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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Foreign aid
Help given to Iraq
Taiwan yesterday gave NT$150 million (US$4.32 million) in aid to Iraq in its first donation for the war-stricken country. Premier Yu Shyi-kun presided over a ceremony in Taichung with Jordanian representative to Taipei Bilal Hmoud accepting the aid on behalf of his government. The humanitarian aid included 5,000 tonnes of rice worth NT$100 million as well as medical equipment, medicine, sanitary products, canned food, tents and blankets donated by local charity groups. "The ship carrying the aid will set sail on Thursday next week, and if everything goes smoothly, the aid should be transported to Jordan within two weeks," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told reporters. Foreign ministry spokesman Richard Shih (石瑞琦) has said the government was ready to provide further aid if necessary.

■ Internet
Web sites recognized
The Taiwan School Net announced yesterday that 153 out of the 1,531 Web pages designed by local primary and middle school students will be awarded for their outstanding research work and page designs. A spokesman of the cyber educational organization said that the Web-page design contest has attracted increasing participation since it was first held in 1999. This year, the 1,531 Web pages were the efforts of 15,316 students from around the nation. He said that although cities have comparatively higher Internet penetration rates, students in remote regions, such as the outlying islands of Kinmen and Penghu, Taitung and Nantou, have done well in the contests. Contest winners will represent Taiwan in the White House-endorsed International Schools Cyberfair.

■ Tomb sweeping day
Missionary cares for graves
Canadian missionary Father Jack Geddes made his final trip to the Tamsui Foreign Cemetery to tidy up on Tomb Sweeping Day Saturday after 20 years of dedicated care for the final resting place of some of Taiwan's foreign community. Geddes will be retiring and leaving Taiwan this summer with his family. In Tamsui, the foreigners' graveyard has been visited and cleaned up during every Tomb Sweeping Day for the past 20 years by Geddes and others. Geddes and his friends began to observe the local custom of tomb sweeping in 1983 by taking over the management of the cemetery from the US, which had abandoned the site adjacent to the Tamkang Middle School five years earlier. Most of the nearly 65 graves are occupied by Canadian, English and other foreign missionaries who died during their missions in Taiwan since 1867.

■ Lee Teng-hui
Academics to speak
Well-known overseas academics will be among the guest speakers at the Lee Teng-hui School, which is slated to be launched next month. Lecturers will include Gordon Chang (章家敦), the American-Chinese writer of The Coming Collapse of China, Nat Bellocchi, the former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, and Nakajima Mineo (中島嶺雄), former principal of the Tokyo University of Foreign studies. They have agreed to speak at the institution, which was founded to train social talent and to promote Lee's political beliefs. Other speakers include pro-Taiwan academics and business leaders. In its first session, from May 17 to Aug. 24, the courses will focus on national identity, the nation's development strategy and leadership and policy-making.
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