Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) presided over the opening yesterday of the 2007 Taipei International Book Exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Center.
In his address, Su encouraged people to read good books to absorb other people's wisdom, saying that by spending half a day reading, one may be able to obtain knowledge that the writer has spent a lifetime acquiring.
RUSSIAN THEME
PHOTO: CNA
The theme of this year's fair is Russian literature, culture, philosophy and lifestyle.
Among the more interesting items on display at the Russian pavilion are several "mini book" copies of Russian writer Anton Chekhov's (1860-1904) classic short story A Chameleon.
Meanwhile, to promote reading across Taiwan, the exhibition's organizer -- the Taipei Book Fair Foundation -- has also launched various activities in cooperation with local libraries and bookstores.
ILAN COUNTY OUTREACH
The foundation said that this year was the first time it had worked with the Ilan County Government's education bureau to promote reading for schoolchildren in remote areas of the county.
Government Information Office Minister Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦); Council for Cultural Affairs Minister Chiu Kun-liang (邱坤良); Sergey Filatov, president of Russia's Foundation of Social-Economic Intelligent Programs; and Sergey Gubarv, director of the Moscow-Taipei Economic and Cultural Coordination Commission, were among the guests of honor at yesterday's ceremony.
Officials said a total of 711 domestic and foreign businesses from 40 countries are taking part in the exhibition.
The exhibition will run through Sunday.
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
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
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