TOURISM
Jinning to host festival
Kinmen County’s annual Oyster and Wheat Festival is to take place in Jinning Township (金寧) on Saturday and Sunday next week to promote locally grown produce. The two-day event is to include a specialties and food fair featuring locally harvested oysters and wheat. An oyster shucking competition is to begin at 2pm on Saturday. Those interested in participating must sign up with the township office in advance. That same day, there is to be a concert featuring singers and bands, such as rap group Nine One One. Another oyster shucking event is to take place at 3:30pm on Sunday, which is also to have live music performances.
CRIME
Electronics given to DHS
The Upper Darby Police Department in Pennsylvania has handed over the computer, iPad and smartphone of a Taiwanese student arrested for threatening to shoot up his high school to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for further analysis, a spokesman said on Tuesday. Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood told local news station NBC10 that the DHS would be able to determine whether Sun An-tso’s (孫安佐) “threats to carry out a shooting at Bonner and Prendergast Catholic High School in Drexel Hill expand beyond local boundaries.” One question that a huge cache of ammunition, as well as a handmade gun and other weapons, seized by police raised is whether Sun was acting alone. “Is this a lone wolf or is he associated with somebody else?” Chitwood said, adding that police would have a better idea once they get everything in place.
SPORTS
School league continues
The second round of the Cross-Strait Student Baseball League yesterday opened in Beijing, featuring 20 teams from universities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The three-day second round is being held at Fengtai Baseball Field and is also to feature games for elementary, middle and high-school teams. The teams were decided based on preliminary qualifiers that took place in Taiwan and China to determine the nine Taiwanese and 11 Chinese teams. The second round is to continue in Taichung in July, with the finals taking place at the end of the year, set tentatively in Shenzhen, China. The Taiwanese teams are from schools such as National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, the Chinese Culture University and Shih Hsin University, while the Chinese teams include those from Tianjin University of Sport, Peking University, Beijing Normal University and Chengdu Sport University.
WEATHER
Front to lower temperatures
Temperatures in northern and central Taiwan are forecast to plunge to 14°C tomorrow with the arrival of a cold front and a continental cold air mass, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. While the nation is to enjoy highs in the 30s on the first two days of the five-day Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, CWB forecaster Yen Tseng-hsi (顏增璽) said that temperatures would drop by 15°C in northern and central Taiwan tomorrow. The low temperatures are to continue until Sunday, Yen said. Today’s daytime highs are forecast to reach 30°C to 31°C, similar to that of yesterday. There is also a chance of fog in western Taiwan, Yen added, which could affect travel plans for people returning to the nation after the holiday.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all