ENTERTAINMENT
Bon Jovi eyes 2011 concert
The US rock band Bon Jovi might perform a concert in Taiwan next year, 15 years after the band’s last visit in 1995, Universal Music said. Jon Bon Jovi, the lead singer of the band, expressed hopes of visiting Taiwan next year, depending on the band’s schedule, according to a press release released by the music company on Tuesday. The band has played in Taiwan twice, in 1993 and 1995. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi has performed more than 2,600 concerts in more than 50 countries for more than 34 million fans and some consider it one of the world’s most successful bands.
HEALTH
Milk bank certified
A human milk bank in Taipei has recently won recognition from a British association, making it the first internationally certified milk bank in Asia. Since its establishment in December 2004, the bank has collected more than 10,000 liters of breast milk from 1,008 donors nationwide, benefiting 1,244 infants born prematurely or who have infectious diseases or feeding intolerance, an official from the Taipei City Hospital’s pediatrics department said. The department said that with the milk bank certification by the UK Association for Milk Banking, the safety of the donated milk is assured. The bank, working with the Bureau of Health Promotion, established a milk bank station at Taichung Hospital last year to make donating more convenient for women living in the south. The department said that while 80 to 90 percent of donors were from northern regions prior to the opening of the Taichung milk station, there has now been an increase in the number of southern donors.
ENVIRONMENT
Bureau donates for birds
Taiwan’s forestry bureau made a donation of US$45,000 on Wednesday to a UK-based bird--conservation group to help fund its projects protecting forests and birds in Asia and the Americas. Taiwan’s contribution was presented to Bird Life International’s chief executive Marco Lambertini by Taiwan’s Representative to the UK Katharine Chang (張小月). The donation will be used to assist the organization’s projects for endangered-bird conservation in Sao Tome and Principe and Brazil, and to help protect forests in northwestern Cambodia, the group said. Lambertini expressed gratitude for Taiwan’s long-term support of the organization and hoped to have the opportunity to tell people about Taiwan’s efforts and contributions. Taiwan has more than 500 bird species, Chang said, so it understands the importance of environmental protection and bird conservation.
FISHERIES
Artificial reef boosts catch
An artificial reef off the east coast has yielded a harvest of more than 230 tonnes of fish in the first nine months of the year, with the value of the catch expected to grow further, the Fisheries Research Institute said. The catch, worth more than NT$20 million (US$650,000), was the result of a new reef floating 20m to 60m underwater off Taitung’s Singang Pier, the institute said. Offshore artificial reefs function similarly to ocean driftwood in attracting fish, the council said on its Web site. The catch was particularly good in February and March, averaging more than 180kg per day, with top catches exceeding 400kg, the institute reported. Even during the low season of June, the average haul of the 30 vessels reached about 60kg. Use of the reefs also shortens the distances boats need to travel, it said, saving about 15 percent on fuel costs. There are now six such facilities along the east coast.
SOCIETY
Government ‘inherits’ assets
Over the past 10 years, the government has taken NT$10 billion (US$324 million) of property from deceased military veterans who died intestate, according to a report released yesterday by the Veterans Affairs Commission. Statistics show the state has inherited NT$9.4 billion, US$1.23 million, HK$26,000 (US$3,348), 44,000 yuan (US$6,610) and gold weighing a total of 88.76kg, as well as 1,008 units of real estate in the period between 1999 and this year from veterans who died single and had no family, the report said. In this year alone, the government inherited NT$638 million and US$13,000, as well as 9kg of gold and 199 units of real estate, the commission said.
ENVIRONMENT
Turtles arrive in US
A total of 50 rare yellow-headed temple turtles arrived in the US city of Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday to start a new life through a cooperative effort by Eva Airways, the Taipei Zoo and the US-based Turtle Survival Alliance, airline officials said. The Eva Airways flight carrying the turtles left Hong Kong on Tuesday for Atlanta via Taipei. The animals will be sent to the Turtle Survival Alliance, which will arrange for them to be distributed among various shelters around the country. The officials said after being notified of the rescue mission through the zoo’s Conservation and Research Center, the carrier agreed to help transport the 600kg cargo for only a nominal fee.
HEALTH
Exercise helps senior stress
More than 80 percent of senior citizens aged over 60 who responded to a recent survey agreed that exercise can help reduce stress and ease depression, according to a poll by the John Tung Foundation. The foundation, which has been dedicated to reducing depression since 2000, said regular exercise is the most effective and cheapest way to fight depression. The foundation conducted the survey between Sept. 1 and Oct. 14, collecting 10,309 valid replies regarding the relationship between mental health and exercise, and another 5,639 samples on the respondents’ mental health. While 83.7 percent of seniors showed strong support for the importance of exercise, a little more than 70 percent said they do up to 30 minutes of exercise three times per week, the survey found. Whereas 26.3 percent said they had not done any exercise for more than three months, 50 percent said they exercised frequently
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift