GOVERNMENT
DOH to become ministry
The Department of Health (DOH) is to be officially restructured as the Ministry of Health and Welfare tomorrow, officials said yesterday, adding that this was the department’s most intensive reform since it was founded n 1971. The change is being made so the department can better handle the challenges posed by demographic changes to strengthen healthcare and welfare to provide comprehensive services to all, be it physical, psychological or social, officials said. The department said the reform was in line with an ethos promoted by the WHO that health departments aim to “[ensure] that all people can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship.” Other than the department’s present units and five subsidiary bodies, the new ministry will incorporate the Ministry of the Interior’s Department of Social Affairs, Child Welfare Bureau, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Committee and National Pension Supervisory Committee. It will also absorb the National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine under the Ministry of Education. Thirteen social welfare institutions under the interior ministry will also be incorporated.
SOCIETY
Nauru group to visit
A group of handicapped children and young adults from Nauru will visit next week to learn about Taiwanese culture and meet with physically and mentally challenged Taiwanese, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. At the invitation of the ministry, the 10 Nauruans, who are either visually or hearing impaired, or physically disabled, will visit from Saturday to Aug. 3. The Taipei-based Eden Social Welfare Foundation has been commissioned to organize the group’s itinerary, the ministry said. During their stay, the group will visit an Eden care center in New Taipei City (新北市),which provides care for dementia patients and the severely handicapped, as well as a center catering specifically to handicapped children in New Taipei City. They will also visit a factory run by Eden in Greater Taichung that trains handicapped people to bake pastries and earn a living, the ministry said. The group will also visit the National Palace Museum and the Yingge Ceramics Museum in New Taipei City.
EARTHQUAKE
Quake hits Hualien
An earthquake struck eastern Taiwan early Sunday, with no reports of casualties or damages thus far, reports the Central Weather Bureau. The magnitude 4.1 tremor, according to preliminary reports, occurred at 3:19am with the epicenter at 34.9km north by west of Hualien City Hall and 9.3km underground, the bureau said. The shock was felt in eastern and northern Taiwan, with the highest movement intensity reaching 3, the bureau said.
NATURE
Baby panda eating well: zoo
Taipei Zoo’s two-week-old panda cub, nicknamed “Rice Meatball” (肉圓), has a great appetite, zoo officials said yesterday in their daily update on the cub’s condition. When feeding time comes, staff first wipe the cub’s mouth and touch its mouth with the nipple of a baby bottle. The cub, which cannot yet see, then starts greedily sucking the milk from the bottle, zoo official Chang Chi-hua (張起華) said. The cub’s hearty appetite is a sign of good health, Chang added. It now weighs 481.6g, more than double the 183.4g it weighed at birth on July 6.
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,
RSS