WEATHER
Tropical storm approaching
Sea and land warnings are expected to be issued tomorrow and Wednesday as Tropical Storm Talim makes its way toward Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Talim, this year’s 18th tropical storm over the Pacific, was yesterday about 2,310km from Taiwan’s southernmost tip, Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and moving west-northwest toward the Bashi Channel at 25km per hour, the bureau said. If it continues on its current path, Talim will likely affect the weather starting on Wednesday and a sea warning could be issued tomorrow, followed by a land warning tomorrow or Wednesday, bureau forecaster Yen Tseng-hsi (顏增璽) said, urging the public to take precautions. Chances are high that the storm could strengthen into a typhoon and its effects on Taiwan would depend on whether it veers north, he said.
ARTS AND CULTURE
Taiwanese VR wins in Venice
A virtual reality (VR) work created by a Taiwanese professor and a US artist has won an award at the 74th Venice Film Festival. La Camera Insabbiata, an installation that allows viewers to lose themselves in a fully interactive and immersive animation journey, was awarded the prize On Saturday for the Best VR Experience. The VR installation was created by Huang Hsin-chien (黃心健), an art professor at National Chengchi University’s College of Communication, and US singer-songwriter Laurie Anderson, according to a statement released yesterday by the university. It was a difficult process for Huang, because his father was in a hospital intensive care unit during the production period and died one day after Huang returned to Taiwan from the US, the university said.
CITIZENSHIP
French priest naturalized
French Catholic priest Father Maurice Poinsot was granted Republic of China citizenship yesterday without having to give up citizenship of his home country and said he would like to be buried in Hualien County’s Yuli Township (玉里), where he has worked for most of his 58 years in Taiwan. Poinsot, 85, was presented with a national identity card, household registration certificate and permanent residency card at a ceremony at Yuli’s Church of Our Lady of Lourdes. Poinsot began missionary work in Yuli when he was 27 years old, Hualien County Government Civil Affairs Department head Hsiao Ming-chia (蕭明甲) said, adding that he had become fluent in local languages, including Mandarin, Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), Hakka and the language of the Amis people, and had assimilated into local society. Poinsot is also the coauthor of an Amis-French dictionary, which has helped other missionaries learn the Amis language and remains an important reference, Hsiao said.
ROADS
Falling rocks injure two
Two people were on Saturday injured by falling rocks as they were driving along Provincial Highway No. 8 in Hualien, the Sincheng Police Precinct said. A 35-year-old Japanese man named Hiroyuki Shirai, who was riding a bicycle, sustained head injuries with heavy bleeding and was rushed to the nearby Hualien Armed Forces General Hospital, police said. A Taiwanese woman was riding a scooter when she was struck by falling rocks near Hualien’s Tunnel of Nine Turns, police said, adding that she sustained minor abrasions to her right shoulder. The bruises were treated on-site and she was later taken to Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital for further checks, police said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost