WEATHER
New cold front expected
Miaoli in northern Taiwan recorded the lowest temperature of 7.5°C of all low-lying areas in Taiwan proper early yesterday morning as a strong continental cold air mass continued to grip the country, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Data compiled by the agency showed temperatures in most areas in northern and northeastern Taiwan dipped below 10°C early yesterday morning. The cold air mass is likely to weaken today, sending temperatures slightly higher, while brief rain is forecast in eastern Taiwan, the Hangchun Peninsula, as well as the mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan, the CWA said. Another weather front is expected to set in tomorrow as a northeasterly wind system gathers momentum, it said, adding that it is likely to strengthen and affect the nation until Wednesday.
ARTS
Sundance returns to Taipei
The Sundance Film Festival Asia, an expansion of the independent film event in the US, is to be held in Taipei for the second time on Aug. 21 to 25. “2024 marks the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival in the United States,” a statement from the Sundance Institute and G2Go Entertainment said. “The continuation of Sundance Film Festival Asia in Taipei is a further celebration of this marvelous achievement and a commitment to invigorate local artists with outreach and dialogue.” The organizers have begun accepting submissions for a short-film competition for the film festival’s Asia event, which drew more than 250 entries last year, the statement said. Submissions are open until May 31, and the winner is to be announced at the opening event of the film festival and receive a NT$50,000 cash prize, it said.
CRIME
Woman arrested over drugs
A section assistant in the Taipei Department of Social Welfare who on Wednesday was allegedly found with more than 20g of cannabis has denied dealing the drug after her arrest by local police, sources said. Police from the Daan Precinct (大安) said they began investigating the city government employee, surnamed Liu (劉), after a man caught with cannabis during a roadside stop in January said he had bought drugs from her. Liu was arrested along with her boyfriend, surnamed Chou (周), following a series of searches and raids on Wednesday, during which police seized “dozens of grams of cannabis” as well as drug paraphernalia. Liu and Chou denied selling drugs, saying that the seized cannabis was for personal use only, a source familiar with the matter said. The pair were transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and are currently being investigated for narcotics offenses.
ARTS
Biennale includes Idas Losin
Taiwanese oil painter Idas Losin is to be the second indigenous artist from Taiwan to participate in the Biennale of Sydney, titled “Ten Thousand Suns,” which runs from yesterday to June 10. The 48-year-old artist from the Truku and Atayal communities in Hualien County follows in the footsteps of Aluaiy Kaumakan (武玉玲), who attended the previous edition of the Australian event — one of the three biggest international art biennials in the world. Idas Losin’s murals are to be exhibited at the entrance of the University of New South Wales Galleries at the biennial, for which she reorganized three pieces related to Easter Island to represent the Moai statues and Rongorongo, a unique kind of hieroglyph. The other Taiwanese participant in the event is Li Jiun-yang (李俊陽).
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS