SOCIETY
Double Ten show goes south
The Double Ten National Day firework show this year to celebrate the founding of the Republic of China (ROC) is to take place in Kaohsiung, according to Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), chairman of the National Day celebration committee. It has been 15 years since Kaohsiung hosted the National Day fireworks, Wang said. The show is to echo past displays, he said, and the budget will be the same as last year’s NT$9 million (US$291,900). The Kaohsiung City Government would have to cover extra costs if it wants to add more activities to the event, Wang said. The fireworks show is among the highlights of each year’s National Day celebrations and moves to a different city or county each year.
INTERNET
No cyberbully laws: Chang
The government has no plans to promote legislation against cyberbullying, Vice Premier Simon Chang (張善政) said on Tuesday. Cyberbullying has received widespread attention following the death of model and actress Peng Hsin-yi (彭馨逸), known by her stage name, Cindy Yang (楊又穎), who reportedly committed suicide on Tuesday last week after alleged online attacks. Some people have urged the government to legislate against cyberbullying. Chang said the government would not do so because free speech might be affected. The Institute of Watch Internet Network (iWIN) has for years handled complaints about Web content harmful to children and is now handling cyberbullying complaints. The Cabinet has also asked the Ministry of Justice to inform the public through iWIN about what legal action can be taken against cyberbullies, he said. To improve Internet regulation, social media sites are encouraged to sign self-discipline agreements against cyberbullying, he added.
LABOR
Worker ban to be rescinded
A decade-old ban on Vietnamese fishing workers and caregivers is set to be lifted on July 1 in an effort to deal with Taiwan’s labor shortage, Minister of Labor Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文) said yesterday. Chen, who was in Vietnam to attend a bilateral ministerial meeting over labor issues on Sunday and Monday, said both sides were satisfied with the negotiations, adding that a trial is to take effect after the Executive Yuan’s final approval. During the trial period, both sides are to discuss further details about providing skill training programs to Vietnamese workers through the establishment of several training centers in Vietnam, Chen said. The two countries are also to discuss labor exploitation issues, including overcharges on commission fees, he said, adding that the project would be reviewed after one year.
DISASTERS
MOFA says 284 in Nepal
The number of Taiwanese known to be in Nepal when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook the Himalayan kingdom last weekend had risen to 284 as of 6:30pm yesterday, 279 of whom are confirmed to be safe, the latest update provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) showed. The information was obtained by the ministry’s outposts at the request of the travelers’ family members and travel agencies or through their travel registrations, the ministry said, adding that there were still five people with whom the ministry has yet to establish contact. The ministry said it is still trying to reach those who remain unaccounted for via various channels, adding that local communication lines have been disrupted in the wake of the earthquake. Many countries around the world have launched massive aid operations to help victims of the Nepal earthquake. Taiwan has sent rescue and medical teams to Nepal.
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