The 13th Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), sponsored by the Government Information Office, is slated to open tomorrow at the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC).
The annual event will feature a series of exhibitions and discussions that reflect reading activities and trends in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the organizer, the private Taipei Book Fair Foundation.
During the book fair, two major reading trends will be highlighted: "book art" and "digital publishing."
The TIBE 2005 will take place at three different TWTC halls, with Hall I divided into five major sections -- international publishers and their publications; general books; books of special interest; and assorted magazines featuring business, finance, digital content, popular culture and lifestyle.
Hall II will be dedicated to comic books to accommodate domestic and foreign publishers, while Hall III will be devoted to children's books and will include 400 booths displaying works from both Taiwan and abroad, according to the organizer.
Halls I and III will be open only to professional visitors tomorrow and Wednesday, but the public can take part in the activities in Hall II throughout the event and in Halls I and III from Thursday. The show will run until Feb. 20.
Meanwhile, to celebrate the book festival, two major chain bookstore operators in Taiwan -- Eslite and Kingstone -- have already launched "fun reading book fairs" at their 20 branches across the island prior to the TIBE 2005 opening.
Taipei Book Fair Foundation Chairman Rex How said yesterday that the bookstore activities, which began on Feb. 1 and will run until Feb. 28, are not only warm-ups for the exhibition but also an effort to promote the upcoming TIBE at bookstores around the country.
The effort is aimed at boosting a nationwide reading atmosphere, How said, adding that he hopes those who live in townships and villages outside of Taipei City and not able to visit the TIBE 2005 can still feel the book-fair atmosphere and buy books with the same discounts that book-fair visitors will enjoy.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS