■AGRICULTURE
Rice crop going strong
The first crop of rice this year is going strong, as production per hectare is at an all-time high and rice prices have increased by more than 10 percent compared with the same time last year, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday. Because of good weather this year, the average production of rice per hectare of land is 6,855kg, which is more than the production amount in any previous year, the council said, adding that the 1.06 tonne total yield would be enough to supply the nation for the season. The year’s harvest averages NT$20.04 per kilogram, the council said.
■FORESTRY
Bureau backs wildlife films
The Forestry Bureau has launched a program aimed at soliciting applications from people wishing to shoot wildlife films in Taiwan in an effort to present the country’s natural beauty and ecology, bureau officials said on Wednesday. The purpose of the program is to encourage individuals and civic groups to submit applications before Sept. 15 to shoot documentary films on the country’s species and habitats, the officials said. The bureau will provide a maximum of NT$1 million (US$31,850) in subsidies per year to individuals and civic groups.
■EDUCATION
NTNU offers hospitality PhD
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), which in the past cultivated teachers for the nation, is now seeking to develop other educational avenues for students after it established a graduate institute of hospitality yesterday. Sun Yu-hua (孫瑜華), director of the Graduate Institute of Hospitality Management and Education, said the school was the first to run a PhD program in hospitality management.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
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