■ ENVIRONMENT
Saving butterflies in Kenting
Drivers should slow down in Kenting National Park to avoid killing thousands of Common Mormon butterflies in the park, officials said. The Kenting National Park Administration said that the number of Common Mormon butterflies is expected to peak this week and that great quantities of them have been killed by passing cars. The Common Mormon butterfly, also known as the Papilio polytes, is an endemic species of the swallowtail butterfly. It is renowned for how its females mimic inedible Red-bodied Swallowtails such as the Common Rose and the Crimson Rose.
■ CONFERENCES
Former E German PM visits
Former East German prime minister Lothar de Maiziere will be in Taiwan to attend a forum on transitional justice later this week, a statement from the sponsor of the forum said yesterday. Officials from Taiwan Thinktank said that the former leader's participation at the conference on Saturday had been arranged by Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), whose tenure as representative to Germany ended last month. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will give the opening address, officials said. Invited academics will come mostly from former communist countries, including Hungary, Lithuania and Mongolia, most of which still have a single dominant political party and substantial party assets, the officials said, adding that aside from party assets, transitional justice would also be a topic of discussion.
■ POLITICS
KMT sues Frank Hsieh
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) filed a defamation lawsuit yesterday against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) for NT$100 million (US$3 million) over his reference to the party as a killer and a rapist during the Martial Law era. "We wanted to safeguard the truth through legal means and prevent politicians from humiliating Taiwan, which is a daughter of all the people," said Yang Tu (楊渡), commissioner of the party's culture and communication committee. During a speech earlier this month, Hsieh compared the KMT to a housekeeper who "killed our people, raped our daughters and robbed our fortune." Condemning Hsieh's remarks, Yang said the KMT had worked hard to make Taiwan a better country and that Hsieh's remarks were nothing but malicious. Yang said that if it won the case, the party would use the money to care for comfort women.
■ EDUCATION
Students win at Olympiad
Four students won a total of two gold and two silver medals at the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad, held in Moscow from July 16 to last Monday. The event -- one of the International Science Olympiads -- is an annual chemistry competition for high school students. A total of 500 talented students from 72 countries participated in the event, which consists of chemistry experiments and theoretical and practical questions. Accompanied by National Taiwan Normal University Professor Fang Tai-shan (方泰山) and a Ministry of Education official, the four winners received their awards at the closing ceremony on Monday. The two gold medalists are Ho Ying-you (何應佑), a student at National Experimental High School in Hsinchu, and Huang Wei-lun (黃韋綸) of Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School (TMJHS). Chang Kai-jui (張凱瑞) of National Taichung First Senior High School and Lin Chi-yang (林記揚) of TMJHS won silver medals.
■ IMMIGRATION
NIA to speed up repatriation
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) will speed up repatriation of illegal immigrants as part of its efforts to solve the problem of overcrowding at its temporary shelters around the country, agency Deputy Director Steve Wu (吳學燕) said yesterday. Responding to media reports that the shelters were notorious for overcrowding and poor sanitation, Wu said the temporary shelters at the NIA's various outposts could accommodate up to 500 people, and the three special detention centers for illegal immigrants in Taoyuan, Sansia and Ilan could accommodate up to 2,400 people. He added that the crackdown on illegal immigrants and runaway laborers had led to the sharp rise in the number of foreigners awaiting repatriation, and hence overcrowding at the shelters.
■ ARTS AND CULTURE
Art camp begins for 60 kids
Netherlands-based ABN AMRO Bank's Taiwan branch has teamed up with the Child Welfare League Foundation and the Taipei City Government to fund a summer art camp for 60 disadvantaged children nationwide, branch CEO Terry King (經天瑞) told a press conference yesterday. The camp, held in various locations in Taipei, began yesterday and will run until Sunday. Underprivileged elementary school students with an aptitude for art are producing artwork that will be displayed in public exhibitions around Taipei in late August, King said. The three best junior artists will win cash prizes or an all-expenses-paid trip to the Netherlands. Ten runners-up will receive generous scholarships, he added. The camp, which includes classes by art professionals, as well as room and board, is free to participants.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it