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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Rescue
19 crew saved near Penghu
A Panamanian cargo ship that ran aground near Penghu on Thursday due to engine failure and stormy weather sank at around 1am yesterday, with all but one of the 20 crew members rescued, authorities reported. The first mate of the Shinko Ocean remains missing after falling overboard during Thursday's mishap and a search effort is continuing. The 19 other crew members were airlifted to Makung after being rescued by the Seagull Squad. The ship sent out an SOS at around 2pm on Thursday after the vessel ran aground. A Seagull rescue helicopter took off from an air base in Chiayi and airlifted the crewmembers in a marathon series of shuttles, to Makung Airport, where they were transferred to two hospitals in Penghu for treatment.

■ Religion
Buddhist master dies
Tibetan Buddhist master Khenpo Loden Rinpoche died recently of acute pneumonia days after arriving in Taiwan for a promotional tour, sources said yesterday. The 79-year-old Loden arrived in Taiwan on Feb. 22 to promote Tibetan Buddhism but became ill two days later. He was rushed to the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou, Taoyuan County, but died early the next morning, according to a spokesman for the Vajrayana Buddhist Institute, which invited him to Taiwan. The body of the Tibetan Buddhism master, who was from the Indian state of Sikkim, was cremated in accordance with Tibetan Buddhist custom. Loden's ashes will be kept in Taiwan for a period of time for his disciples to pay their respects before being returned to Sikkim. Loden, who had presided over important rituals with the Dalai Lama, was one of the most revered and influential Tibetan Buddhist masters in Sikkim.

■ Politics
Wang defends task force
The Legislative Yuan has the right to address cross-strait affairs as long as it acts within the law and does
not encroach upon the diplomatic and administrative functions of the president, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday. Wang made the remarks a day after a majority of legislators decided to reconvene a task force handling cross-strait affairs, even as lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cautioned that cross-strait ties are the responsibility of the president. The DPP and its ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), said yesterday that they were opposed to a re-activation of the cross-strait task force and would not allow members of their parties to join it. The TSU also said the task force in the previous legislature was ineffectual. Wang said that if the DPP and the TSU refuse to nominate delegates, that was their right and would not affect the operations of the task force.

■ Education
New scholarship announced
National Taiwan University (NTU) said yesterday that it will set up a scholarship program allowing students from member countries of the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP) to pursue advanced studies in Taiwan. Chou Chia-pei (周嘉蓓), director of the NTU International Academic Exchange Center, made the announcement during a UMAP board meeting attended by 20 representatives from 11 member countries. The UMAP program is a three-year student exchange plan effective until 2008. Ten students from association member countries will study at local universities each year, while 10 Taiwanese students will go to those countries to study, Chou said. Each student will receive NT$150,000 (US$4,840) annually, she said.

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