SOCIETY
Online rice drive launched
An online free goods distribution service has prepared rice for social welfare organizations and disadvantaged families to enable the nation’s needy people to enjoy the Lunar New Year holiday. The service was set up by Give543 to provide a Web-based donation platform along with major donor Ting Hung-yi (丁弘毅) to offer 1,040kg of rice to people in need starting on Tuesday, Web site founder Ma Yu-ju (馬玉如) said. As most disadvantaged groups may not have computers, it is difficult for them to learn about the donation campaign from the Web site, Ma added. Neighbors are therefore encouraged to help spread the word, and assist families in need of assistance to apply for the free rice. The rice donation campaign will run from Tuesday to Jan. 17, during which applications will be accepted on the campaign’s Web site (http://www.give543.com/mypage_give/giveto_view/1/79549). Any individual and public interest group in need of other supplements can publicize their needs on Give543.com.
ASTRONOMY
Jupiter in view tomorrow
Astronomy buffs will have a chance to see Jupiter at its brightest tomorrow, when it moves closest to the Earth, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The opposition of Jupiter, which occurs when the Earth’s orbit situates it between the sun and the largest planet in the solar system, will offer the best view of Jupiter this year, the museum said. Although the celestial event will take place at 5:11am tomorrow, museum staffer Chang Kuei-lan (張桂蘭) said the planet will remain relatively bright until late this month. Anyone could easily find Jupiter in the late evening by looking up at the eastern sky, Chang said. Those interested in the planet’s Great Red Spot and its South Equatorial Belt are encouraged to visit the museum between 7pm and 9pm on Saturdays to use its 20cm telescope for a look, she said.
TOURISM
Japanese tourists down: data
Fewer Japanese tourists visited Taiwan during the first 11 months of last year as a result of the depreciation of the Japanese yen, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. Although the group still accounted for Taiwan’s second-largest source of tourism, after Chinese tourists, the number dropped by 2.6 percent to 1.28 million compared with the same period a year ago, officials said. This bucks the overall trend Taiwan is seeing. The DGBAS said the nation saw 7.21 million foreign arrivals between January and November last year, a 9.1 percent annual increase. By the end of last year, the nation set a new record — welcoming more than 8 million tourists for the first time in a single year.
ENVIRONMENT
Air quality ‘unhealthy’
The air quality in some parts of the country has reached “unhealthy” levels due to relatively high concentrations of particulate matter brought in by a continental cold air mass, a government air quality monitoring Web site indicated yesterday. The Environmental Protection Administration’s Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Network site reported that due to the migration of transboundary pollution, the concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 were relatively high. The pollutant standards index (PSI), based on the concentration of several particles in the air, reached a red (unhealthy air quality) level in Taipei and on Kinmen and Matsu islands yesterday morning.
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
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,
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
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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