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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Society
Book sale to help orphans
The Taipei American School's (TAS) Orphanage Club will hold its annual book sale tomorrow from 10am to 5pm in the lobby and forecourt of the school -- rain or shine. Club members have collected thousands of books, including bestsellers, biographies, art and travel literature, children's and English-teaching books. Scores of books in Chinese, Japanese and other languages are also available, as well as magazines, comic books and games. Money raised from the book sale will provide funding for orphans and other needy children in Taiwan and abroad. TAS is located at 800 Zhongshan N Rd, Sec. 6, in Tianmu (天母).

■ Event
Tibetan uprising march
Tibetans in Taiwan and their supporters announced yesterday that a march will be held tomorrow to commemorate the 48th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising. After years of oppression, Tibet, which was invaded by China in 1950, rose up against the Chinese government on March 10, 1959. The uprising was met with violent military oppression by China, and the Tibetan government, led by the fourteenth Dalai Lama, went into exile. Members of the Tibetan government in exile will be present at the event tomorrow, where a statement from the Dalai Lama will be read. The march will begin at 10am in front of the Taipei City Council and is anticipated to end at 12 noon.

■ Health
Men don't brush as much
Men are lagging behind their female counterparts when it comes to oral hygiene, a survey of 22,087 men and women conducted by the Bureau of Health Promotion showed. More than 80 percent of women above the age of 12 brushed before going to bed, compared to less than 70 percent of the men surveyed. The survey found that women brushed their teeth on average twice a day, compared to men's 1.7 times a day. Women were also more likely to floss, with 49 percent using dental floss, compared to 40 percent of men. Both men and women were unlikely to visit the dentist for a check-up every six months, with only 14.3 percent of women and 12.8 percent of men doing so. However, 98.6 percent of women and 97.7 percent of men were likely to clean their teeth at least once a day.

■ Litigation
Court rules against Taipei
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against the Taipei City Government's subway bureau, which had questioned the legal status of a French firm entangled in a legal battle with the city over the Mucha line of the mass rapid transit system. Yeh Chin-yuan, (葉慶元), director of the city's Law and Regulation Commission, refused to comment yesterday, saying he had not yet received the court ruling in writing. The city's Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS) filed the request in August 2005 after losing a 12-year legal battle with French firm Matra in October 2005. The Supreme Court ordered DORTS to pay Matra NT$1.6 billion (US$48 million) for construction delays. DORTS questioned the legal status of the company, which disbanded in December 1995, after Matra filed for an injunction because the city refused to pay up. Taipei City Councilwoman Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) of the People First Party claimed that the last seven months of litigation had cost NT$300 million.

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