■ MOFA mum on Chen
With eight days to go before the inauguration of Nicaraguan president-elect Daniel Ortega Saavedra, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday refused to reveal whether President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) would attend the Oct. 10 event in Managua. Spokesman David Wang (王建業) would not say whether Chen would go to Managua in person or send an envoy in his place. Wang added that the ministry was working on the arrangements for the trip, including the transit stops. "We won't disclose our plan until everything is settled," Wang said, adding that showing the ministry's hand too early might cause trouble in light of Beijing's ceaseless attempts to stymie Taipei's diplomatic efforts.
■ Society
Many call for local flavor
The countdown to the New Year's fireworks at Taipei 101 has become a world attraction, but many urged that more local color be added to it. Although the 188-minute fireworks show wowed tens of thousands of revelers, the absence of keywords like "Taipei" or "Taiwan" was seen as a missed opportunity to market the country. The phrase that appeared atop Taipei 101 -- "2007 Bravia by Sony" -- was an exclusive advertising opportunity which Sony Taiwan Ltd obtained through an investment of NT$30 million (US$9.2 million). "We hope that a more local flavor will be added to future New Year's Eve parties to show the world what Taipei is like," Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday during a municipal meeting.
■ Politics
Chai plans signature drive
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said yesterday that he and his colleagues would soon initiate a signature campaign in support of his referendum proposal which suggests that the nation's capital be moved to southern Taiwan. In his proposal, Chai said a southern capital would be better for the nation because its political and economic centers should be separate. Moving the capital to southern Taiwan would help balance development, he said, adding that making the change would represent a fresh start for the nation. Chai and DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) picked up a referendum application form at the Central Election Commission yesterday morning. They will need to gather the support of 0.5 percent of the nation's citizens, or 83,000 signatures, for the referendum proposal to proceed. The Referendum Law (公投法) states that, having achieved the initial threshold, another 830,000 signatures will have to be gathered within six months for a referendum to be held.
■ Traffic safety
Lin questions amendment
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Shu-shan (林樹山) yesterday proposed a motion on the legislative floor calling for the reconsideration of an amendment which calls for rear-seat passengers to wear seat belts when traveling on freeways. The legislature passed the amendment on Dec. 22. Drivers of vehicles on freeways in which rear-seat passengers are caught not wearing seat belts will be fined between NT$3,000 and NT$6,000. The new regulation, which will come into effect in March, came in the wake of a car accident which left Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's (胡志強) wife Shaw Hsiao-ling (邵曉鈴) critically injured. Lin said that the regulation was not effective in protecting children. "Seat belts are designed to fit adults, not children," Lin said.
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,