ENTERTAINMENT
Pixar concert set for Taipei
A concert in Taipei next month featuring music and imagery from Pixar films will present an audio-visual feast, event organizers said. Taiwan’s Evergreen Symphony Orchestra will perform songs and music scores from 13 Pixar films, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars, Up, The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc, Management of New Arts said, adding that scenes from the films will be shown in sync with the music on a large screen. “Pixar in Concert,” to be conducted by Nicholas Buc from Australia, will take place at the National Concert Hall on Sept. 28. The concert premiered in the US in July last year and a similar concert was held at the Tainan Arts Festival in April.
WEATHER
Storm could bring showers
A tropical storm that formed over the Philippines yesterday could bring showers to Taiwan this week as it moves toward the Bashi Channel, the Central Weather Bureau said. As of 8am, Tropical Storm Utor was centered 1,400km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) on the southernmost tip of Taiwan, moving west-northwest at 18kph, the weather bureau said. It was packing sustained winds of 83kph, with gusts reaching 108kph. Utor could be closest to Taiwan between tomorrow and Tuesday, bringing rains to the south and east of the nation, forecasters said. The rainy weather could cause temperatures nationwide to drop significantly beginning on Wednesday, the bureau said. Taiwan has been experiencing scorching weather over the past week because of a high pressure system. Taipei saw a record-high temperature of 39.3oC on Thursday.
RABIES
Rabies cases rise to 76
Tests have confirmed rabies in 13 more Formosan ferret-badgers, bringing the number of confirmed infections in wild animals to 76 since the deadly disease resurfaced in Taiwan last month, authorities said yesterday. The newly discovered infections come from Taichung and Nantou County in the center of the country; Yunlin and Chiayi counties, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung in the south; and Taitung County in the east, the Central Epidemic Command Center for Rabies said. Aside from one Asian house shrew, the rest of the 75 confirmed cases have all been wild Formosan ferret-badgers, the center said. A total of 224 wild carnivorous animals had been tested for the disease as of Friday. The outbreak has been found across 38 districts of eight counties and cities in central, southern and eastern parts of the nation. To date, there have been no confirmed human cases of the disease, which is nearly always fatal after symptoms first appear.
NATIONAL DEFENSE
General named vice minister
Army General Yen Teh-fa (嚴德發), an executive deputy chief of the General Staff, has been named Vice Minister of National Defense for Armaments, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND). A graduate of the Military Academy’s 1975 class, Yen later attended the National Defense University’s War College and served as chief of staff and deputy commander of the army. Yen took over the post vacated by Admiral Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻), who assumed office as chief of general staff on Thursday as part of a reshuffle of senior defense officials triggered by the resignation of former minister of national defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) on Aug. 1. Kao’s successor, former deputy minister of national defense Andrew Yang (楊念祖), resigned after only six days on the job and was replaced by former chief of general staff Yen Ming (嚴明).
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
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