ENVIRONMENT
Bureau targets mosquitoes
Preventing the spread of dengue fever is likely to become a priority for environmental authorities in Kaohsiung as summer approaches, officials said yesterday. The Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau said it would step up prevention measures beginning in June by sending a 120-person team every Wednesday to clean up possible mosquito breeding grounds, including 40 manholes and box culverts across the city, rather than collect garbage. Last year, Kaohsiung was hit by the nation’s severest dengue fever outbreak since 2012, with more than 2,000 cases reported. The bureau assured residents that it could handle its sanitation responsibilities despite reducing the frequency of garbage collections. It said the city collects garbage every day apart from Sunday, while other metropolitan areas, such as Taipei, New Taipei City, Taichung and Tainan, collect garbage five days per week. Dengue fever is an infectious tropical disease spread by mosquitoes. The symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, and skin rash.
ENTERTAINMENT
Shinhwa announce Taipei gig
Shinhwa, one of the most renowned boy bands in South Korea, are scheduled to hold a concert in Taipei on May 16 as part of a tour to celebrate their 17th anniversary this year. The concert is scheduled to take place at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall. It is part of the band’s Asia tour that is due to begin in Shanghai on May 9. Since their debut in 1998, Shinhwa have released 12 studio albums, the most recent being We. The band members are known for their upbeat music and energetic dance routines. Their hit songs include Perfect Man, Only One and Once in a Lifetime.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taiwan is bracing for a political shake-up as a majority of directly elected lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) face the prospect of early removal from office in an unprecedented wave of recall votes slated for July 26 and Aug. 23. The outcome of the public votes targeting 26 KMT lawmakers in the next two months — and potentially five more at later dates — could upend the power structure in the legislature, where the KMT and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) currently hold a combined majority. After denying direct involvement in the recall campaigns for months, the
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