CHARITY
Sichuan aid helps 1.5m
The nation’s aid to the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China has benefited 1.5 million people, the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China said. Yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of the magnitude 7.9 quake, which struck Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008, killing more than 69,000 people and leaving more than 18,000 missing. Over the past six years, the Red Cross Society has helped build 43 schools, 43 health centers and one rehabilitation center for the disabled in disaster zones in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, assisting 1.5 million residents, including 32,600 students, Red Cross chairwoman Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) said. The charity said it hoped to complete all post-quake reconstruction works by next year.
CULTURE
Super Slippa to host 36 acts
A total of 36 singers and bands will take the stage in Taipei this summer at an annual music festival that opens on July 4. The musicians will take turns performing on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at the Summer Super Slippa, which will be held from July 4 to Aug. 31, organizers B’in Music Co said. Singers Richie Jen (任賢齊), Aboriginal a cappella group The O-Kai Singers, electronic band Lie Gramophone and rock bands Magic Power, My Skin Against Your Skin and Monkey Pilot are among the performers scheduled to take the stage. Every Wednesday, the festival will also feature performances by new artists and bands, B’in Music said. The festival will climax on Aug. 23 with a concert at Taipei Arena by bands Mayday (五月天), Mary See the Future and Hush, singers Crowd Lu (盧廣仲), Lala Hsu (徐佳瑩) and Hong Kong musician Paul Wong (黃貫中). The festival will take place at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park.
CHARITY
Lottos post NT$5.5bn surplus
Public welfare lotteries generated a surplus of NT$5.51 billion (US$182.6 million) in the first quarter of the year, data released by Taiwan Lottery Co showed. That includes a surplus of NT$1.57 billion generated in March alone, said the company, a subsidiary of CTBC Holding Co that has been commissioned to operate the lotteries. The March surplus was distributed to the municipal governments of Taipei, New Taipei City, Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung, to social welfare programs run by other city and county governments, to the National Pension Fund, and to the reserve fund for the national health insurance system. Surpluses generated by public welfare lottery sales are allocated to social welfare programs and the national pension and health systems.
SOCIETY
Boat show attracts 70,000
The four-day Taiwan International Boat Show concluded on Sunday, attracting more than 70,000 visitors and selling 32 yachts worth NT$1 billion, the Greater Kaohsiung Government said. About 26,000 visitors, including 2,500 buyers from China, the US, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, visited the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center on the show’s final day, said Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆), head of the city’s Marine Bureau. Lai expected the show to give a boost to related businesses, including boat manufacturers, yacht hardware makers and boat maintenance providers. He said that a US$1 investment in the yacht industry could create US$10 worth of business opportunities. The Greater Kaohsiung government is working on the creation of an industrial park dedicated to yacht manufacturing and the development of the marine recreation there, Lai said.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
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