WEATHER
Quake an aftershock: CWA
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) has walked back its previous statement that the magnitude 6.3 earthquake which struck off eastern Taiwan on Friday was an independent event, saying it was actually a major aftershock of the massive earthquake which shook Hualien in April. The CWA’s preliminary observation had indicated that the epicenter of Friday’s temblor was 34.2km southeast of Hualien County Hall, with a depth of 9.7km. However, the agency amended its report on Friday afternoon, revising the location further west to 23.78°N, 121.71°E, and the depth to 19.36km, after conducting further analysis. The new epicenter is 4.22km from the location of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that rattled Hualien County on April 3, while the original epicenter reported on Friday morning was 15.63km from that of the Hualien quake.
ARTS
Old Fox selected for Oscars
The Ministry of Culture on Wednesday said Old Fox has been chosen as Taiwan’s submission for best international feature at the Academy Awards next year. The movie stood out from 14 Taiwanese films for being a “fable of the social classes amid social change and drastic economic impact of late 1980s Taiwan. It gives a profound analysis of humanity with its motif, narration, layout and subtle depictions of daily life,” the ministry said in a news release. Directed by Hsiao Ya-chuan (蕭雅全), the film’s narrative is from the perspective of a young boy living with his poor father as he navigates the struggles between the worldliness and kindness of humanity, the news release said. Inspired by his own childhood, Hsiao reproduced the period’s zeitgeist and reflected on his experience during that time, it added. Hsiao won the Best Director award for the movie at the Golden Horse Awards last year. It also bagged the Best Supporting Actor award for Akio Chen (陳慕義), Best Original Film Score and Best Makeup and Costume Design awards. The film has also won accolades at several international film festivals, the ministry said.
SPORTS
Drone soccer arrives
The Puli Junior High School’s annual summer camp this year introduced children the to sport of drone soccer, a technological sport that has become popular. The sport has not only entertained and taught the children how to pilot drones, but also familiarized them with drone regulations, school authorities said. The sport is beginning to take off in Taiwan, and teams from the nation have already placed fourth in a drone soccer competition held in South Korea this year, and first and second place in the junior high school category at the Unmanned Aviation Systems Application Carnival Tournament this year, they said. The sport requires precise navigation of drones in a three-dimensional space, participating students said, adding that the players also need to acclimate themselves to putting a “spin” on their drones as defensive or aggressive tactics. Overall, it is a sport that demands a high degree of cooperation, the students said, adding that it was rare for students to learn about an international sport currently in vogue. Drone soccer features two teams, each composed of at least three players who control a drone with protective anti-collision cages to defend the team’s designated goal, the Pilot Institute said. Each game consists of three sets, each lasting three minutes, with the designated “striker” of each team seeking to navigate their drone into the opposing team’s goal zone, the institute added.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened 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), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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