■ MILITARY
Ministry defends missiles
The government rebuffed US criticism of its plan for surface-to-surface missiles capable of striking China yesterday, insisting they were not "offensive" weapons. Taiwan would use the missiles -- which are still being developed but were showcased during computer-simulated military exercises last month -- only if attacked first, the Ministry of Defense and a presidential office spokesman said. "Our country would not make provocations on its own," the defense ministry said in a statement. "Only if we suffered an enemy attack would we actually strike back." Top US envoy to Taiwan Stephen Young on Thursday said he opposed the development of any offensive weapons in China or Taiwan, and specifically referred to Taiwan's surface-to-surface missile plans.
■ CULTURE
Culture network planned
The Council for Cultural Affairs is organizing performances and exhibitions at 44 community museums and cultural centers nationwide to create a stronger cultural network. Three theater troupes, including the renowned puppetry troupe operated by the Lee Tien-lu Puppet Museum, Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra, and a Taichung traditional handicraft museum, are participating in the event. "There are nearly 300 community museums and cultural centers around the country ... Through these activities, we'd like to make them centers of local cultural activities and connect them to each other to build a wider cultural network," said Li Wu-kun (李戊崑), a division director at the Council. The performances and exhibitions will be held starting today until mid-November.
■ HEALTH
German measles confirmed
The first case of German measles in the country this year, involving a recent immigrant from Vietnam, has been confirmed. The patient is a 25-year-old woman married to a Taiwanese man who returned to Vietnam for a visit between Feb. 21 and March 9, officials from the Center for Disease Control said on Wednesday. The patient developed a fever, cough, fatigue, sore throat, headache and red spots all over her skin around March 23, the center said. As the incubation period for German measles is 14 to 21 days, officials believe that she was infected during her most recent visit to Vietnam. CDC officials urged recent immigrants, particularly those from China and Southeast Asian countries, to get free German measles vaccinations at local health offices to prevent them from contracting the disease.
■ SOCIETY
Today is Bike Day
The country's first national Bike Day will take place today, after the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports announced on Thursday that the first Saturday of May would be Bike Day. Council Chairman Yang Chung-ho (楊忠和) said today's Bike Day would be celebrated in 25 cities and counties. In Taipei County, two carnivals with cyclists will be held. The sports chief also called on the public to ride bicycles to maintain physical fitness. He recommended riding 50 minutes per day five days a week. Compared with many other developed countries, cycling is not very popular in Taiwan, council officials said, adding that only Taipei, Taichung and Pingtung counties have laid out significant bike paths, totaling more than 500km.
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
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,
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