Taiwan Quick Take

■ Culture
Pingtung gets giant penis
A group of sculptors has carved an 8.5m long wooden penis, hoping to set the world record for the longest sculpture of the male genital, a local TV station reported yesterday. Eight sculptors in Pingtung spent half a year carving the wooden penis. Now their 10.8 tonne artwork is on display at an amusement park in Pingtung, the report said. The sculptors' plan to apply to the Guinness Book of World Records to have their creation officially declared the longest in the world, the report said. "The Asian certification center for the Guinness World Records said the Guinness World Records have a category for wooden sculptures, but the Guinness World Records Museum in London could reject the application if it considers the sculpture immoral," Huang Chih-ying, from the Guinness World Records Asian certification center in Taichung said.

■ Health
Hospitals set holiday hours
Taipei's medical centers reminded the public yesterday that they will be closed from Tuesday through Thursday next week for the Lunar New Year holiday. Although the emergency room will still see patients, most hospitals will only open for half day on Feb. 11 and 12. Not until Feb. 14 will most hospitals resume their daily operation. The National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital will be closed Tuesday through Thursday and offer partial inpatient services on Friday and Saturday. Tri-Service General Hospital said it would be open on the morning of Feb. 12. Cathay General Hospital, Catholic Cardinal Tien Hospital, and Shinkong Wu Ho-su Memorial Hospital said they will only be closed half day on Tuesday and will remain open the rest of the week.

■ Government
Sunshine policy in south
Kaohsiung Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said yesterday that his administration will follow a sunshine policy. Chen made the remark in his first administrative meeting since assuming post as acting mayor on Tuesday. Chen said that sunshine stands for "health and transparency," adding that all administrative work, policy-making and promotions in the future will be made apparent, in line with this policy. Chen held the meeting at a fisherman's wharf at Kaohsiung Harbor to signify his determination to build the port city into an "ocean capital."

■ Cross-strait Ties
Killer gets death sentence
A Chinese man has been sentenced to death for killing a Taiwanese businessman, the man's 5-year-old son and two other people during a failed robbery, a newspaper reported yesterday. Xiong Xudong attacked Hsu Man-li in Guangdong Province last November after being discovered breaking into Hsu's home, the Beijing Evening News reported. The report said the verdict had been handed down by the Intermediate People's Court in Dongwu on Thursday. Death sentences in China are automatically appealed but rarely overturned.

■ Education
NTU inks cooperative pact
National Taiwan University (NTU) signed a cooperative agreement yesterday in Taipei with the National University of Mongolia (NUM) as part of its efforts to help promote academic exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. The agreement was signed by NTU President Chen Wei-chao (陳維昭) and his counterpart, Tserensodom Gantsog.