The head of China’s product quality agency, Li Changjiang (李長江), stepped down yesterday, as the number of confirmed cases of sickened children in a toxic milk scandal skyrocketed to 53,000.
The State Council accepted Li’s resignation, Xinhua news agency said.
The health ministry released new figures yesterday showing that 52,857 children had fallen sick after drinking milk powder contaminated with melamine. Four children have died from the milk powder and 12,892 children remain hospitalized with kidney problems, the ministry said.
Wu Xianguo (吳顯國), the top communist party official of Shijiazhuang — where tainted milk powder first surfaced from the Sanlu brand headquartered there — was removed from his post, Xinhua said in a separate article.
In Hong Kong, meanwhile, the government approved a law yesterday limiting melamine in food.
The regulation on melamine concentration, which takes effect today, was stricter than those imposed by the EU and the US, said York Chow (周一嶽), secretary for food and health.
But he said lawmakers had to allow room for a tiny amount of the chemical because of “migration” from plastic containers and environmental pollution.
Under the law, suppliers or food traders will be prosecuted if they import food products for infants or pregnant women with melamine concentration exceeding 1 milliliter per kilogram.
Chow also said Hong Kong would offer free checks for children who have consumed tainted dairy products at 25 clinics and assessment centers starting today.
Authorities had come under fire yesterday for opening only one hospital for the checks.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
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