SPORTS
Universiade athletes named
The Taiwan team attending the FISU World University Games is this year to include at least 11 Olympians, some of whom won medals at the Games, the Sports Administration said on Thursday. Athletes have already been selected to compete in gymnastics, archery, judo, rowing and taekwondo at the Chengdu Universiade, which was postponed from last summer to June and July this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said. Selection of the other athletes would be completed by the end of April, before the team’s formal registration on May 25, it added. Those already chosen include gymnast Lee Chih-kai (李智凱), judoka Yang Yung-wei (楊勇緯), archer Tang Chih-chun (湯智鈞), table tennis player Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) and taekwondoin athlete Lo Chia-ling (羅嘉翎), Sports Administration Deputy Director-General Hung Chih-chang (洪志昌) said.
SPORTS
Baseball series delayed
A series of exhibition baseball games scheduled for next month between Taiwan and Japan has been postponed due to concerns about outbreaks of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) said on Wednesday. The CBPL and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball Organization discussed the matter and pushed back the series in the interest of the players’ health, CPBL commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said in a statement. Further discussions would be held to choose a new date for the series, which was scheduled for March 5 and 6 at the Tokyo Dome, he said.
SOCIETY
Matsu pilgrimage date set
The annual procession of the sea goddess Matsu enshrined at Jenn Lann Temple (鎮瀾宮) in Taichung’s Dajia District (大甲) is to start on April 8, the temple said on Tuesday. The news came after the Central Epidemic Command Center earlier in the day announced an easing of COVID-19 restrictions. On Tuesday, when this year’s Lantern Festival was held, Yen Ching-biao (顏清標), the head of Jenn Lann Temple, used moon blocks — a divination tool — to ask Matsu when the nine-day procession should start. The annual procession is to begin at 11pm. Tens of thousands of worshipers are expected to follow the Dajia Matsu as it travels 340km through Taichung, Changhua County, Yunlin County and Chiayi County, before returning to the temple on April 17, organizers said. As part of its COVID-19 prevention efforts, the temple is asking participants to avoid the traditional practice of crawling under the icon’s palanquin to receive Matsu’s blessing.
ARTS
First Matsu Biennial starts
The inaugural Matsu Biennial, featuring 39 artworks and eight projects centered around the theme “Island Brew” (島嶼釀), has begun and runs through April 10. The biennial has been curated in part around the Matsu Islands’ transition from a military administration, and a number of the projects are in former army facilities. All of the works were created locally by 41 creative teams. Aside from Taiwanese artists, the art-making consortium also includes international members, such as Canadian visual artist Liam Morgan and French-born sound artist Yannick Dauby. As the evolution of space and sustainable reuse form the core of the biennial’s works, organizers have set out to make the festival part of a 10-year mission to document the islands’ transformation.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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