■ POLITICS
Tourist permits criticized
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) yesterday criticized the Immigration Bureau for issuing two groups of Chinese tourists permits to enter the country after they arrived at Kaohsiung International Airport on Wednesday. Because they did not have permits to enter Taiwan before departing China, the Immigration Bureau issued permits to the tourists when they arrived in Kaohsiung, Lee said. Lee said the bureau had jeopardized the country’s sovereignty, security and public health, and had treated Taiwan like it was part of China. DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the Immigration Bureau’s conduct was equal to granting Chinese tourists visa on arrival, which is against regulations.
■ HEALTH
Official raises drywall alert
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Secretary-General Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) yesterday urged the government to examine whether drywall products imported from China last year contained harmful chemicals. Lin called the government’s attention to news reports from the US that defective drywall products imported from China and used by US builders in more than 100,000 homes posed a health hazard to homeowners and apartment dwellers. Citing customs data, Lin said Taiwan imported 840 tonnes of drywall products from China last year. “If the drywall material is tainted, 12,000 households in Taiwan could have been affected,” he said, adding that the government should adopt emergency measures to determine whether the drywall products imported from China contained harmful substances.
■ EDUCATION
Prosecutors donate money
Since the beginning of the year, the Chiayi Prosecutors’ Office has given scholarships to 150 students using money taken from criminals, a source said on Thursday. Money for the scholarships — which ranges from NT$1,000 per semester for each elementary school student to NT$2,000 per semester for each junior high school — came from fines paid to the Chiayi Prosecutors Office by perpetrators of minor offenses for deferred prosecution. The scholarship program began in 2007, benefiting 90 poor students that year, said a worker with the Hsin Kang Foundation of Culture and Education (HKFCE), which participates in the program. Starting in 2006, the Chiayi Prosecutors’ Office began providing charitable groups with money to help pay for social services to local residents, he said. The aim is to help children from low-income families stay in school, he said.
■ SOCIETY
Hakka outlet opens
The Council for Hakka Affairs yesterday inaugurated the nation’s first permanent Hakka merchandise outlet, featuring certified Taiwanese Hakka products at the Taiwan Handicraft Center in Taipei. Council Minister Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振) said at the inauguration ceremony that the outlet would provide a marketing channel for about 300 domestic businesses that produce more than 500 items with a touch of Taiwan’s Hakka culture. He said all merchandise sold at the outlet had met the council’s quality control standards and was awarded the “Hakka Taiwan” recognition stamp. Eleven more outlets will be opened nationwide this year. “We’re also in discussions with some trade fair organizers about the possibility of presenting certified Hakka Taiwan merchandise to the international market,” Huang said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
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