SOCIETY
Award’s selection starts
The selection process for the ninth President’s Cultural Awards began yesterday and is to run through July 15, the organizer said. This year’s awards are divided into five categories — cultural endeavor, humanitarian contribution, youth creativity, Aboriginal hope and social reform, the General Association of Chinese Culture said. The trophies were designed by renowned album cover designer and four-time Grammy Award nominee Xiao Qing-yang (蕭青陽), the association said. The winners — to be announced in October — are to receive their awards from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in a ceremony held the following month, it said. Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said the purpose of the awards is to highlight Taiwanese values. He expressed the hope that the new arrangements this year, including the award categories and trophy design, would give the awards a fresh look.
AIRLINES
CAL opens A350 US route
China Airlines (CAL) on Sunday used an Airbus A350 on a route to North America for the first time, flying the aircraft between Taipei and San Francisco. Since the first of 14 A350s it had ordered was delivered in October last year, CAL has been using the aircraft exclusively for long-haul European routes to Amsterdam, Vienna and Rome. Three more were delivered at the end of last year. A total of nine flights between Taipei and San Francisco are to be offered per week, with another two flights added to the route from June 28, the airline said in a statement. CAL said it also plans to begin flying the A350 between Taipei and Vancouver in August. The remaining 10 A350s are scheduled to be delivered by the end of the year.
SOCIETY
Julie Kuo bids for Miss USA
Julie Kuo (郭瑞筠) became the first woman of Taiwanese descent to compete in the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas on Sunday, although she failed to progress to the final five. Kuo was born in Tainan and emigrated to Hawaii with her family when she was 10. The 23-year-old plays the violin and won the Miss Hawaii title in November last year. Before taking part in the pageant, she expressed hope that the world could see Taiwan through her appearance in the pageant. Miss District of Columbia Kara McCullough, 25, won this year’s Miss USA.
INTERNET
Asian Silicon Valley touted
Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said at a forum to promote the Internet of Things (IoT)-focused Asian Silicon Valley initiative said that the plan is integral to the nation’s future economic development. The forum in Taoyuan was attended by more than 200 people, including officials responsible for making policies in the sector, representatives of the IoT industry and investors. Chen said that because the initiative contains several major elements that would integrate the nation’s strength in hardware and software and promote innovation, it would play a key role in promoting economic development. Access to capital is always a crucial factor in determining whether start-ups succeed or fail, Chen said. The National Development Fund would provide financial support through its start-up angel fund project and small business innovation program to help develop innovative enterprises, Chen said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
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