Bird census conducted
Greater Tainan recorded its highest-ever yearly number of black-faced spoonbills wintering in the area, according to the results of an annual global census released yesterday. A total of 1,533 of the highly endangered migratory birds were recorded in the southern part of the nation this year, the results of a two-day census show. Tainan is the world’s most important wintering site for the birds, accounting for about half of them. The annual census, arranged by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society since 2003, was conducted on both Saturday and yesterday and the day that recorded the higher number of birds — Saturday — was used to represent this year’s results.
HERITAGE
US pilot’s pennants donated
The widow of the legendary Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault, who commanded US fighter pilots that flew for China against Japan in the 1940s, recently donated two pennants to the Republic of China Air Force, Air Force Command said. One of the pennants donated by his widow, Anna Chan Chennault, which reads “share the same hatred toward our enemy” was presented by the Kunming Chamber of Commerce in 1944 on the first anniversary of the 14th Air Force, while the other, which reads “safeguarding our air space” was presented by Yunnan Province in 1945. The pennants bear witness to the solid relations between the ROC and the US Air Force during World War II, the Air Force Command said. Claire Chennault went to China in 1937 as a military adviser to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) as Japan’s war with China expanded. At his suggestion, the US government formed the American Volunteer Group, dubbed “the Flying Tigers,” to aid China’s war effort.
WEATHER
Temperature to decrease
A southward-bound cold air mass from China was expected to bring temperatures down starting yesterday afternoon, the Central Weather Bureau said. Temperatures were expected to drop to between 13°C and 14°C in northern Taiwan and between 15°C and 16°C in other areas by late yesterday, and areas north of central Taiwan could see a low of 11°C degrees tonight, the bureau forecasted. The approach of this dry, cold air mass is also expected to ease the rain, which began early yesterday due to the passing of a front, the bureau said. Temperatures are expected to return to a relatively warmer level from tomorrow as the cold air mass weakens, but the approach of another wave of a strong cold air mass from China on Wednesday is likely to bring the mercury down again from Wednesday through Saturday, it said.
society
Canadian office runs exhibit
The Canadian Trade Office in Taipei is running its first-ever photography exhibition to showcase the magnificent beauty of the Arctic, the office said in a recent statement. The exhibition, which runs through Feb. 6 at the office in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), displays 36 photos featuring the diversity of landscape, people and wildlife in Canada’s Arctic regions, the statement said. To highlight the human dimension of the Arctic, the exhibition also incorporates a series of short films that portray the lives of Canada’s Inuit peoples, the office said. Meanwhile, Canada, as an Arctic nation, has been active in circumpolar affairs, the office said. “This year, Canada will assume the chairmanship of the Arctic Council, which is the leading international body for cooperation in the Arctic region,” it 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