COMPETITIONS
Students win gold, silver
Taiwanese students won four gold medals and one silver at the International Physics Olympiad, an annual competition for secondary school students that concluded yesterday in Mumbai, India. The medal haul put them in third place overall in the event, behind China and South Korea. The students are eligible for university admission and are to be awarded NT$200,000 and NT$100,000 in prize money for the gold and silver medals respectively, according to Ministry of Education rules. The gold medal winners are Lin Yu-chia (林昱嘉) from National Taichung First Senior High School; Tsao Yi-lin (曹以琳) and Tsai Pei-kai (蔡沛愷) from Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School; and Cheng Chung-yao (鄭仲堯) from Kaohsiung Municipal Kaohsiung Senior High School, while the silver medal winner was Yang Chih-hsiang (楊智翔) from Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School.
COMPETITIONS
Choir wins two gold medals
A choir of more than 30 Aboriginal students and teachers from Hsinchu County has won two gold medals and one silver medal at the European Choir Games in Germany that concluded yesterday. Hngyang Na Atayal earned gold in category four — Chamber Choirs/Vocal Ensembles — in the Open Competition, which is for amateur choirs from all nations with little or no competition experience. The Taiwanese choir won another gold in the Open Competition’s category 10 — Folklore — with three songs. Due to their outstanding performance in the Open Competition, Hngyang Na Atayal qualified directly for the Grand Prix of Nations, a competition of top choirs from all over the world with international competition experience. The Taiwanese choir finished with a silver medal in the category GP6 — Folklore — at the Grand Prix of Nations.
EMPLOYMENT
Public servant numbers fall
There were about 906,000 workers in the public sector last year, accounting for 3.87 percent of the nation’s population, which totaled 23.43 million last year, according to statistics released by the Examination Yuan yesterday. The number was down 2,486 compared with 2013, the tallies showed. The data also indicated that the public sector accounted for 7.82 percent of the workforce last year and 8.13 percent of employed people. Among public workers, 347,000 were public servants working in government units, who were employed based on quotas regulated in the organizational rules of the units. About 558,000 were employees at other public agencies, such as state-run enterprises, according to the Examination Yuan.
EDUCATION
Volunteers to teach English
Nearly 150 volunteer teachers from abroad and Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) attended a promotional event yesterday ahead of the opening of four English summer camps to be held in the county. The head of the Overseas Community Affairs Council’s department of overseas chinese student counseling, Chen Shih-chih (陳世池), said eight students from Truman State University in Missouri are to facilitate one camp in 15 elementary schools, while 30 ethnic Chinese volunteers from Canada, the UK and the US are to host a two-week camp at four elementary schools. A local non-profit organization is to lead 110 volunteers in a camp to be attended by 12,000 students from 30 schools, while 17 local volunteers are to facilitate a camp for students from disadvantaged families at two elementary schools.
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
The Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau audited six hotels in an effort to prevent price gouging ahead of Korean band BTS’ concert tour in the city scheduled for Nov. 19, 21 and 22 this year. The bureau on Friday said that the audits — conducted in response to allegations of unfair pricing posted on social media — found no wrongdoing. These establishments included the local branches of Chateau de Chine, Hotel Nikko, My Humble House, and Grand Hai Lai, it said, adding that the Consumer Protection Commission would have penalized price gougers had the accusations been substantiated. The bureau said the Tourism Development Act
BACK TO WINTER: A strong continental cold air mass would move south on Tuesday next week, bringing colder temperatures to northern and central Taiwan A tropical depression east of the Philippines could soon be upgraded to be the first tropical storm of this year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the next cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Monday next week. CWA forecaster Cheng Jie-ren (鄭傑仁) said the first tropical depression of this year is over waters east of the Philippines, about 1,867km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and could strengthen into Tropical Storm Nokaen by early today. The system is moving slowly from northwest to north, and is expected to remain east of the Philippines with little chance of affecting Taiwan,
The military yesterday said it has located the flight data recorder, or black box, of an F-16V jet that disappeared off eastern Taiwan earlier this month, and it would soon deploy a salvage team to try to retrieve it. Air Force Command Headquarters said that while it had pinned down the location of the black box, it was still searching for the aircraft’s sole pilot, air force Captain Hsin Po-yi (辛柏毅). Without providing details, the air force said it had located the black box days after detecting some intermittent signals and would now engage a team of professionals to retrieve it. The air
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