ENTERTAINMENT
‘Detention’ earns NT$240m
The psychological horror film Detention (返校) has posted box office earnings of NT$240 million (US$7.81 million), placing it 10th on the list of this year’s highest grossing films in Taiwan, its producer said on Tuesday. With ticket sales still strong nationwide, the film’s domestic earnings could top NT$300 million, 1 Production Film Co said. The film is scheduled for release in Hong Kong on Dec. 5, while Japan and several Southeast Asian nations have purchased distribution rights, it said. Detention has received 12 nominations for the Golden Horse Awards, including for best feature film, best leading actress, best new performer and best new director. The awards are to be held on Nov. 23. Set during the White Terror era in the 1960s, the film tells the story of two students who find themselves in a realm of vengeful spirits in their empty school and must search for their missing teacher while making their escape.
TRAVEL
MOFA issues Iraq warning
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Tuesday warned Taiwanese not to travel to Iraq and advised those there to leave, citing violence and unrest after a series of protests in the war-torn country. “MOFA’s Bureau of Consular Affairs has issued a code red alert for Iraq. We are urging our nationals in that country to leave immediately,” spokesperson Joanne Ou (歐江安) said. A code red alert, the highest in the ministry’s four-tier travel warning system, advises Taiwanese not to travel to the destination or to leave immediately if they are already there. Taiwanese who encounter safety problems in Iraq are advised to call Taiwan’s representative office in Jordan at +962-6-554-4426 or +962-79-555-2605, or contact MOFA at 0800-085-095, its emergency assistance number in Taipei, Ou said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods