WEATHER
Good day to be outside
Those planning to celebrate Double Ten National Day today by spending it outdoors will have relatively good weather thanks to weakening seasonal winds from the northeast, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. However, northern Taiwan could see cloudy weather throughout the day, with drizzle likely in mountainous areas, forecasters said. Temperatures in the region could range from 24?C to 32?C, and the light wind is not expected to affect the main fireworks display in Hsinchu City tonight. Central and southern Taiwan are more likely to experience sunshine and slightly warmer weather, the bureau said. Meanwhile, two tropical depressions that formed near the Philippines and Guam on Tuesday could develop into tropical storms, but they are not likely to affect Taiwan’s weather in the near future, the bureau said.
SPORTS
Cycling festival scheduled
Cycling enthusiasts said yesterday that they are eager to take part in the third annual Taiwan Cycling Festival next month, which is to feature challenges and outdoor activities nationwide. One of the highlights of the festival is to be a 100km stretch of road that climbs 3,275m from sea level to Wuling (武陵), Greater Taichung. However, cyclists will also be able to choose a round-the-island ride, while 11 groups from industry, the public sector and grassroots organizations are expected to depart simultaneously from nine cities over nine days to represent the spirit of moving Taiwan forward. The Nov. 9 to Nov. 17 festival is also to include family activities and travel events so that people from all walks of life can take part, according to the Tourism Bureau, one of the organizers. The aim of the festival is to foster a cycling culture, organizers said.
DIPLOMACY
US official to give speech
Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton will give a speech tomorrow on Taiwan’s strategic importance at the invitation of a foundation set up by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Lin Chuan (林全), the chief executive officer of the Little Ing Educational Foundation, said that as a member of the international community, Taiwan has to understand not only the world, but also its role in the world. That is why the foundation invited Richard Koo (辜朝明), an economic adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to speak last month on the challenges of “Abenomics” and why Tsai invited Stanton to speak this month. Lin said Tsai hoped Stanton will share his observations on Taiwan’s role in the international strategic system, based on his professional knowledge of international politics and his wealth of political experience.
CULTURE
Film event draws big names
Some of the biggest names in Chinese-language cinema are set to grace this year’s Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei, not the least of which is Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (李安). Audiences can look forward to talks by Lee and a host of other big-name directors, including Taiwan’s Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) and Taiwan-based Malaysian director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), China’s Lou Ye (婁燁) and Jia Zhangke (賈樟柯), and Hong Kong’s Ann Hui (許鞍華), Johnnie To (杜琪峰), Stanley Kwan (關錦鵬) and Peter Chan (陳可辛). Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung (張曼玉), the festival’s “ambassador,” will also speak to the audience about her career. The festival is set to run from Nov. 8 to Nov. 28, according to its executive committee.
TECHNOLOGY
Lighting system developed
A smart lighting system developed by the Institute for Information Industry to illuminate parking lots can help reduce electricity use by 65 percent compared with conventional lighting, the developer said yesterday. Replacing traditional lamps with LED lighting can cut electricity use by 45 percent, and with the smart system, an additional 10 percent to 20 percent can be saved, said Jamie Wang, the project’s manager. In addition to motion sensors and ambient light sensors, the system features an auto mechanism that can adjust the brightness of the lights, she said. Although the cost of the new lights is about twice that of ordinary ones, they can be used for three to five times longer, Wang added.
SPORTS
Ultramarathon on Dec. 7
More than 30 runners from home and abroad will compete in an annual ultramarathon in December in Taipei, in which a Japanese runner will return to seek his ninth win in the event, organizers said yesterday. Now in its 13th year, the Soochow International Ultramarathon Race will see 36 runners from Taiwan and five other countries, including Japan and Italy, competing, officials from Taipei-based Soochow University said at a news conference. Participants in the 24-hour race, to be held at the university’s 400m track on Dec. 7, will include Japan’s Ryoichi Sekiya, 45, who has won eight of the school’s 24-hour events, organizers said. The university will also hold two new events on the day of the race — a 7km run along a road nearby and a five-hour ultramarathon relay. Members of the public are invited to sign up for these events, the organizers said.
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,