TRAVEL
Plane has wheel missing
A Scoot Airlines flight that departed from Seoul was found to have one of its nose wheels missing upon arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport early yesterday, forcing the budget airline to postpone the next leg of the aircraft’s journey to Singapore. Flight TR897, which normally connects Seoul, Taipei and Singapore on a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, arrived in Taoyuan from Incheon International Airport at 12:02am with more than 300 passengers on board. The flight was scheduled to depart for Singapore at 1:30am, but an information screen instead showed a “delayed” message next to the flight number. Scoot Airlines Taiwan general manager Victor Lee (李育修) said the airline dispatched another airplane to Taiwan, adding that more information would be available later. It was unclear where the missing wheel fell. Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kuo-tsai (王國材) said the Civil Aeronautics Administration and other authorities would investigate the incident.
CULTURE
Show’s new season to begin
The sixth season of the documentary Taiwan Revealed, a collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Discovery Channel, is to have its world premiere in Taiwan at 10pm on Thursday, the ministry said in a press release yesterday. It would be broadcast in nearly 20 countries and regions, including Southeast and South Asia, starting next month, the ministry said. The documentary focuses on the field of smart machinery that is part of the government’s “five plus two” innovative industries plan, it said. Taiwan’s outstanding achievements in electric vehicles, industrial robots and smart factories are presented in the documentary, it said. Viewers can learn about the nation’s progress from precision machinery to smart machinery, which made Taiwan a global center for the research, development and manufacture of key components of high-end equipment, it added. The ministry begun its cooperation with the Discovery Channel in 2011, launching five documentaries on humanities, ecology, medical care, technology and agriculture in Taiwan. By introducing Taiwan’s core values and soft power, the series can help promote the nation’s positive image and enhance its international visibility, it said.
CULTURE
Hamaguchi to visit Taiwan
Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi is to visit Taiwan next month, which would be his first trip to the nation after winning an Academy Award last year for his movie Drive My Car. Hamaguchi would attend the opening of a large-scale retrospective celebrating late Taiwanese director Edward Yang (楊德昌), the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute said. The retrospective, which is to start on July 22, features Yang’s complete works at the institute and an exhibition documenting his creative process at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Hamaguchi would also take part in a talk at the museum on July 23 to share his personal views on Yang’s works, it said. The institute would hold special screenings dedicated to Hamaguchi from July 19 to 22 at its base in New Taipei City. Hamaguchi is to take part in brief question-and-answer sessions following the showing of Passion on July 19 and Drive My Car on July 20, and give a talk after the screening of Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy on July 22, the institute added.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
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