■ 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.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
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