MEDIA
Publisher scoops awards
The CommonWealth Magazine Group was the biggest winner at this year’s Golden Tripod Awards for Publications, capturing six awards in five of the 22 categories. Now in its 39th year, the awards are the most prestigious in the nation’s publishing industry. More than 1,400 entries were submitted this year, the Ministry of Culture said. The CommonWealth group won the top prizes for best digital innovation, best financial magazine, best education and learning magazine, and best photography. It also shared the top spots in the best children’s and young adult book categories. INK Literary Monthly and its publishing company were also successful, with four awards — best arts and humanities magazine, best columns and commentary, and two best literature book awards.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Fair showcases NZ produce
A two-day food festival promoting New Zealand produce, such as dairy products and wine, opened yesterday with the aim of connecting local buyers and sellers. The first of its kind, the festival is hosting 20 local food importers touting New Zealand food as natural, premium and contamination-free at a time when food safety has become a huge concern for Taiwanese in wake of several scandals. New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei Director Si’alei van Toor said a bilateral economic agreement in 2013 has created even more opportunities for her nation to introduce its food. Since both sides signed the agreement between New Zealand and the separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation, tariffs on most of New Zealand’s exports to Taiwan have been reduced or eliminated, “giving New Zealand products a preferential price point,” she 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