight hours per night, while 18 percent said they had less than six hours of sleep per night. About 62 percent of those polled said they spent their after-school time on tutorial classes, 32 percent had quizzes every day within the past two months and 39 percent had stayed up past 11pm or all night studying. The group called on parents to reduce children’s after-school classes and spend more time with them. It also urged schools to give fewer quizzes to create a happy learning environment for the students.
HEALTH
HIV/AIDS cases increase
The number of new HIV/AIDS cases in New Taipei City (新北市) totaled 414 as of the end of last month, up about 20 percent from 337 for the same period last year, the city’s health department said on Wednesday. The department said that among the 414 new cases, half of them were people aged between 20 and 29, with unprotected homosexual sex believed to account for 75 percent of infections. Health official Lee Chia-chi (李佳琪) said the situation in New Taipei City was similar to that of other places in the nation, adding that the number of HIV/AIDS-affected people in the gay community has grown in recent years. The use of condoms in the gay community is lower than that of other groups and the department will address this fact as part of its awareness campaign, Lee said, adding that the best way to prevent AIDS is to have a single partner and use a condom. In line with World AIDS Day on Thursday, the department will begin a series of awareness campaigns.
SOCIETY
Santa’s helpers sought
The Taiwan Fund for Children and Families on Wednesday began a 12th annual volunteer drive to find people who are willing to play Santa Claus to 1,000 disadvantaged children and helping them realize their Christmas wishes. Children sponsored by the fund hung cards bearing their wishes on a Christmas tree at a Greater Taichung hotel. One 11-year-old boy wished for a blanket so that he and his mother could each have a blanket of their own. Another 10-year-old boy wished for a wig for his mother, who is undergoing chemotherapy. Others wished for sneakers, watches, desks, jackets, electronic translators and toys. The public can pick up a card until Dec. 10 and try to fulfill the wish, the fund said. Some of the wishes have been posted online at the fund’s Chinese-language Web site, cccf.org.tw/new/Christmas/tree/index.php?area.
CROSS-STRAIT TRADE
Meat suppliers win port deal
Five meat and poultry suppliers have become the first in the nation to be allowed to export their produce to China through designated Chinese ports, Pingtung County officials said yesterday. The five farm produce companies are now able to export through ports assigned by the entry-exit and quarantine bureaus of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen. The official approval came after seven months of negotiations with China.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
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