NATIONAL DEFENSE
US Navy plane in flyby
A US Navy signals reconnaissance aircraft early yesterday flew within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) in Pingtung County, the Twitter-based military news outlet Aircraft Spots reported. The plane reportedly took off from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, at 11:50pm on Saturday and flew over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan. Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Shih Shun-wen (史順文) said that the military was “fully aware of all sea and air activities around the nation.” The flyby is the second time a US military aircraft has approached the nation’s airspace in the past week. A US Navy Boeing P-8A on Tuesday shadowed the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, before passing through the Taiwan Strait and landing on Okinawa, the Web-based military news outlet Alert said.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Twin-city forum date set
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that the annual Taipei-Shanghai forum is to be held in Shanghai on Thursday next week, and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was expected to attend. Ko is to depart for China the day before and return on Friday next week, the city government said, adding that this year’s forum is to focus on economic, trade, innovation and industrial exchanges.
ENTERTAINMENT
Golden Mask for VR series
The first episode of the animated virtual reality (VR) series Gloomy Eyes (咕魯米的眼睛) on Saturday won the Masque d’Or (Golden Mask) Grand Prize at the NewImages Festival Awards in Paris, France. It was the latest in a string of international awards the three-part series, produced by HTC Vive in collaboration with several international firms, has won since the first episode premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The nine-minute episode, narrated by Irish actor Colin Farrell, was commended by the four-member NewImages Festival jury for its groundbreaking storytelling and immersive perspective. Gloomy Eyes depicts a zombie struggling to find his place in a world fractured by conflict between zombies and humans.
AGRICULTURE
Chickens culled over H5N2
About 27,960 chickens on a Changhua County farm have been culled after the farm was confirmed to be infected with the H5N2 avian influenza virus, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said on Saturday. Samples taken last week from the free-range poultry farm in Fangyuan Township (芳苑) were confirmed to be infected with the virus subtype, the bureau said in a statement. Disinfection and bird flu surveillance and monitoring procedures are being carried out at nearby poultry farms, it added. Poultry farmers are urged to maintain proper ventilation in their facilities and to prevent their birds from coming in contact with wild birds to avoid an escalation of avian flu, the bureau said. Council of Agriculture data showed 26 poultry farms nationwide have had outbreaks of avian flu this year, resulting in the culling of 368,627 birds.
SPORTS
Lin signs with MLB team
Catcher Lyle Lin (林家正) on Saturday signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, becoming the first Taiwanese player to join a Major League Baseball (MLB) team via the annual draft. Lin, 21, a junior at Arizona State University, said in a Facebook post that the deal was signed at the D-Backs spring training base in Phoenix and he would joining the D-Backs minor league team in its current season.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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