■MUSIC
Top folk choir to perform
The world’s No. 1 folklore choir, Kearsney College Choir of South Africa, is to perform in Taiwan this week on its “Absolutely African” concert tour, organizers Skybridge Folk Arts Troupe said yesterday. The group of 58 males will present a program comprising musical genres that range from contemporary, folklore and religious songs to popular music by The Killer, ABBA, and Queen. The repertoire will include traditional Zulu songs, an anti-apartheid protest song called Weeping, and a Taiwanese and Japanese song. The choir is currently in the 17th spot in the Musica Mundi World Rankings and is the leading folklore choir among more than 3,500 such groups around the world. The choir will perform in Taichung tomorrow and in Taipei on Friday. After its performances in Taiwan, the group is scheduled to go to Japan and then to China to compete in the sixth annual World Choir Games.
■CULTURE
Yingge hosts art exhibition
A biennial exhibition featuring 43 artists from 17 countries will open this year’s International Ceramics Festival in Taipei County’s Yingge Township (鶯歌) tomorrow, the county’s Cultural Affairs Bureau said yesterday. The Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum exhibition will feature a total of 105 works, said bureau director Ching Min-liang (卿敏良). The curator of the exhibition, entitled Korero is Moyra Elliott from New Zealand, who the museum selected from 64 candidates. She said that korero means “to speak” in Maori and that she hopes viewers will have lively “conversations” with the ceramic pieces on display. People are also invited to participate and learn to make ceramics along with other activities, Ching said. The exhibition will run through the end of October.
■CRIME
Female detention opens
The government will officially open the first detention center exclusively for women tomorrow to provide a better environment for female detainees. The women’s detention center is part of a Ministry of Justice plan to improve conditions for detained women that was announced by then-minister of justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) in March. The center will be set up by transforming the current Shihlin Detention Center and will house detainees from northern Taiwanese areas including Taipei, Keelung and Taoyuan.
■HEALTH
Girls offered vaccine
Teenage girls living in remote mountainous or in low-income households will be offered free cervical cancer vaccinations from the second half of this year, a Department of Health (DOH) official said yesterday. Bureau of Health Promotion Deputy Director Chao Kun-yu (趙坤郁) said the government will earmark NT$42.16 million (US$1.27 million) to purchase the human papilliomavirus vaccine (HPV vaccine) for cervical cancer prevention, of which NT$33.6 million will be used to subsidize vaccinations for teenage girls from remote areas, and NT$8.5 million will be spent on those from low-income families. Although Taiwan has been promoting cervical smear tests for years, few women from remote areas actually have the tests, Chou said, adding that the government therefore decided to take a suggestion from the WHO and carry out a vaccination program with priority given to those from disadvantaged groups.
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
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
NINTH MONTH: There were 11,792 births in Taiwan last month and 15,563 deaths, or a mortality rate of 8.11 per 1,000 people, household registration data showed Taiwan’s population was 23,404,138 as of last month, down 2,470 from August, the ninth consecutive month this year that the nation has reported a drop, the Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday. The population last month was 162 fewer than the same month last year, a decline of 0.44 per day, the ministry said, citing household registration data. Taiwan reported 11,792 births last month, or 3.7 births per day, up 149 from August, it said, adding that the monthly birthrate was 6.15 per 1,000 people. The jurisdictions with the highest birthrates were Yunlin County at 14.62 per 1,000 people, Penghu County (8.61
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