■ POLITICS
Hsieh Wen-ting appointed
Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定), a head prosecutor with the Supreme Prosecutors Office, will serve as the new secretary-general of the Judicial Yuan, sources said on Sunday. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had nominated Hsieh to serve as state public prosecutor-general, but the legislative vetoed the nomination. The source said Judicial Yuan President Lai In-jaw (賴英照), who assumed office yesterday, had invited Hsieh to serve as chief of staff. Hsieh said he had accepted Lai's invitation. A changeover ceremony for the Judicial Yuan president and vice president was to be held yesterday morning. Lai will replace Weng Yueh-sheng (翁岳生), who is retiring. Hsieh Tsay-chuan (謝在全) will be sworn in as Judicial Yuan vice president.
■ CULTURE
Museum holds birthday sale
The National Palace Museum will open a three-day sale on Friday on a wide range of publications,reproductions and souvenirs in celebration of its 81st anniversary, a spokesman said yesterday. The annual sale -- held in the museum's Library Building -- will include reproductions of paintings and calligraphic works from the Sung, Yuan, Ming and Ching dynasties. Other items include illustrated catalogues of rare paintings and calligraphy from the Sung dynasty, catalogs of ceramic ware from government-owned kilns in the imperial dynasties and catalogs of costumes of the Ching dynasty. Other items, including silk scarves, vases, mugs, lacquer boxes, neckties and inkstones, will also be on sale.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Review committee sparks ire
The Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) Environmental Impact Review Committee yesterday voted to form a special taskforce to review construction of a Formosa Plastics steel plant in Yunlin. EPA Minister Winston Dang (陳重信), however, ruled toward the end of the meeting that the conclusion was still pending, since some of the committee members questioned the validity of the voting process. Other members also questioned Formosa's ability to fulfill the promises it had made during the review. The committee had previously determined that the case should be reviewed in the next evaluation phase, in which the developer will be asked to submit a more detailed environmental impact report. The result enraged environmentalists and local representatives at yesterday's committee meeting. They accused the EPA of rubber-stamping development projects. Liou Ming-lung (劉銘龍), chairman of the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation, said he and other activists would seek the support of lawmakers to question the EPA over the matter during this legislative session.
■ TECHNOLOGY
`Sugar chips' touted
Researchers at Academia Sinica have completed the development of a new "sugar chip" that can diagnose cancerous cells and bacterial or viral infections within seconds with high accuracy, sources said yesterday. The chips, based on glycan micro-array technology, detect specific interactions between carbohydrates and proteins to determine the onset of known diseases, academics said. The team at the Genomics Research Center will next use the chip to try to detect HIV and avian influenza. Liang Pi-hui (梁碧惠), a post-doctoral researcher at the center, said the chip only required a small sample and just seconds to produce results with nearly 100 percent accuracy.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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