■POLITICS
Kuo relieved of status
The Judicial Yuan’s Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries resolved on Friday night to discipline former Government Information Office (GIO) staffer Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英) by relieving him of his public servant status. The commission also ruled that Kuo should be banned from serving as a government official for the next three years. Kuo had been relieved of his job by the GIO in March because of a number of online articles he wrote under the pen name Fan Lan-chin (范蘭欽) smearing Taiwan and Taiwanese. The Control Yuan voted on July 21 to impeach Kuo, saying that Kuo had publicized articles that defamed the nation and harmed the feelings of Taiwanese people and deceived his superiors.
■HEALTH
Four hospitalized with flu
Four more people have been hospitalized with the A(H1N1) virus, bringing the total number of patients hospitalized with the new flu strain to 296 since the outbreak began, the Central Epidemics Command Center (CECC) reported yesterday. CECC officials said the new patients, two male and two female, are aged between six and 10. Seventeen of the 296 patients have died, while 247 have recovered and 32 others remain in the hospital, the CECC said. As of yesterday, 326 classes in 257 schools around the country remained suspended because of A(H1N1) infections among students. The number of affected classes accounts for 0.32 percent of total classes, the CECC said.
■SOCIETY
‘City gardens’ encouraged
To welcome next year’s Flora Expo, the Taipei City Government yesterday launched the first of a series of “city garden” programs to encourage citizens to grow flowers or potted plants in their garden or community. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the Taipei International Gardening and Horticulture Exposition (Flora Expo) is part of the city’s “trilogy of international events.” As public participation was the key to the success of the Summer Deaflympics, he said he hoped to see citizens show similar support for the Flora Expo. Hau said he hoped the six-month event, scheduled to open on Nov. 6 next year, would attract between 6 million and 8 million local and international visitors. Those who did not receive the free potted plants at Da-an Park yesterday can try their luck at the city’s 24 Matsusei Supermarkets today, or visit the 124 offices of Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) on Oct. 3. The last chance will be at the Taipei Flower Market on Oct. 4.
■ENVIRONMENT
Tonnes of driftwood cleared
Forestry Bureau Director-General Yen Jen-teh (顏仁德) said the bureau has cleared 460,000 tonnes of driftwood out of downstream areas in southern Taiwan, which was battered by floods and landslides that were caused by Typhoon Morakot early last month. Citing the bureau’s assessment of the damage, he said the flood had washed down an estimated 980,000 tonnes of driftwood, which has clogged downstream rivers, farmland and fishing ports in 110 townships. The government has outlined a variety of plans to make good use of the massive amount of driftwood left behind by Typhoon Morakot, including building a driftwood park, organizing a driftwood art contest and making charcoal out of driftwood, he added.
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