SOCIETY
Yunlin runs music festival
Yunlin County is to hold its first music festival along its coastline today to celebrate summer and the area’s love of the ocean. The festival, which will feature a family running event, concerts, art performances and a lucky draw, is also aimed at raising environmental awareness, organizers said. Sharing the spotlight at the festival will be a new museum near the venue that opened early this year, Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) said yestereday. She touted the museum as the Taiwanese version of the remote moorland farmhouse named “Wuthering Heights” that serves as the backdrop of the novel of the same name by British writer Emily Bronte. As isolated as Wuthering Heights, the Taiwan Taisi Haikou Life Museum rises up on the seashore in a beautiful panoramic setting, Su said. The museum offers an authentic glimpse of the lifestyles of people living along the coastal area and introduces aquaculture, one of the economic backbones of Yunlin County, she said.
SOCIETY
New Party founder dies
Senior politician Chen Kwei-miew (陳癸淼), who helped found the pro-China New Party in 1993, has died at the age of 81. Chen was surrounded by his family at Cheng Hsin General Hospital when he died. The New Party has extended its condolences to his family members, with party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) commending Chen as a respectable politician. Chen had suffered from kidney and liver disease in his later years. A former lawmaker and acting mayor of what was then Tainan City in the 1990s, Chen helped found the New Party, which broke away from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in opposition to the leadership style of then-KMT chairman and then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
SOCIETY
Tang winner reveals plans
Chinese-American historian Yu Ying-shih (余英時), the first Tang Prize winner in Sinology, promised on Friday to visit Taiwan for the first time in six years in September and attend the Tang Prize award ceremony and related events in person. Yu, a Princeton University professor emeritus, is regarded by many of his peers as the greatest Chinese intellectual historian of his generation. The 84-year-old said he plans to arrive in Taipei on Sept. 13 and will attend the award ceremony on Sept. 18, deliver a speech the following day, and then participate in a forum on Sept. 20. In addition to his academic pursuits, Yu is an outspoken supporter of the democracy movement in China.
ENTERTAINMENT
Carey concert sought
The cancelation of Celine Dion’s Taipei concert in October could reopen the possibility of a performance in the city by Mariah Carey, who was vying for the same venue earlier this month. Amy Ko, a promoter at Yu Kuang Music, said they informed Carey’s team immediately once they found out that Taipei Arena was available again, adding that they have not had any response yet. “If we get a positive response from the pop diva, the most likely date for the concert would be Oct. 30,” Ko said. Carey and Dion had been competing to book Taipei Arena from Oct. 27 to Oct. 30, with the Canadian singer winning the time slot. After losing out in Taipei, Carey’s team planned a concert in Manila on Oct. 28. However, on Aug. 13, Dion announced that she had canceled her Asian tour to look after her 72-year-old husband Rene Angelil, who is battling throat cancer.
A domestically developed “suicide drone,” also known as a loitering munition, would be tested and evaluated in July, and could enter mass production next year, Taiwan’s weapons developer said on Wednesday. The yet-to-be-named drone was among nine drone models unveiled by the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) on Tuesday. The drone has been dubbed the “Taiwanese switchblade” by Chinese-language media, due to its similarity to the US-made AeroVironment Switchblade 300, which has been used by Ukraine in counterattacks during Russia’s invasion. It has a range of more than 10km, a flight time of more than 15 minutes, and an electro-optical
GOOD INFLUENCE: Kwan said his mother tutored him at home for a few years, saying that she had to protect his ‘creativity’ as his writing had suffered Director and coproducer of the Oscar-winning absurdist comedy-drama Everything Everywhere All at Once Daniel Kwan (關家永) on Sunday dedicated the movie to his Taiwanese mother, who he said supported his creativity growing up. “She is someone who sacrificed a lot for her kids,” Kwan, 35, said backstage at the Oscars. The movie, released early last year, received a commanding 11 nominations at the Academy Awards, and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, with whom he also directed the 2016 fantasy film Swiss Army
HYGIENE KEY: The CDC reported two cases of enterovirus 71, which can cause serious complications, and as there have been no recent outbreaks, children are not immune Two cases of enterovirus 71 (EV71) were reported last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that it was a warning sign, as the virus has not been detected for more than a year. Parents are advised to remind their children to practice good hand hygiene, it said. Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉), director of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Center, said that 165,230 people visited a hospital for diarrhea last week, which is a high number. Most of the diarrhea case clusters were caused by norovirus infection, but there were also enterovirus cases, and weekly caseloads are slowly increasing, Guo said. Most of
A bipartisan US congressional delegation arrived in Taiwan yesterday on a two-day visit that is to include meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other senior government officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The delegation comprises Republican US representatives and Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Ken Calvert, Tom Cole, Dave Joyce and Mike Garcia, as well as Democratic US Representative Ed Case, the ministry said in a news release. Upon their arrival at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), the five representatives were welcomed by North American Affairs Department Director-General Douglas Hsu (徐佑典), it said. During their visit, they are to meet
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