■ LEISURE
Marathon updates available
To provide better service to the participants of the 2008 ING Taipei Marathon today, the Taipei City Government is to present real-time race results to allow spectators to obtain updates via mobile devices. The Taipei City Department of Information Technology said spectators could obtain real-time results for individual runners through laptops, PDAs and cell phones. The system will also actively dispatch updates via SMS to subscribers. A total of 3,100 runners have already registered for this service. Viewers can also watch the marathon via live-streaming video at the Results Finder Web site. LCD screens at MRT Taipei City Hall Station and MRT Taipei Main Station will broadcast the event live. Twenty laptops with wireless broadband connection will be placed at the first floor lobby of City Hall to allow residents to use this new service, the department said. To access the Results Finder, visit the Web site at: http://2008ing.taipei.gov.tw/
■ ENVIRONMENT
Hsuehshan fire burns firs
A forest fire on Hsuehshan (雪山) was put out on Friday afternoon, but not before 4 hectares of firs and arrow bamboo trees burned to the ground. The fire on the 3,886m mountain in northern Taiwan was ignited on Thursday afternoon by a six-member mountain-climbing group that set a fire to alert a rescue helicopter of the exact location of an injured climber, who fractured a bone in a fall near a mountain lodge. While the injured climber, surnamed Wu, was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Chiayi for treatment, the fire quickly spread. Firefighters rushed to the scene, but were hampered by a lack of water and the mountainous terrain. They called on the Ministry of the Interior to send a helicopter to help combat the blaze. The fire was brought under control on Friday at around noon and was fully extinguished by 4:50pm.
■ POLITICS
China warns Vatican
Relations between China and the Vatican can only improve if the Holy See ditches ties with Taiwan and stops using religion to interfere in China’s domestic affairs, China’s state media quoted a top Chinese official as saying on Friday. China’s 8 million to 12 million Catholics are split between a state-sanctioned Church, and an “underground” one that rejects government control and answers only to Rome. Du Qinglin (杜青林), head of China’s United Front Work Department which deals with religious and ethnic minorities and non-Communists, said it was up to the Vatican to improve relations, China’s official Xinhua news agency said. The Vatican must also sever its ties with Taiwan, he said.
■ SOCIETY
Migrants Day celebrated
Non-immigrants and immigrants celebrated International Migrants Day — which fell on Thursday this year — with traditional dishes, music and dance from the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar in an international immigrant exposition organized by the Ministry of the Interior and the National Immigration Agency in Taipei yesterday. Recalling the country’s history, Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) said Taiwan was actually a country of migrants, “I’m the seventh generation since my ancestors migrated to Taiwan [from China] and 160 years ago my ancestors were newcomers here just like you.” Liao said the number of migrants in Taiwan — including those who came through marriage, for work or other reasons — has reached more than 900,000.
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
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