■ POLITICS
Magong to discuss casino
A public hearing will be held on Wednesday in Magong (馬公), Penghu County, to allow supporters and opponents of a casino development plan on the archipelago to air their views. The activity was organized by the county’s Election Commission after it announced last month that a referendum on the long-discussed casino proposal would be held on Sept. 26. The referendum will ask voters whether they agree or disagree with the plan to set up an international recreation area in their county in which casinos will be allowed to operate, the commission said.
■ CHARITY
Wan Hai helps students
The Wan Hai Charity Foundation said it will cover tuition for 300 students from southern Taiwan who were affected by Typhoon Morakot last month. “The charity will provide long-term support for students who lost their parents or family members in the storm and will help them continue their education without having to worry about paying tuition,” foundation president Chen Po-ting (陳柏廷) said. The foundation, established by Wan Hai Lines, one of the nation’s biggest shipping companies, said that by offering NT$6,000 per semester to each child, it hopes to help reduce the dropout rate caused by the typhoon. Students in grades one through 12 with financial problems resulting from the loss of their parents or relatives who were the family’s main breadwinners are eligible to apply through their schools, the foundation said. A total of 300 households whose homes were completely destroyed by the typhoon will each receive NT$50,000 in reconstruction subsidies, the charity said, adding that it is planning to allocate NT$58 million (US$1.78 million) for the rehabilitation operation.
■ DIPLOMACY
Wu invited by AmCham
The Taipei-based American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) has invited former envoy to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) to discuss the state and prospects of Taiwan-US relations. Wu, who is now a research fellow at National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, will attend a luncheon on Wednesday hosted by AmCham’s Greater China Business Committee to re-examine the fundamentals of Taiwan-US relations from a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) perspective, AmCham said on its Web site. Noting that Beijing will remain an important variable between Taipei and Washington, AmCham said Wu would also discuss what the DPP sees as problems associated with the policies and decision-making of the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and outline where Taiwan-US relations should go from here. “The cross-strait policies of the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou seem to be more satisfactory to the US government, thus causing ties to warm, but there are also limitations as to how far relations can go,” Wu said.
■ AGRICULTURE
New type of rice developed
The Council of Agriculture’s Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station has successfully cultivated a new variety of rice — known as Taitung No. 32 — the council said in a statement on Friday. The new aquatic is a high-quality, high-yield variety and is resistant to low temperatures. As a result of its stickiness, it is good for making sticky rice dishes such as tzungtzu, rice cakes and glutinous oil rice, the station said. Tzungtzu and rice cakes are made from sticky rice, which is difficult to digest. Taitung No. 32 can be used as an alternative, as it is easier to digest and is a good choice for making sushi or rice rolls, the council said.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400