■ WEATHER
Blue skies ahead
People in Taiwan and the islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu will see mostly sunny skies throughout the coming week, the Central Weather Bureau said in a forecast yesterday. Meteorologists at the bureau predicted stable weather with little chance of rain for the next seven days for Taiwan and the outlying islands, although northeastern, eastern and southeastern regions could see cloudy skies from Friday through Sunday. Daytime temperatures could rise to over 30oC, the bureau said, adding that because of the prevailing cool northerly wind, the difference in daytime and nighttime temperatures might be as high as eight degrees.
■ POLITICS
Wang yet to be invited
Although Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential contender Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said the party must determine its presidential ticket as soon as possible and that he would like Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to be his running mate, Wang yesterday said Ma had not invited him to be his running mate. "[Ma] never told me that he wanted me to be his running mate. I learned the news from media reports and there has been no evidence for this," Wang told the media yesterday. After Ma was nominated as KMT presidential candidate in the party's Central Standing Committee on May 2, he said he would seek to meet Wang and discuss how they can work together to secure victory in next year's presidential election.
■ NURsing
Breastfeeders' main worries
The top concern of nursing mothers is that they do not produce enough milk for their baby, said the Bureau of Health Promotion's analysis of calls received by its nursing mothers' hotline. Almost 40 percent of calls are from women who are worried that their babies are not getting enough breast milk. Other problems encountered by mothers include breast discomforts and abnormalities, how to collect milk at work and babies developing jaundice. Women who think they do not produce enough milk should carefully consider their options before turning to baby formula, said Wang Shu-fang (王淑芳), secretary-general of the Taiwan Academy of Breastfeeding. "Ninety-eight percent of women are biologically capable of producing enough milk for their babies if they adopt the right techniques," Wang said. "More common problems in milk pro-duction include posture, pumping technique and people's lack of understanding of breast-feeding women."
■ DEFENSE
And then there were three
Defense Minister Lee Jye (李傑) said yesterday that the Ministry of National Defense had altered "spiritual and behavior" guidelines that harked back to the authoritarian era. The "five convictions" that guided the members of the country's armed forces have been reduced to three. Fielding questions at the legislative Defense Committee, Lee said that of the "five convictions" -- doctrine, leadership, nation, responsibility and honor -- the notions of "doctrine" and "leadership" have been removed as times have changed. However, Lieutenant-General Chen Kuo-hsiang (陳國祥), chief of the General Political Warfare Bureau under the Ministry of National Defense, who was also present during the question-and-answer period, said the removal was still under discussion and that no conclusion had been reached.
■ TRANSPORTATION
`Small links' travel rises
Travel rates on the "small three links" between Kinmen and Matsu islands and three ports in China's Fujian Province have risen, with first-quarter figures for both passengers and voyages posting noticeable year-on-year growth, the government reported yesterday. Statistics compiled by the Cabinet-level Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics show that ferries traveling between the islands and China made 1,300 trips in the first three months of this year, up 436 from a year ago. During the same three-month period, more than 98,000 passengers -- an annual increase of 25.8 percent -- traveled between the two sides, with some 84,000 leaving Taiwan for China, budget directorate statistics show. Although only about 14,000 Chinese people entered Kinmen or Matsu in the first quarter via the "three small links," the figure nevertheless represented a year on year rise of 48 percent.
■ DIPLOMACY
Kiribati ties are solid: Tong
The Republic of Kiribati's relations with Taiwan are solid and the people of Kiribati are grateful to Taiwan for its generous aid in various fields, Kiribati President Anote Tong said on Sunday. Tong made the remarks in an interview in Washington, where he will attend the eighth Pacific Island Conference of Leaders scheduled to open yesterday. Asked if he is satisfied with the aid programs provided by the Taiwan government, Tong said Kiribati feels immense gratitude toward Taiwan. Tong said he decided to forge diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2003 when the latter began offering aid to his country in forms such as an agricultural development program, a plan for medical and health care cooperation, and cooperative fishery ties.
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,