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Taiwan Quick Take

■ SPORTS
Kaohsiung to join lotto bid
The Kaohsiung City Government is working with the Bank of Kaohsiung on a bid to issue a sports lottery to help finance its hosting of the 2009 World Games, city officials said yesterday. They said they hoped that the central government would approve its bid to promote balanced development of southern and northern Taiwan. Three other banks -- Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Taipei Fubon Bank and Taishin International Bank -- are also competing for the right to issue a sports lottery. Although Bank of Kaohsiung cannot compare with the other three in terms of capital and scale, it is confident of winning the bid, bank officials said. If approved, the bank would have the sports lottery ready by April 15 at the latest, they said.

■ POLITICS
Last ambassador to US dies
James Shen (沈劍虹), the last ambassador to the US before Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979, has died, relatives said yesterday. He was 98. Shen died after a lengthy illness at his Taipei home on Thursday. Born in Shanghai, Shen had served as an English interpreter for dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石). Shen was appointed US ambassador in 1971, months before then US president Richard Nixon visited Beijing and signed a communique to acknowledge the so-called "one China" policy. Despite Shen's efforts to persuade Washington not to abandon its World War II ally, the US severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979. Shen returned to Taipei and retired. He is survived by his wife, Wei Wei-yi (魏惟儀).

■ CULTURE
Chiayi to host world bands
Chiayi will host the 2011 International Conference of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) said at a news conference yesterday, adding that hosting the world-class musical event would help improve Taiwan's image in the international community. Huang said she led a delegation to bid for the right to host the biennial meeting at the 2007 WASBE International Conference held from July 8 to last Saturday in Killarney, Ireland, and got the nod from the WASBE board of directors. WASBE is the only international organization of wind band conductors, composers, performers, publishers, teachers, instrument makers and friends of wind music. It has more than 1,000 individual and organizational members in more than 50 countries around the world.

■ HEALTH
Heart surgery shown live
A heart operation performed at a medical center in Taipei County was transmitted live to a conference in Tokyo yesterday. At the invitation of the Japanese Association of Cardiovascular Surgery, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital took part in the 9th annual symposium of the Japanese off-pump coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) association in Tokyo via satellite hookup. More than 300 heart doctors took part in the symposium, during which they watched surgeries conducted live in Taiwan and Japan. Taiwan's team performed the surgery on a 43-year-old male patient. Hospital Director Chu Shu-hsun (朱樹勳) said the conference had boosted cross-border exchanges on cardiovascular surgery and also helped the international medical community learn more about the expertise of Taiwan's cardiovascular surgeons. The transmission did not affect the surgery, he said. Doctors wore cameras mounted on their heads.

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