■Education
Exam postponed
The STYLE/JET examina-tion, which was scheduled to take place tomorrow around the country, has been post-poned due to the concerns over the spread of SARS. The company in charge of the exam, Caves Educational Training, said that because of the rising numbers of suspected SARS cases in
the last two days and concern over the health of the examinees, it decided to push back the exam date. Caves will call or fax all the examinees, their parents or teachers regarding the new exam date. Most of those who had registered for the exam were children aged between seven and 12.
■ Health
Lin urges cooperation
Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) expressed his appreciation yesterday
to those who have been put into quarantine because of concern about the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Lin said that while it is understandable that those who are confined within the Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital might feel that they are healthy and should not have to stay there, the SARS incubation period still has not been determined. He urged those who are isolated to comply with quarantine regulations, adding that those who recently returned from the seriously affected areas of China, Hong Kong and Macau should also heighten their guard. He
also said the government
is putting together a medical team to be sent to China to help Taiwanese business-people who have fallen ill with the disease there.
■ Legislature
Logjam over money
The ruling and opposition parties yesterday failed to reach an agreement for setting up a monitoring mechanism regulating township administration's use of the extra NT$8.4 billion fund within the proposed NT$58 billion public construction project fund. "The DPP insisted that using those allocated budget should be supervised by certain mechanisms," said DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), while KMT law-makers contended that township governments only have to submit their plans to the central administration before the plans are reviewed by the legislature. The review mechanism must be set for monitoring the use of money to make sure the money will be used effec-tively, Chen emphasized.
■ Development
Bio fest set for November
The 2003 International Bio Festival will be held in Taipei Nov. 6 to18, organizers of the event announced on Thursday. Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who doubles as president of the Institute of Biomedical Technology Industry -- one of the organizers of the festival -- said that the two-week event will include an award ceremony, academic discussions, a forum on venture capital and exhibi-tions. Wang said the festival is aimed at promoting the development and inter-nalization of the nation's biomedical technology industry by integrating all related resources.
■ Politics
TSU chief off to Japan
TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) left for Japan yesterday to attend the inauguration of a school established in honor of former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Huang said he will urge overseas Chinese in Japan to "uphold Taiwan's democratic fruits, Taiwan's indigenous government, Taiwan's course of reforms, Taiwan's national security, and Taiwan's political stability."
■Politics
DPP expels scandalized Lin
The DPP expelled Legislator Lin Chin-hsing (林進興) Thursday because of his indictment along with 39 others in the Kaohsiung City Council vote-buying scandal. The DPP Central Advisory Committee decided in a meeting to cancel Lin's party membership. Anticipating that he would be kicked out of the party, Lin was resigned to Thursday's decision, saying he will serve as an independent lawmaker for the time being. However, he said he is confident that the judiciary will clear his name eventually and that he will be allowed to rejoin the DPP once his innocence is proven. Lin was the only legislator embroiled in the vote-buying scandal that has seen 34 city councilors and six others indicted. He was accused of aiding his former wife, Councilor Chang Wen-hsiu (章玟琇), to accept bribes of NT$5 million from Councilor Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) in return for her promise to support Chu's bid for the council speakership.
■ Diplomacy
S Carolina shows support
The House and Senate of the state of South Carolina have passed a resolution, praising the Republic of China for its contributions to the promotion of world peace, democracy and human rights, and saying that the world should not acquiesce to any kind of military threat against Taiwan. According to the resolution, Taiwan is a "staunch long-term ally" of the US and that the two countries share the same ideals of freedom, and human rights. Taiwan has made remarkable achievements in promoting education, economic development and democracy, it says, adding that the state and Taiwan established sisterhood relations in 1981.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
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