HEALTH
Measles spike in region: CDC
People planning to travel to China or Southeast Asia should take precautions against measles amid a surging number of cases of the viral infection being reported in those regions, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The year’s 19th case was confirmed last week — a 24-year-old man who visited the Philippines last month — the CDC said. Cases have been reported in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, the CDC said, urging travelers to these areas to pay close attention to their hygiene. Travelers to affected areas should seek medical treatment if they develop a fever, nasal inflammation or a rash, the CDC added.
POLITICS
Legislature to open Friday
The new session of the Legislative Yuan is set to open on Friday, when Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) is to give an administrative report and answer questions from legislators on such topics as the resignation of former Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) and the recycled oil scandal. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Alex Fai’s (費鴻泰) said that during the session, legislators are expected to try to clear up the mystery behind Chang’s ouster. Meanwhile, the KMT plans to push forward 60 major bills and agreements proposed by the Executive Yuan during the previous session, including a special bill on the free economic pilot zones, an agreement on a cross-strait service trade pact with China and a bill on next year’s general budget for the central government.
ENTERTAINMENT
Film up for award in Busan
Taiwanese film (Sex) Appeal (寒蟬效應) has been nominated for an award in the New Currents section at the 19th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in South Korea. The 107-minute film directed by Wang Wei-ming (王維明) “is an admirable work that digs into the complex and subtle psychology of people who are connected to the process of solving a rape case that happened at a university,” the festival’s Web site said. The film is to be shown in Taiwan beginning on Oct. 24. The BIFF New Currents Award is given to the two best feature films in the New Currents section, which screens the first or second works of Asian directors. A grand prize of US$30,000 is awarded to each film. The BIFF, which runs from Oct. 2 to Oct. 11, is to announce category winners on the festival’s final day. This year, Paradise in Service (軍中樂園) by Taiwanese actor and director Doze Niu (鈕承澤) was chosen as the opening film.
ENTERTAINMENT
Japanese festival to debut
Japan’s “a-nation” music festival, an annual series of summer concerts held in Japan, is to expand overseas for the first time this year, with Taiwan slated as its first stop. “A-nation Taiwan” is to be held on Saturday at the NK101 concert venue in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港), according to Avex Taiwan Inc, the local promoter of the event. It is to feature performances by Japanese pop singer Kumi Koda, rapper Kreva, singing and dancing group Generations from Exile Tribe and rock band Back-On, Avex Taiwan said. Japanese pop groups w-inds, TRF (Tetsuya Komuro Rave Factory) and Sonar Pocket are also scheduled, as is Taiwanese singer A-Lin (黃麗玲), Avex Taiwan said. The event is set to include a fashion show with models from Japan and Taiwan. It is to be the first time the festival has been held outside of Japan. The annual festival is organized by Japanese record label Avex Group. Its other overseas performance is to take place in Singapore on Oct. 18.
WEATHER
Cooler conditions forecast
The nation might soon get a break from the high temperatures felt around the country in recent weeks, as a front bringing cooler weather is expected to arrive in a few days, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Beginning on Saturday, the front is likely to bring moderate temperatures and greater chances of showers compared with recent weeks, the bureau said. The heat will remain through Friday, with temperatures hovering around 33oC to 35oC at noon throughout the nation, the bureau said. Heavy afternoon thundershowers and strong wind gusts might occur in mountainous areas and throughout the east, it said.
SCIENCE
Taipei chosen for 2017 meet
Taipei has been selected to host the next International Council for Science general assembly, Academia Sinica said. The participants at this year’s meeting — held by the Royal Society of New Zealand in Auckland from Aug. 30 to Wednesday last week — chose Taiwan to host the 2017 meeting after Liu Shaw-chen (劉紹臣), director of the Research Center for Environmental Changes at Academia Sinica, touted the quality of the nation’s academic community, Academia Sinica said in a statement. Liu also highlighted Academia Sinica’s facilities, the hospitality of Taiwanese, and the nation’s rich cultural and tourism environment as making the city an attractive venue for the next assembly, the statement said. During the Auckland meeting, national members and unions discussed priorities for scientific investigation, with the themes being sustainability; natural disaster reduction and prevention; the cultivation of young scientists worldwide; and the encouragement of research for the benefit of people. The council consists of 121 national science bodies and 32 science unions around the world.
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