■ SOCIETY
Film festival scheduled
The second Murder by Numbers Film Festival organized by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty will be held in Taipei and Kaohsiung this month. "It's easy to support the death penalty because we never get to see the whole process," the alliance said in a press release yesterday. "Besides the criminal, the prosecutor, the judge, and the executioner, we're all part of the death penalty process -- though we try to close our eyes on it," the alliance said. Through showing nine movies by directors who are long-term activists on the death penalty issue, the alliance hopes to show viewers the full scope of the death penalty, and have the audience rethink what the "death penalty" is. Tickets will be distributed free of charge 30 minutes before each film begins. For details, visit taedp-film.blogspot.com.
■ CULTURE
Tibetan films to be shown
The Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission is sponsoring a film festival this month and the first weekend next month to "present Tibetan history, culture, arts, religion, people and human rights conditions." Five documentaries and two dramas will be shown during the festival and discussion sessions will follow each film. The films will be shown in Taipei, Hsinchu, Yilan, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. Entry is free of charge, but registration is required. More details on the festival can be found on www.tibet.url.tw.
■ ENTERTAINMENT
Pop show set for Wednesday
The 2007 Taipei Dadaocheng Fireworks and Music Festival will kick off at 7pm on Wednesday, Double Ten National Day. The Taipei City Government is inviting city residents to enjoy pop music and a 30-minute firework show at Dadaocheng (大稻埕). The event was pushed back from Aug. 19 because of Typhoon Sepat. The city government said the festival would not be influenced by Typhoon Krosa. Taipei's Department of Information said the city government will join forces with the Taipei County Government -- which is holding its own fireworks show in Sanchong (三重) -- to set off 20,000 firecrackers. The fireworks will be set off from 8pm to 8:30pm between Floodgates 3 and 5 of Danshui River, the information department said.The festival will feature pop stars, including Nan Quan Mama and participants of the "One Million Star" competition. People going to the festival are urged to use public transportation to minimize traffic congestion. Transfer bus routes and traffic control measures may be instituted.
■ SOCIETY
Toy bells to be checked
The Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection will step up safety checks on a brand of Chinese-made toy handbells for children after US retailing giant Target announced a voluntary recall of 80,000 of the toys over to safety concerns, a bureau spokesman said yesterday. A statement issued by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on Tuesday said that a Taichung-based company is in charge of distributing the toys, which are shaped like baseballs, soccer balls and basketballs. The statement indicated that although no injuries related to the toys have been reported so far, they contain small parts that can cause choking or suffocation if young children try to swallow them. Over the next six months, the bureau will conduct inspections on the toys on a batch-by-batch basis to prevent them from reaching the local market, the spokesman said, adding that all toys, whether domestically made or imported, are required to pass inspections before entering the market.
■ EDUCATION
NUTN to become `complete'
The National University of Tainan (NUTN) is expected to become the first complete learning institution in Taiwan in 2009 when it begins to accept junior high school students, the university's president said yesterday. NUTN, established 109 years ago as a normal college during the Japanese colonial era, now operates a number of graduate institutes, colleges, a senior high school, an elementary school, a kindergarten and classes for supplementary education, receiving students aged from two-and-a-half years to adults. When the university begins to accept junior high school students, a student could receive his or her entire education and continue throughout his or her life without having to change schools, university president Huang Hsiu-shuang (黃秀霜) said.
■ POLITICS
Taisugar chair eyes seat
Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲), chairman of the state-owned enterprise Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar), said on Wednesday that he had tendered his resignation two weeks ago to Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) so that he could concentrate on his campaign for a legislative seat. Yu, told reporters that he was now on leave, waiting for his successor to take over the chairmanship. He said that with the election only 100 days away, he has to devote himself full-time to the election campaign and let voters in his constituency, Kangshan Township (岡山) in Kaohsiung County, come to understand the new "single-member constituency, two-vote" system through vigorous publicity. Yu, 48, was legislator from 1987 to 1993 and served as minister of the interior from 2002 to 2004. He resigned in April 2004.
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
WARNING: Domestic coffee producers mainly grow arabica beans, as they self-pollinate, but they are more likely to have consistency issues, an expert said Taiwan ranks third in coffee consumption per capita in Asia, the latest Ministry of Agriculture data showed. Taiwanese consume 1.77kg, or 177 cups of coffee, per person each year, less only than Japan and South Korea, at 600 cups and 400 cups respectively, the ministry’s Tea and Beverage Research Station said. Although the nation mainly relies on imported coffee, there has been an increase in home-grown coffee bean production, the ministry said. Cuttings and other techniques are commonly used to ensure domestic beans have stronger floral and fruity flavors, it said. It is a fast-expanding market with Taiwan’s coffee consumption
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