ENTERTAINMENT
Music awards set for fall
This year’s Golden Melody Awards ceremony is to be held on Oct. 3 at the soon-to-be inaugurated Taipei Music Center, the Ministry of Culture’s Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development said yesterday. The ceremony, which had been scheduled for this month, was postponed in April due to disease prevention measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The bureau said that it chose the newly constructed venue for the awards because it would provide for exciting ceremony content. The center, which would hold its official opening ceremony on Sept. 5, can hold up to 6,000 people, its Web site shows. The nominees for the 31st Golden Melody Awards are to be announced in the middle of next month, the bureau said.
TRAVEL
Taipei again best destination
Taipei has won the “best leisure destination in Asia” Leisure Lifestyle Award from the US-based Global Traveler magazine for the third consecutive year, the Tourism Bureau’s Los Angeles office said on Friday. Singapore and Seoul were second and third, followed by Tokyo, Phuket in Thailand, Hong Kong and Bangkok. The magazine also ranked Taiwan second in “best adventure destination, international,” and ranked Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport fourth in “best airport for layovers,” behind Miami International Airport, Singapore’s Changi Airport and Doha’s Hamad International Airport. Brad Shih (施照輝), director of the bureau’s Los Angeles office, said the best leisure award represents an important recognition for Taiwan’s tourism industry. The award was determined by a survey conducted from Oct. 1 last year to Jan. 31.
ENTERTAINMENT
Film festival begins
The Taipei Film Festival on Friday began screening a dozen full-length feature films from new and emerging international filmmakers. The annual festival this year accepted 12 films by filmmakers from Taiwan, Brazil, China, Denmark, Japan, Kosovo, Lesotho, Peru, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay for its International New Talent Competition category. It is on Monday to announce the winner of its grand prize and special jury prize, worth NT$600,000 and NT$300,000 respectively. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival would not hold an award ceremony, as international filmmakers would be unable to attend, festival organizers said. This year’s festival, which opened on Thursday, runs until July 11. Screening times and ticket information are available on the Taipei Film Festival’s Web site, taipeiff.taipei.
SCIENCE
Researchers make discovery
A team of Academia Sinica scientists have discovered how phosphatidic acid (PA), a molecule that influences the growth of pollen tubes, is produced in plants, it said on Tuesday. The team, led by associate research fellow Yuki Nakamura, found that PA was produced by the enzymes DGK2 and DGK4, which convert diacylglycerol into PA in pollen grains. Scientists have long known that PA plays an important role in the growth of pollen tubes, which enable fertilization, but how PA forms in plants was not known, the team said. The study was conducted using thale cress, a small flowering plant commonly used in scientific studies. Because DGK2 and DGK4 are also found in rice, wheat and corn, the same mechanism could also exist in those crops, and could help improve scientists’ understanding of crop fertility, the team said. Their research paper on the discovery was published on May 29 in the journal The Plant Cell.
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Friday laid out the Cabinet’s updated policy agenda and recapped the government’s achievements ahead of the one-year anniversary of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration. Cho said the government had made progress across a range of areas, including rebuilding Hualien, cracking down on fraud, improving pedestrian safety and promoting economic growth. “I hope the public will not have the impression that the Cabinet only asked the legislature to reconsider a bunch of legal amendments,” Cho said, calling the moves “necessary” to protect constitutional governance and the public’s interest. The Cabinet would work toward achieving its “1+7” plan, he said. The
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) hosted a dinner in Taipei last night with key Taiwanese suppliers to celebrate the successful mass production of the company’s new Blackwell AI systems. Speaking to the media earlier yesterday, Huang thanked Nvidia’s Taiwanese partners for their contributions to the company’s ecosystem, while also sharing his plans to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀). In response to rumors that Nvidia will launch a downgraded Hopper H20 chip for China in July, Huang dismissed the reports, saying, “That is not true.” He clarified that there
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