CULTURE
Expo visitors reach 2 million
The number of visitors to the Taipei International Flora Expo broke the 2 million mark yesterday, slightly earlier than the organizers had projected. The 2 millionth visitor was recorded at 10:11am, less than three weeks after the 1 millionth visitor was recorded on Nov. 27, Taipei International Flora Expo Operational Headquarters said. The visitor total was about 10 percent ahead of the organizers’ original expectations. The organizers could not immediately identify the 2 millionth visitor because the exposition has many entrances and ticket booths. So the expo organizers gave vouchers to the 1,999,500th visitor and the 999 visitors who followed, from which the 2 millionth visitor was chosen in a draw later yesterday. The winner received an EVA Airways ticket to an Asian destination.
ECONOMY
Singapore pact talks to start
Taiwan and Singapore will start talks on the possible signing of an economic partnership agreement early next year, a joint statement released by the Singapore Trade Office in Taipei and the Taipei Representative Office in Singapore said yesterday. Taiwan and Singapore, which are both members of the WTO, have completed their own feasibility studies and concluded that such an agreement “would offer significant mutual benefits,” the statement said. Should the formal negotiations result in a deal, the trade pact would be titled: “Agreement between Singapore and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Partnership,” according to the statement.
CRIME
Smuggling ring busted
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) announced on Tuesday that it has smashed a cross-border human smuggling ring, the largest in Asia, after more than a year of cooperation with its counterparts in Hong Kong, Thailand, the UK and the US. The NIA said it detained seven suspects and summoned seven others for questioning, all of whom have been handed over to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office. Ten members of the ring are still at large. The NIA said the ring made more than NT$100 million (US$3.3 million) in profits from more than 30 cases, helping Chinese to illegally enter the US, Canada, the UK or the Netherlands. The ring made of profit of US$50,000 to US$70,000 for every stowaway they smuggled into these countries. Through ads on the Internet or in newspapers, the criminal ring recruited members to serve as middlemen who were responsible for traveling to Hong Kong or Bangkok, where they handed forged Republic of China passports and boarding passes to the Chinese.
SPORTS
SAC vows to protect Yang
Sports Affairs Council (SAC) Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) yesterday promised to protect the rights of taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) as Yang prepares to attend a disciplinary meeting held by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). Tai said the SAC has sent personnel to travel to South Korea with Yang to offer her assistance. Yang is scheduled to fly to Seoul tomorrow to attend a disciplinary hearing regarding her controversial dismissal from the women’s under-49kg division at the Asian Games on Nov. 17. The disqualification sparked a public outcry at the Asian Taekwondo Union, which accused Yang of cheating. Taiwan filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) related to the disqualification. Tai said yesterday that CAS has decided to accept the case.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
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