SPORTS
Flash Wolves win ‘LoL’
Taiwanese eSports team Flash Wolves yesterday beat European team G2 eSports in Katowice, Poland, to win the League of Legends ( LoL) event, which is part of the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) World Championship. The championship, a series of international esports tournaments in which teams from around the world compete, involved three games this year: LoL, StarCraft II and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Flash Wolves represented the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau region in the LoL event. LoL is a popular multiplayer online game played by 27 million people every day, developer Riot Games said. After winning the game, Flash Wolves posted a photograph of the team holding up the trophy on their Facebook page with the caption: “Thank you to everyone who has supported us on this long journey. We did it.”
FOOD
Ichiran Ramen coming
Ichiran Ramen, one of the leading noodle restaurant chains in Japan, is scheduled to open its first eatery in the nation in June, according its Facebook page. The first Taiwanese branch is to open on Songren Road in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), which already hosts a cluster of other Japanese ramen restaurants, including Kagetsu Ramen and Ippudo Ramen. Ichiran Ramen said it would offer its Taiwanese customers exactly the same flavor and experience as at its establishments in Japan. Established in Fukuoka in 1960, Ichiran Ramen is a favorite among Taiwanese visitors to Japan and is famous for its Tonkotsu broth, which is pork flavored.
AGRICULTURE
Tainan farm falls to avian flu
A chicken farm in Tainan’s Houbi District (後壁) on Sunday was confirmed to have been infected with the highly pathogenic avian flu virus H5N2 and 24,586 chickens were culled, the city’s Animal Health and Protection Office said. The owner on Thursday reported abnormal deaths of chickens at the farm, and investigation and testing found that some of the 11-week-old chickens were infected with the virus. Another 14,222 chickens on three Yunlin County farms, 5,098 ducks at a Hualien County farm and 498 turkeys at a Chiayi County farm were also culled on Sunday to contain H5N2 infections. Meanwhile, no new cases of a more virulent H5N6 strain of the virus, which could be transmitted to humans, were reported on Sunday, as the number of infected farms remained at 11 where 26,000 birds were culled, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said. These farms were mostly in Tainan and Yunlin and Chiayi counties, the bureau said.
LABOR
Changing ‘runaway’ rules
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) yesterday said she would propose amending the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) to require employers to provide evidence before accusing their foreign workers of running away. Article 56 of the act states that if a foreign worker is absent from work for three consecutive days and does not contact their employer, the employer must notify local authorities, immigration officials and the police in writing within three days. Wu said the proposal was in response to recent cases of foreign workers reported to have absconded from their jobs when they had simply failed to contact their employer because they were injured at work or were mistreated. Wu said she would propose that employers who falsely report that their workers have run away could face a fine ranging from NT$60,000 to NT$300,000.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
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