■Business
SARS measures adopted
A spokesman for the Industrial Development Bureau said yesterday that to help assuage foreign buyers' concern regarding the spread of SARS, a standard disinfection process has been designed and certificates will be issued to local companies that follow the practice. The process and certificate have been designed to help local exporters reduce foreign buyers' concern over Taiwan-made products because of the spread of the potentially deadly disease, the spokesman said. He added that businesses following the standard disinfection process specified by the bureau are entitled to attach a certificate of approval to their products.
■ Culture
Festival opens in Germany
A Taiwanese arts and film festival opened on Sunday in Munich, Germany, displaying arts, documentary films and well-known movies. A reception marking the opening of the 50-day festival was held Saturday evening. Among the dignitaries at the reception were National Palace Museum Director Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) and Taipei Representative Office in Munich Director-General Liu Jiunn-man (趙慶民). The government has sponsored similar festivals in Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Freiburg and Zurich over the past two years. The National Palace Museum plans to exhibit items from its collections from July 18 to Oct. 12 in Berlin and from Nov. 21 to Feb. 15 in Bonn.
■ Culture
Chiang exhibit launched
An exhibition of photos featuring the everyday life of the late president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his wife Soong Mayling (宋美齡) opened at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei on Sunday. Chiang-Fang Chih-yi (蔣方智怡), a granddaughter of the late president, said the special exhibit focuses on the intimate relationship between Chiang and his wife instead of the late president's political career. Also on display are a collection of personal effects of the former Republic of China first couple as well as some historical documents, many of which are on show for the first time. Among the exhibits is a painting featuring the historic meeting of three World War II leaders in Cairo, Egypt in 1943 -- Chiang, US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
■ Health
DOH clarifies SARS name
Department of Health Director General Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday that medical personnel and institutions should only use the term "SARS" when they report cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome and that other terms do not conform to regulations. Fielding questions at a Legislative Yuan's Public Health, Environment and Social Welfare Committee meeting, Chen said that using the term "Chinese pneumonia" to refer to SARS when reporting cases to the department is against the department's regulations. He was responding to questions from the KMT and PFP, who asked if the term "Chinese pneumonia" to describe SARS was accurate and within regulations. Chen said that in private, doctors can refer to the disease according to their personal preferences, but pointed out that they should use the official term when reporting SARS cases.
Agencies
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
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