■ EDUCATION
Wang Dan to teach history
Wang Dan (王丹), one of the student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests, has been hired to teach cross-strait history in Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, a school official said. Wang will be a visiting scholar at the university from Aug. 1 to the end of February next year, Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元), dean of the school’s Graduate Institute of Taiwan History, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. Wang will teach a class on China and Taiwan in the 1950s, Hsueh said. Wang, 40, has been living in exile in the US since fleeing China after the Chinese army crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. He received a PhD from Harvard University last year and wrote a doctoral dissertation entitled: A Comparative Study of State Violence in Mainland China and Taiwan in the 1950s.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Volvo to recall sedans
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday demanded that Volvo Group recall all diesel sedan model XC70s sold before last August because its nitrogen oxide emissions exceed the national limit. The EPA said that whereas Article 5 of the Vehicular Air Pollutant Emission Standards (交通工具空氣污染物排放標準) states that nitrogen oxide emissions should not exceed 0.25g per kilogram, the Volvo XC70 emissions are at 0.28g per kilogram. This year’s XC70 model has passed EU emissions tests, the EPA said, however older versions sold from October 2007 to August last year — a total of 154 cars — have emissions that do not meet this standard and therefore should be recalled. Volvo will begin to contact the owners of the vehicles, the EPA said, adding that those contacted should cooperate with the company to help improve air quality.
■ POLITICS
Ma offers virtual tour
Anyone interested in President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) day-to-day life can now log on to the Presidential Office Web site and Ma will give you a virtual tour of his office. As a part of efforts marking Ma’s first year in office, the Presidential Office on Wednesday posted a video featuring Ma offering the public a glimpse of the country’s center of power. During the 12-minute video, Ma shows viewers a bronze horse given to him by one of his supporters in Taipei, books that he recommends reading, Chinese calligraphy by Fu Shen (傅申) and Chang Ping-huang (張炳煌), paintings by a 228 victim’s family member, Liao De-cheng (廖德政), and works by physically challenged foot and mouth painter Yang En-dian (楊恩典). One of the photographs in the office that he particularly likes, Ma says, features him eating red bean cake, as his wife looks at him with a stern expression. Ma said her look is one that is familiar to him and that she must be thinking at that moment: “Why am I married to this man?”
■ DIPLOMACY
AIT closed for holidays
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) will be closed on Monday (May 25) in observance of US Memorial Day and on Thursday next week in observance of the Dragon Boat Festival, the AIT said in a press release yesterday. All AIT sections and offices, including the Consular Section, Commercial Section, Agricultural Trade Office, American Cultural Center and AIT Kaohsiung branch office will be closed for the holidays, the press release said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
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