■ Terror
Militants may attack ships
Evergreen Marine Corp, the world's second-largest container shipping line, has boosted safety measures after an Iraqi militant group threatened to attack the world's top 10 shipping lines that carry weapons for US troops, Evergreen Marine said yesterday. Evergreen said its ships have not called at Iraqi ports or transported arms for US troops. "But we have notified all our ships and 250 overseas branch companies and agents to step up security measures," a company press officer said by phone. "Currently all our shipping operations are normal," the press officer said. Evergreen is the world's second-largest container line after Maersk-Sealand.
■ Recreation
Stay out of river: EPA
Carrying out recreational activities in the Tamshui River remain inappropriate as high bacteria levels were detected by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday. The Bureau of Public Works under Taipei City Government yesterday continued to repair the Shizitou Pumping Station in Wuku township, Taipei County. The pumping station malfunctioned after being struck by lightning last Friday. City councilors Monday criticized the government's slow response, saying that more than 3 million tonnes of household sewage had been discharged into the river. Officials said yesterday that the task was more difficult than it had predicted.
■ Ordnance
Workers uncover big bomb
Construction workers unearthed a 453kg bomb yesterday while digging for the MRT system at the Taipei Sungshan Airport. The bomb was found in the morning by a worker using a bulldozer. Police blocked off the area with several hundred meters of warning tape and notified military inspectors. Military personnel dispatched to examine the bomb determined that it was most likely dropped from a US plane during World War II. The area around the Sungshan Airport was used at that time by the Japanese air force. The bomb does not currently pose a threat, however, since the triggering mechanism has long since rusted. The bomb was sent to an arsenal in Nankang for disposal.
■ Crime
Smugglers caught
A Xiamen fishing boat was seized in waters off Kinmen Island's Kuningtou Monday night as it attempted to smuggle Taiwan-made electronic components, machinery and other industrial products into China, the Kinmen Coast Guard headquarters reported yesterday. The Kinmen Coast Guard authorities said that two Chinese fishing boats, both without names, were discovered acting suspiciously in the area off Kinmen. One of the two fishing boats, operated by Xiamen resident Peng Kuanzhu, was cornered by two Kinmen patrol boats around 9pm on Monday off Kuningtou.
■ Disaster Relief
A-mei to hold benefit
Pop diva Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹), widely known as A-mei, plans to give a benefit concert in the capital tomorrow for the victims of Tropical Storm Mindulle. The storm caused widespread destruction two weeks ago, killing 29 people and causing flooding and landslides in mountainous parts of central Taiwan -- home to many Aboriginal tribes. Chang said her own Aboriginal origins inspired her to hold the benefit concert. "Because I am an Aborigine myself, I hope I can do things to help them," she told reporters while taking a break.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,