TRAVEL
New rules for South Korea
Travelers who visit South Korea will be fingerprinted and photographed beginning on Sunday in an effort to boost crime prevention and ensure national security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. All visitors older than 17 will be photographed and have inkless prints taken upon arrival in South Korea after presenting their landing cards and passports, the ministry said. However, children under 16, holders of diplomatic passports, members of international organizations and national guests and their families will not be subject to the new measures. Foreigners have been able to leave the country after committing crimes because South Korea did not have a biometric identification database, the ministry said.
LABOR
Insurance premiums to rise
The nation’s 9.7 million-strong labor force will have to pay a higher labor insurance premium, although some of them will receive an increased minimum wage, starting on Sunday, the Council of Labor Affairs said. Under the revised Labor Insurance Act (勞工保險條例), the insurance premium will go up by 0.5 percentage points annually, from the current 8 percent to 8.5 percent, the council said. For example, on an insured average monthly salary of NT$28,650, the council said a worker will have to pay NT$29 more a month, with his employer and the government paying NT$100 and NT$14.5 more respectively. The insured monthly wages range from NT$18,780 to NT$43,900. Workers, employers and the government are required to pay 20 percent, 70 percent and 10 percent of the premium respectively, under labor insurance regulations. The minimum monthly wage will be increased from NT$17,880 to NT$18,780, while part-time pay goes from NT$98 to NT$103 a hour.
WEATHER
Cold, rain forecast for north
The weather in the north and northeast is expected to turn rainy starting today and then colder over the weekend, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. Intensifying seasonal winds from the northeast are expected to bring rain in the coming days and will be followed by a wet, cold air mass arriving on Saturday night that will likely pull temperatures down to 11?C on Monday and Tuesday, meteorologists said. Warm weather was forecast for yesterday, with daytime temperatures reaching 20?C in the north and 24?C in the center and south, the meteorologists said.
HEALTH
Monitoring stepped up
The government has enhanced its monitoring mechanism in the wake of news that US and Hong Kong authorities confirmed the presence of the swine-origin H3N2 virus and the H5N1 avian influenza virus in a child and dead chicken respectively, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said. US public health officials recently became aware of a case of H3N2 human infection in a child in West Virginia. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s secretary for food and health announced a week ago that a dead chicken found in a wholesale poultry market had tested positive for the H5N1 virus. According to reports, the two viruses did not spread outside either area, but the CDC is taking precautionary measures out of concern for the public’s safety, Chuang said.
HEALTH
Pancreatitis on the rise
The number of patients suffering from acute pancreatitis has increased by 10 percent to 20 percent in recent weeks, probably the result of excessive drinking during the year-end party season, a family physician said yesterday. Hsieh Ying-hua (謝瀛華), of Wan Fang Hospital in Taipei, said consuming too much alcohol within a short period of time can cause a sudden inflammation of the pancreas, a condition that can carry a mortality rate of up to 10 percent. Hsieh cited a recent case involving a China-based businessman who came down with severe abdominal pain after attending three year-end parties in a single day. The patient flew back to Taiwan for medical attention the next day and was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, Hsieh said. People should make sure that their alcohol intake does not exceed 800g within two days, he said.
TRANSPORTATION
Taxi subsidy altered
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday that a subsidy program aimed at replacing old yellow cabs has been changed in response to taxi drivers’ suggestions and will be applied to younger vehicles than originally envisioned. Under the ministry’s original proposal, issued on Dec. 7, owners of yellow cabs could apply for a NT$30,000 subsidy to replace vehicles that were at least 14 years old. However, the ministry announced that the policy would apply to vehicles that have only been in use for 10 years. To be eligible for the subsidy, cab owners must apply at a motor vehicle office by the end of next month, it said. The program was introduced to speed up the replacement of old taxis and help the businesses of individual taxi drivers. There are more than 24,000 cabs that are more than 10 years old and 8,000 that are more than 14 years old, the ministry said.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taiwan is bracing for a political shake-up as a majority of directly elected lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) face the prospect of early removal from office in an unprecedented wave of recall votes slated for July 26 and Aug. 23. The outcome of the public votes targeting 26 KMT lawmakers in the next two months — and potentially five more at later dates — could upend the power structure in the legislature, where the KMT and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) currently hold a combined majority. After denying direct involvement in the recall campaigns for months, the
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