■ Weather
Cold front on its way
The Central Weather Bureau announced yesterday that the recent warm spell will come to an end tomorrow. A cold front moving south from China will cause temperatures to drop across Taiwan and bring a high possibility of rain in the north. The lowest temperatures are expected to be felt on Sunday and Monday, when coastal areas in the north could have temperatures as low as 10 degrees Celsius. The country has been experiencing warm weather over the past few days, with daytime temperatures reaching 26 degrees Celsius in the north, 28 degrees Celsius in the central areas and 27 degrees Celsius to 28 degrees Celsius in the south.
■ Poaching
Chinese ships apprehended
Ten Chinese fishing vessels were nabbed off Kinmen yesterday in a sweep operation conducted by the Coast Guard Administration and local police. The Chinese fishing vessels, all from Longhai City in Fujian Province, were intercepted in a smuggling and epidemic prevention operation, and 12 other Chinese vessels were chased out of Taiwanese territorial waters. The vessels were apprehended for poaching in Taiwan's waters and 18 crewmen were sent to the coast guard office on Kinmen for questioning, while the vessels were ordered to anchor at the Lotsu fishing port in Hsiaokinmen (小金門) for investigation. Their catch, mostly eel fry, and 23 pieces of fishing gear were confiscated.
■ Fishing disputes
Boat shot in `self-defense'
Police in the Philippines yesterday released a preliminary report on the shots fired at a Taiwanese fishing vessel in its territorial waters, saying that its maritime police had opened fire on the boat in self-defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday quoted the Philippine authorities as saying. The Taiwanese boat hit the Philippine boat in defiance at the police's order to stop, the report said. Bataan police said two maritime police officers and four fishermen were dispatched on two small engine-powered rafts to expel the Taiwanese fishing boat, which was allegedly fishing in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. The police waved a red banner in warning, but after it was hit it fired at the Taiwanese boat. The Filipino police did not board the Taiwanese boat to confiscate its catch, nor did they drain the the boat of its fuel, as the Taiwanese crewmen claimed, the Philippines said. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said yesterday that the Taiwanese authorities need to examine the evidence further and would continue pursuing the case.
■ Environment
Activists slam aquarium
Local and foreign environmental protection groups yesterday protested against an aquarium in the south for what they called the improper use of an endangered animal for profit. The groups, including the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) and an international alliance of environmental groups from the UK, US and Canada, accused the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Pingtung of using white whales to perform as a "circus act" under the guise of "education and research." The groups said they will initiate a one-person-one-letter campaign to protest against the aquarium for importing an additional four of the white whales at the end of this month. The whales are to be used for artificial insemination and will be forced to give additional performances during the Lunar New Year holiday.
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,