SOCIETY
Lesbian magazine launched
The nation’s first lesbian magazine hit bookshelves on Saturday as part of the minority group’s efforts to increase its profile. The quarterly magazine LEZS features topics that range from fashion trends to gender issues in the field of art. “We are tired of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ tradition in our society,” editor-in-chief Wang An-I (王安頤) said, adding that the launch of the magazine marked the beginning of a revolution. The publication will not only discuss gender issues in Taiwan, but will also help gay Taiwanese women connect with overseas lesbian communities, especially those in China and Japan, she said. A local non-governmental organization that promotes gender equality welcomed the publication, saying that it was an indication of greater multiculturalism in Taiwan.
EDUCATION
Inventions win Taiwan gold
Taiwan won the top award — the Archimedes gold medal — at this year’s XIV Moscow International Salon of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, which ended on Friday. Taiwanese exhibits also received the best foreign invention award, two special awards from the Ukraine Academy of Sciences and a Warsaw invention association prize, as well as 17 gold, 20 silver and nine bronze medals at the awards ceremony. Among the outstanding products from Taiwan was a thermometer without batteries developed by Measure Technology Co, as well as a new packaging material by Eze-light Co that is biodegradable. Other eye-catchers from Taiwan were changeable heels for high-heeled shoes by Chung Hwa University and a warning device for risky bridges by Kung-Tueng Technical Senior High School. This year’s exhibition, held at EcoCentre Sokolniki, featured more than 1,000 products from 17 countries.
CULTURE
Late artist celebrated
Taiwanese artist Yuan De-hsing (袁德星), better known by his pen name Chu Ko (楚戈), was celebrated at a ceremony in Taipei on Saturday as a legendary figure whose passion for life and creation inspired many others. “One of the most unforgettable characteristics of Chu Ko was his unparalleled determination to keep writing and painting throughout his 30-year battle with cancer,” President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said at the ceremony after giving a presidential citation to Chu Ko’s family in honor of the artist. Ma said he was saddened by Chu Ko’s death last month, but he later recalled the artist’s smiling optimism. Chu was young at heart and passionate about life, Ma said. At the gathering, several poets read poems written by Chu Ko and a short video clip of the artist was shown. Chu Ko was a writer, poet, art critic, painter and academic whose work was exhibited both at home and abroad. He died in hospital last month at the age of 79.
SOCIETY
Expo visitors increase
The number of visitors to the Taipei International Flora Expo is expected to reach 8 million by the middle of this month, the Taipei City Government said yesterday. The forecast came as more than 50,000 visitors swarmed the expo earlier in the day, raising the possibility of a new single-day visitor record, expo spokeswoman Ma Chien-hui (馬千惠) said. The biggest single-day figure so far has been 150,666 visitors on Feb. 27. The city government is anticipating that the crowds will grow because the expo is scheduled to close in 15 days, Ma 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