■ Education
NTU holds online ceremony
National Taiwan University held an unprecedented online graduation ceremony yesterday following concerns about SARS. University President Chen Wei-chao (陳維昭) said in his opening remarks that the trend-setting online commencement ceremony was a forced choice out of health concerns. "Despite the absence of a traditional-style ceremony, the school faculty and junior students want to offer no less best wishes to all the new graduates through the online ceremony," Chen said in a scaled-down ceremony held at the school's largest conference room which was broadcast on the Internet. The deans of various university colleges and 31 representatives of graduating students were present at the ceremony, which was available online at the university's Web site at http://www.ntu.edu.tw. "I'm hopeful that all the new graduates will never be daunted by any adversities in pursuit of their career or life goals in the future," Chen said.
■ Liberia
Embassy staff safe
With the conflict in Liberia intensifying, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that the staff of the Taiwan embassy in the west African nation is safe and sound and that the US Embassy has agreed to help evacuate Taiwan diplomatic personnel and nationals in an emergency. Associated Press wire reports said that fighting raged Friday in a northern suburb of Monrovia, the capital of civil-war torn Liberia, and that terrified civilians were fleeing by the thousands as rebels took control of refugee camps around the city. The officials said that the ministry has kept in close contact with the Taiwan embassy and learned that the embassy has completed contingency plans. Ambassador Chen Yung-chuo (陳永綽) and his wife, as well as three diplomatic personnel, two Taiwan technical experts, and two Taiwan nationals are all safe and sound, they said.
■ HEalth
US lends hand to fight
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) has sent nearly 20 medical experts to Taiwan since late March to help with the island's battle against SARS. The experts, including in-hospital infection control specialists, virologists, epidemiologists and physicians, have won the respect and admiration of local health care providers with their professional expertise and devotion to their work. Many of them can speak fluent Mandarin Chinese and even the Taiwanese dialect. Their good command of the Chinese language has greatly facilitated their communication with local patients and hospital staff. However, they have generally kept a low profile, probably because of their official capacity. Taiwan and the US do not maintain formal diplomatic relations despite their close substantive ties. CDC Deputy Director Hsu Kuo-hsiung (許國雄) said several of the USCDC staff in Taiwan are ethnic Chinese, some of whom were born here.
■ United States
Foundation donates money
The Taiwanese American Foundation in San Diego, California, on Friday donated US$500,000 to the University of California at Santa Barbara for promoting a program of lectures on the literature, history, sand culture of Taiwan. After accepting the donation, Henry Yang, president of the university, said the program will help promote the university's academic studies on East Asian culture and languages.
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