■ Education
NTU holds online ceremony
National Taiwan University held an unprecedented online graduation ceremony yesterday following concerns about SARS. University President Chen Wei-chao (陳維昭) said in his opening remarks that the trend-setting online commencement ceremony was a forced choice out of health concerns. "Despite the absence of a traditional-style ceremony, the school faculty and junior students want to offer no less best wishes to all the new graduates through the online ceremony," Chen said in a scaled-down ceremony held at the school's largest conference room which was broadcast on the Internet. The deans of various university colleges and 31 representatives of graduating students were present at the ceremony, which was available online at the university's Web site at http://www.ntu.edu.tw. "I'm hopeful that all the new graduates will never be daunted by any adversities in pursuit of their career or life goals in the future," Chen said.
■ Liberia
Embassy staff safe
With the conflict in Liberia intensifying, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that the staff of the Taiwan embassy in the west African nation is safe and sound and that the US Embassy has agreed to help evacuate Taiwan diplomatic personnel and nationals in an emergency. Associated Press wire reports said that fighting raged Friday in a northern suburb of Monrovia, the capital of civil-war torn Liberia, and that terrified civilians were fleeing by the thousands as rebels took control of refugee camps around the city. The officials said that the ministry has kept in close contact with the Taiwan embassy and learned that the embassy has completed contingency plans. Ambassador Chen Yung-chuo (陳永綽) and his wife, as well as three diplomatic personnel, two Taiwan technical experts, and two Taiwan nationals are all safe and sound, they said.
■ HEalth
US lends hand to fight
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) has sent nearly 20 medical experts to Taiwan since late March to help with the island's battle against SARS. The experts, including in-hospital infection control specialists, virologists, epidemiologists and physicians, have won the respect and admiration of local health care providers with their professional expertise and devotion to their work. Many of them can speak fluent Mandarin Chinese and even the Taiwanese dialect. Their good command of the Chinese language has greatly facilitated their communication with local patients and hospital staff. However, they have generally kept a low profile, probably because of their official capacity. Taiwan and the US do not maintain formal diplomatic relations despite their close substantive ties. CDC Deputy Director Hsu Kuo-hsiung (許國雄) said several of the USCDC staff in Taiwan are ethnic Chinese, some of whom were born here.
■ United States
Foundation donates money
The Taiwanese American Foundation in San Diego, California, on Friday donated US$500,000 to the University of California at Santa Barbara for promoting a program of lectures on the literature, history, sand culture of Taiwan. After accepting the donation, Henry Yang, president of the university, said the program will help promote the university's academic studies on East Asian culture and languages.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
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