CULTURE
Vampire exhibit to open
An exhibition featuring artifacts associated with vampire legends is to open tomorrow in Taipei to help the public gain a deeper understanding of the mythical beings. The “Dracula: History and Art of Vampires” exhibition will showcase more than 80 items associated with vampires, including Dracula, the central figure in Bram Stoker’s eponymous 1897 Gothic novel, National Museum of History director Chang Yui-tan (張譽騰) said yesterday. Among the highlighted items are a 16th century portrait of Vlad III Dracula, Spanish painter Francisco Goya’s demonic prints featuring bat-like creatures and Oscar-winning costumes from the 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The original manuscript and first edition of the novel Dracula will also be displayed at the exhibition, according to the museum. The museum has cooperated with an Italian designer to create Dracula’s “home,” Chang said.
SOCIETY
Immigrants bike for children
A group of immigrants and their children will set off tomorrow on a bike ride that will take them on a nearly 1,000km tour around the nation to raise awareness for children suffering from abuse and neglect. The eight immigrants from China, Vietnam and Indonesia will take nine children on the 12-day journey starting from the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, the trip’s organizer, Good Shepherd Social Welfare Services, said yesterday. The group will pedal counter-clockwise around the nation, making stops at four Good Shepherd service centers in Greater Tainan and Taitung and Hualien to visit children there. Supplies ferried by care will also be donated to those centers as part of the event.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese