■ TRANSPORTATION
KRTC holds photo contest
The Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) launched a “Dome of Light” photography competition at the mass-rapid transit (MRT) system’s Formosa Boulevard Station yesterday, offering a top prize of NT$50,000 in cash. Photography enthusiasts and members of photo clubs poured into the station on the first day of the two-day competition to try to get the best shot of the “Dome of Light,” the largest single glass artistic production in the world, which was designed by Italian artist Narcissus Quagliata. The KRTC is holding the competition as part of efforts to promote the upcoming launch of the Kaohsiung MRT’s Orange Line scheduled for late next month. The Formosa Boulevard Station will connect the Red Line with the new line. The first day of the competition also included a screening of a film explaining Quagliata’s glass art creation. Contestants can send their photograph entries along with a 200-word essay about their photo to the Dimension Endowment of Art between Monday and Aug. 1, the KRTC said.
■ CONTEST
Seeking outstanding youth
The Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office yesterday invited all Republic of China (ROC) passport holders between the ages 20 and 40 to compete in the 46th Annual Top Ten Outstanding Youth of the Year competition. All ROC passport holders, regardless of place of residence, who were born between Aug. 1, 1968, and Dec. 31, 1987, are eligible for nomination. Applicants must have their letters of reference postmarked by Aug. 15 sent to Junior Chamber International Taiwan. The letter must be accompanied by six 5cm pictures of the candidate taken within the past six months, a copy of his or her ROC national identity card or passport, and 16 copies of the recommendation letter. More information is available at www.taiwanjc.org.tw.
■ SOCIETY
Birth rate slightly down
A total of 95,789 births were recorded in Taiwan during the first half of this year, 1.1 percent fewer than during the same period last year, the Ministry of the Interior said in a report released on Friday. The number translates into a birth rate of 4.17 childbirths per 1,000 people during the first six months or 8.38 childbirths per 1,000 people annually, the report said. The annual crude birth rate marked a drop of 0.54 points compared with last year, when there were 8.92 births per 1,000 people, indicating a slow decline in the birth rate, the report said. Of the babies born during the first half of this year, 50,243 were boys and 45,546 were girls, representing a sex ratio of 110.31 boys for every 100 girls. About 90 percent of the babies were born to Taiwanese mothers, 5 percent to mothers from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, and 4.8 percent to mothers of other nationalities.
■ DIPLOMACY
Gonsalves arrives on visit
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves is expected to arrive in Taiwan today. He will be accompanied by his wife and an eight-member delegation, which is scheduled to meet President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Gonsalves will also tour various cultural and economic sites to gain a better understanding of the nation’s development. This will mark Gonsalves’ sixth visit to Taiwan as prime minister. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines established diplomatic relations with the Republic of China in August 1981. It has supported Taiwan’s bid to join various international organizations.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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