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Taiwan Quick Take

■ SOCIETY
Film festival scheduled
The second Murder by Numbers Film Festival organized by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty will be held in Taipei and Kaohsiung this month. "It's easy to support the death penalty because we never get to see the whole process," the alliance said in a press release yesterday. "Besides the criminal, the prosecutor, the judge, and the executioner, we're all part of the death penalty process -- though we try to close our eyes on it," the alliance said. Through showing nine movies by directors who are long-term activists on the death penalty issue, the alliance hopes to show viewers the full scope of the death penalty, and have the audience rethink what the "death penalty" is. Tickets will be distributed free of charge 30 minutes before each film begins. For details, visit taedp-film.blogspot.com.

■ CULTURE
Tibetan films to be shown
The Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission is sponsoring a film festival this month and the first weekend next month to "present Tibetan history, culture, arts, religion, people and human rights conditions." Five documentaries and two dramas will be shown during the festival and discussion sessions will follow each film. The films will be shown in Taipei, Hsinchu, Yilan, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. Entry is free of charge, but registration is required. More details on the festival can be found on www.tibet.url.tw.

■ ENTERTAINMENT
Pop show set for Wednesday
The 2007 Taipei Dadaocheng Fireworks and Music Festival will kick off at 7pm on Wednesday, Double Ten National Day. The Taipei City Government is inviting city residents to enjoy pop music and a 30-minute firework show at Dadaocheng (大稻埕). The event was pushed back from Aug. 19 because of Typhoon Sepat. The city government said the festival would not be influenced by Typhoon Krosa. Taipei's Department of Information said the city government will join forces with the Taipei County Government -- which is holding its own fireworks show in Sanchong (三重) -- to set off 20,000 firecrackers. The fireworks will be set off from 8pm to 8:30pm between Floodgates 3 and 5 of Danshui River, the information department said.The festival will feature pop stars, including Nan Quan Mama and participants of the "One Million Star" competition. People going to the festival are urged to use public transportation to minimize traffic congestion. Transfer bus routes and traffic control measures may be instituted.

■ SOCIETY
Toy bells to be checked
The Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection will step up safety checks on a brand of Chinese-made toy handbells for children after US retailing giant Target announced a voluntary recall of 80,000 of the toys over to safety concerns, a bureau spokesman said yesterday. A statement issued by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on Tuesday said that a Taichung-based company is in charge of distributing the toys, which are shaped like baseballs, soccer balls and basketballs. The statement indicated that although no injuries related to the toys have been reported so far, they contain small parts that can cause choking or suffocation if young children try to swallow them. Over the next six months, the bureau will conduct inspections on the toys on a batch-by-batch basis to prevent them from reaching the local market, the spokesman said, adding that all toys, whether domestically made or imported, are required to pass inspections before entering the market.

■ EDUCATION
NUTN to become `complete'
The National University of Tainan (NUTN) is expected to become the first complete learning institution in Taiwan in 2009 when it begins to accept junior high school students, the university's president said yesterday. NUTN, established 109 years ago as a normal college during the Japanese colonial era, now operates a number of graduate institutes, colleges, a senior high school, an elementary school, a kindergarten and classes for supplementary education, receiving students aged from two-and-a-half years to adults. When the university begins to accept junior high school students, a student could receive his or her entire education and continue throughout his or her life without having to change schools, university president Huang Hsiu-shuang (黃秀霜) said.

■ POLITICS
Taisugar chair eyes seat
Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲), chairman of the state-owned enterprise Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar), said on Wednesday that he had tendered his resignation two weeks ago to Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) so that he could concentrate on his campaign for a legislative seat. Yu, told reporters that he was now on leave, waiting for his successor to take over the chairmanship. He said that with the election only 100 days away, he has to devote himself full-time to the election campaign and let voters in his constituency, Kangshan Township (岡山) in Kaohsiung County, come to understand the new "single-member constituency, two-vote" system through vigorous publicity. Yu, 48, was legislator from 1987 to 1993 and served as minister of the interior from 2002 to 2004. He resigned in April 2004.


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