■ SOCIETY
Suicide rate increases
More than 4,000 people committed suicide last year, averaging almost one death every two hours, the Department of Health said yesterday. A total of 4,128 suicides were registered, an increase of 195 from the previous year. Last year’s suicide rate was 17.9 suicides per 100,000 people, the department said, up from 17.2 in 2007. Sixty-eight percent of those who took their own lives were men, 40 percent were aged between 25 and 44, while 21 percent of those who killed themselves were 65 and older. Chu Kai-yu (朱開玉), director of Taipei Lifeline, a suicide-counseling organization, blamed job losses, old age and health problems for the rising number of suicides.
■ POLITICS
Wang affirms authority
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday any decision made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters to push government policies could never overshadow the authority of the Legislative Yuan. “The Legislative Yuan is a representative branch of the government. The party headquarters can only seek to reach its policy goals through the legislative caucus. [The headquarters] can never place itself above this constitutional branch,” Wang said. Wang was reacting to an interview with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) published yesterday in the Chinese-language CommonWealth magazine, in which Ma presented his thoughts on future interaction between the party, the Executive Yuan and the legislature. The interview quoted Ma as saying that it would be impossible for the party’s Central Standing Committee — the KMT’s decision-making body — to replace the Legislative Yuan and the Executive Yuan, but it would serve as a “bridge” or platform between the party headquarters and the administration. Ma’s remarks were interpreted by local media as an indication that the president would minimize the power of the committee if he wins the KMT chairmanship.
■ SOCIETY
AIT announces celebration
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and Miramar Entertainment Park yesterday announced America Month from June 19 to July 5 to celebrate the 233rd US Independence Day. During America Month, more than 100 US brands, including apparel, cosmetics, food and wine, and restaurants, will offer special activities and discounts at Miramar. A variety of events are scheduled such as a movie premiere, a singing and dancing show, a US education seminar and a live graffiti demonstration. July 4 will be the climax of the America Month event, and several activities are planned for that day, including a 233-second fireworks display, and a lucky draw, which includes prizes such as a round-trip-ticket to New York.
■ CULTURE
Documentaries premiere
Four documentaries that explore Taiwan’s unique nature and culture premiered in Taipei on Tuesday and will be broadcast as part of the “Taiwan to the World 3” series on National Geographic Channel Taiwan every Sunday from June 21. The series, a joint effort of the Government Information Office and National Geographic Channels International, will be aired in 165 countries in 34 languages. The four latest documentaries were produced by local teams in collaboration with international professionals, said Geoff Daniels, senior vice president of National Geographic Channels International’s development and production section.
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,