■ Crime
Sex offenders to be tagged
The government will order "high risk" sex offenders to wear electronic tags on their release from jail in a bid to reduce sex crimes, justice officials said yesterday. Under the revised Sexual Violation Prevention Law (性侵害防治法), "high risk" sex criminals, such as serial rapists and those who had attempted to escape from prison, would be required to wear the electronic bracelets upon their release, said an official at the Department of Rehabilitation and Social Protection. Police would be mobilized if they were detected wandering in restricted areas or during their curfew hours. "We hope the new measure will help reduce sex crimes and better protect women's welfare," the official said. The official declined to say how many people would be subject to the new rule, which takes effect on Aug. 5, but local media estimated the number at several hundred.
■ Health
QC program set to begin
In a bid to improve medical service, a hospital quality-control (QC) program will be launched next month to stop hospitals from turning away patients or limiting the number of out-patients, officials said yesterday. "The new version of the Hospital Excellence Plan will be introduced in April. The program will strike a balance between patients' right to medical care and the quality of medical services," Department of Health Minister Hou Sheng-mou (侯勝茂) said at the Legislative Yuan yesterday. Last year, the Bureau of National Health Insurance held a six-month-long trial run of the plan, in which hospitals that met several quality standards got a higher rate of co-payment from the bureau. However, many hospitals ended up turning away people in order to meet the criteria. "We didn't name the new program the Hospital Excellence Plan, because some hospitals' blunders last year created a bad impression. But the spirit to enhance the quality of medical services remains unchanged," bureau president Liu Chien-hsiang (劉見祥) said.
■ Politics
Chiu to enter Taichung race
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) plans to announce his resignation on Monday so that he can throw his hat into the ring for the election for commissioner in his native Taichung County. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chiu was elected a legislator from his hometown in 1999 and retained the position until last May, when he was named to the council post. Chiu is one of several top officials planning to leave their posts in the central government to run for local government jobs.
■ Education
Cellphone classes planned
Telephone companies are expected to start providing English lessons over cellphones in a bid to tap into the young student market, researchers said yesterday. The companies may start using the phones to teach users English vocabulary, reading and pronunciation as early as next month, the Institute for Information Industry said. The service will use colored, animated images as well as sound, said institute researcher Wang Pai-pin, who developed the system and sold it to the phone companies. Charges for the service will start at about NT$200 a month, Wang said. Phone companies have had little success so far tapping the children's market despite aggressive promotions and price cuts. "Parents are reluctant to buy cellphones for their children for fear they could hinder their studies," Wang said.
■ Sports
Olympic torch relay unlikely
Taiwan enjoys equal status to that of China on the International Olympic Committee and will not accept Beijing's plan to make Taiwan one of the destinations in a "domestic route" for the torch relay for the 2008 Olympic Games, an official said yesterday. Chu Shou-chien (朱壽騫), vice chairman of the National Council for Physical Fitness and Sports, said it is still too early to react to the issue because the plan is not yet final and the Games are still three years away. Liu Qi, president of Beijing's organizing committee for the Games, said recently that the "domestic route" of the torch relay will include Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
■ Culture
Honduran official visits
Honduran Ambassador Marlene Villela visited Miaoli County Commissioner Fu Hsueh-peng (傅學鵬) yesterday to discuss the 2005 Miaoli International Mask Festival, which will be held March 26 to May 29. The festival will center around the old civilizations of Central and South America including Aztec, Inca and Maya cultures. Villela said she was interested to see that the incorporation of locally crafted wooden frames would be used during the show, evidence of how the integration of the two forms could enhance the entire exhibition and further develop tourism. Masks from Honduras will be on display at the show, Villela said, adding that her country's cultural affairs department will send two artists to Taiwan to tape the festival for reference should Honduras decide to put on a similar show. The festival will also feature a lion dance, magic and variety shows, drama performances and folk dances.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
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