■ INSURANCE
No transfer for summer jobs
The Bureau of National Health Insurance yesterday said students who get summer jobs do not need to transfer their insurance to the company that employs them. The bureau said most students are insured under their parents and that when they start a temporary summer job, they do not need to transfer their national health insurance to their employer and then back under their parents after the job contract ends. The measure is meant to ensure that students who forget to make the transfer do not face a period without health insurance coverage, as well as save time and paperwork. The bureau said it had recently received an increasing number of inquiries about health insurance and summer jobs.
■ EXHIBITION
200,000th visitor expected
The Taiwan Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo is set to greet its 200,000th visitor today, 53 days into the expo, the pavilion’s manager said yesterday. The 200,000th visitor, who is expected to arrive in a 37-member tour group, will be presented with an 11.6-inch Acer notebook worth NT$29,800, pavilion manager Walter Yeh (葉明水) said. The 199,999th and 200,001st visitors will also receive 24-inch LCD monitors worth NT$15,000 each. Wang Chih-kang (王志剛), chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, which sponsored the Taiwan Pavilion, is scheduled to fly to Shanghai to preside over the occasion, Yeh said. The pavilion greeted its 100,000th visitor on May 25.
■ CRIMES
Councilor fined for assault
A politician was fined NT$122,000 yesterday after he was convicted of pushing a Chinese envoy to the ground in an incident that angered Beijing, court officials said. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Tainan City Councilor Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) was convicted in September last year and sentenced to a four-month jail term for “assaulting” Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) in 2008. Wang had pleaded not guilty, but his appeal was rejected by the High Court last month. He was allowed, as an alternative to jail, to pay a fine of NT$1,000 daily for four months. He paid the fine yesterday to close the case. The incident happened when Zhang was visiting Tainan, a DPP stronghold. The incident was caught on camera and triggered Beijing’s fury, with the Chinese government calling for the “severe punishment” of those found guilty.
■ DIPLOMACY
Taiwan to give US$50,000
The Republic of China embassy in El Salvador said yesterday it would provide US$50,000 to help improve the offices of the Central American country’s Presidential Commission for Customer Protection. The Taiwanese government will purchase office equipment, including laptops, PCs, scanners and printers, for the Presidential Commission’s help centers, the embassy said. Improving customer protection is a worldwide trend and since the commission was established in El Salvador, it has helped to safeguard customer rights by setting up centers in major cities across the country, the embassy said. The centers have received an increasing number of customer complaints and successfully assisted consumers in obtaining record levels of compensation from corporations, it said. El Salvador has expressed its appreciation to Ambassador Carlos Liao (廖世傑) and the Taiwanese government, saying that Taiwan’s donation would help the commission boost efficiency and enhance customer protection.
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
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