■ Entertainment
New TTV head announced
The Cabinet yesterday announced that National Chengchi University professor Chen Ching-ho (陳清河) will be the new president of Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV), a state-owned TV station. A press statement released by the Government Information Office (GIO) last night said in addition to Chen, Hua Nan Financial Holding Co chairman Lin Ming-cheng (林明成) and National Chengchi University sociology professor Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) were also put on the board. Government regulations, however, would appear to bar Lin from the position. The GIO said the new chairman would be automatically relieved of his position in approximately four months, after the government sells all its shares in TTV and it becomes a privately owned company.
■ Culture
Kaohsiung donates books
Kaohsiung City's Bureau of Cultural Affairs has donated books to the MV Doulos -- a ship known as the floating bookshop -- with the aim of promoting Kaohsiung globally as the international liner continues its voyages, Kaohsiung Bureau Chief Wang Chih-cheng (王志誠) said. The MV Doulos, berthed at Kaohsiung Fisherman's Wharf, is holding an onboard book show until next Monday. Built in 1914, the MV Doulos is now owned by German charity Gute Bucher Fur Alle. Carrying more than 500,000 books onboard, it has visited more than 100 countries around the world. Wang donated more than 400 books on behalf of the city government to Captain Ashley McDonald. The donated materials include books introducing the city, its flower season, maps and comics about the city's history. The ship will visit Taichung and Keelung after its stay in Kaohsiung, Wang said.
■ Arts
Arts festival planned
Taipei City has organized a two-month long Traditional Arts Festival featuring musical and theater performances by performers from both Taiwan and China. The festival,to be held between March 31 and June 2, will feature classical Chinese music performances by groups such as the Taipei Chinese Orchestra (TCO) and the Shanghai Volk Opera. Traditional Taiwanese and Chinese theater will also feature at the festival. Theater performances will include Taiwanese opera and Taiwanese hand puppetry, as well as various regional opera performances by troupes from China, according to a press release issued by the city government. In addition to ticketed performances, the festival will also offer 16 free performances, said Hsu Ko-wei (許克巍), an official with the TCO. More information can be found online at: www.tco.gov.tw
■ Astronomy
New asteroids discovered
The Sky Survey project at Lulin Observatory at Yushan (玉山) has discovered 280 asteroids, with a remarkable 179 near-Earth objects spotted in the past half year, academic sources said yesterday. Six of the celestial objects have been validated and assigned designations by the Minor Planet Center -- an institution under the International Astronomical Union. The first two of the six have already been named "Lulin1" and "NCU90." The observatory was established and is operated by the National Central University, which began site evaluation in 1989 and completed its construction in 1999. According to the university, a 2m telescope will be fully operational by 2009.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400