SOCIETY
Eid al-Fitr acceptance urged
The Ministry of Labor yesterday encouraged employers to allow their Muslim workers to observe Eid al-Fitr on Sunday. The day, marking the end of Ramadan, is an important holiday for Muslims, like Lunar New Year in the Chinese-speaking community, the ministry said. It is crucial that employers respect the religious beliefs of their foreign workers to create a harmonious relationship between labor and management, it added. Meanwhile, the Taipei City Government is on Sunday to hold an Eid al-Fitr celebration at the Taipei Travel Plaza near the Taipei Railway Station, the city’s Foreign and Disabled Labor Office said. The nation is home to about 252,000 Indonesian workers, 85 percent of whom are Muslim, ministry data show.
HEALTH
Encephalitis recorded
A woman from Pingtung County has contracted Japanese encephalitis, becoming the fourth person to be infected with the mosquito-borne disease in Taiwan this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The 53-year-old on May 26 sought medical treatment at a local hospital after experiencing fever and fainting, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said. Because the symptoms persisted, she was transferred to another hospital for further treatment, Chuang said, adding that the case was then reported as suspected Japanese encephalitis to the local health authority along with samples for laboratory testing. The diagnosis was confirmed on Sunday. The woman had not recently traveled overseas, Chuang quoted the CDC as saying. However, there is a pigeon and poultry farm approximately 2km from the woman’s residence, Chuang said.
WEATHER
Rain eases, mercury rises
The mercury in the north is set to rise to 35°C tomorrow as a rain front hovering over the nation for the past five days gradually moves north, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday, adding that chances of heavy rain remain high nationwide today. Bureau forecaster Hus Chung-yi (徐仲毅) said the rain significantly eased yesterday as the front gradually moved north and a southwest jet stream weakened. For tomorrow, the bureau said that chances of showers and thundershowers would still be high in the center and south due to southwest winds, while sunny to cloudy skies and afternoon thundershowers are forecast for the rest of the nation. From tomorrow to Friday, the average temperature is to gradually rise to between 33°C and 34°C nationwide, while the north could see a high of 35°C.
SOCIETY
Former health minister dies
Former minister of health Shih Chun-jen (施純仁) died of a heart attack on Sunday at Taipei Veterans’ General Hospital at the age of 93. Shih, a native of Taichung, received his early education during the Japanese colonial period and graduated from National Taiwan University in 1947, majoring in medicine. He then joined the National Defense Medical Center, where he worked for 38 years. Shih did a two-year residency at the Montreal Neurological Institute in Canada from 1956 to 1958, after which he returned to Taiwan to help develop the field of neurosurgery and cofound the Taiwan Neurological Society in 1977. Shih served as the head of the general surgery department at Tri-Service General Hospital — the teaching hospital of the National Defense Medical Center — from 1975 to 1984 and headed the Department of Health (which in 2013 became the Ministry of Health and Welfare) from 1986 to 1990.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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