Culture: Chen pays tribute to condutor
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) paid tribute yesterday to Henry Mazer, the musical director-general and conductor of the Taipei Sinfonietta & Philharmonic Orchestra (TSPO), who died Aug. 1 at the age of 85. Chen praised Mazer for his lifelong achievements and his great contributions to music in Taiwan. In 1981, having made a name for himself with his work in the US, Mazer came to Taiwan and devoted himself to the development of local orchestras. After the establishment of the TSPO, he led the orchestra in performance tours of Europe and the US to great acclaim, Chen said. A memorial service for Mazer will take place this morning at the Grace Baptist Church in Taipei.
Weather: CWB watching new typhoon
The year's 15th typhoon formed at 8am yesterday about 3,000km away from Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said. Bureau meteorologists said that it is too early to tell whether Typhoon Rusa will affect Taiwan, adding that they will have a clearer picture after Aug. 28. Rusa is currently located near Wake Island, moving west at a speed of 10-15kph, according to the meteorologists. They said the typhoon's structure is strong, so the bureau will keep an eye on its development.
Legal system: Death changed to life term
The Taiwan High Court yesterday reduced convicted murderer Chen Hsin-chung's (陳新中) death sentence to life imprisonment. The court found that Chen had attempted to rape a female classmate, also surnamed Chen, at her Keelung apartment last year. However, he was unable to carry out the rape because he was too nervous and when the woman laughed at him, he killed her. The Keelung District Court sentenced Chen to death for the murder. According to the Taiwan High Court's verdict, Chen and his victim's family have agreed upon a NT$3 million compensation payment. Given the compensation offer and Chen's remorse and apologies since his arrest, the high court decided to remove him from death row but keep him behind bars for life.
Cross-strait Ties: MAC helps Chinese publish
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) will continue to provide financial support for publication in Taiwan of academic writing and compilations from China, MAC Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said yesterday. The council's Chinese Development Foundation receives applications from Chinese citizens for financial support to allow Chinese scholars and academics to be published here. The program, according to Chen, is aimed at championing Chinese culture, facilitating bilateral exchanges across the Taiwan Strait and encouraging Chinese intellectuals to have more of their books published.
Diplomacy: DPP official goes to Japan
DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) will head for Tokyo today for a six-day visit. Chatting with journalists yesterday at the DPP headquarters in Taipei, Chang said he will give a speech at a symposium in Tokyo on the prospects of Taiwan's ties with China and call on leaders of Japanese political parties during his trip. He will also meet with overseas Chinese in Tokyo and give interviews to the Sankei Shimbun and the Mainich Shimbum, two mass circulation newspapers in Japan, Chang said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
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