SOCIETY
Tsai promotes 3D animation
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday promoted a locally produced 3D animation and urged people to support local animators. “Winter break has just begun and Taiwanese animation film Tai Chi Cats (貓影特工) is in theaters now,” Tsai wrote in a Line post alongside a cartoon depicting her wearing earphones and cat ears, and holding her cat. Tsai praised the film as an original animation created by a Taiwanese team. It tells the story of how a group of cat-shaped aliens from another planet save the Earth. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) supported the film by watching it in a theater in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) on Saturday. The 83-minute film, directed by Kent Chang (張永昌), was produced by Kent Animation Digital Independent Production.
HEALTH
Second Chinese denied entry
A Chinese woman was yesterday denied entry into the nation for failing to pay a NT$200,000 (US$6,488) fine for carrying pork products from areas affected by African swine fever over the past three years. The woman surnamed Shih (石) was caught carrying 80g of Chinese sausages at Kaohsiung International Airport and issued a fine. After she refused to pay the fine on the spot, the National Immigration Agency required her to board a flight back to China at 6:35pm. It was the second case of a Chinese being denied entry since the new regulation took effect on Friday. A Chinese tourist caught illegally carrying pork and beef jerky at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Saturday paid the fine and was allowed into the nation, the Council of Agriculture said.
HEALTH
Chickens infected with flu
Samples taken from about 100 dead chickens found near a stream in Hsinchu County have tested positive for the avian influenza virus, the county’s Animal Disease Control Center said on Saturday. The carcasses were infected with the H5 strain of avian flu, a pathogenic virus that is causing global concern as a potential pandemic threat, center official Peng Cheng-yu (彭正宇) said. Farms within 3km of the site were disinfected and cleared of any virus activity, he added. The county’s Environmental Protection Bureau has teamed up with local police to find the chickens’ source to make sure that other birds have not been contaminated, he said. People found guilty of endangering public health by abandoning infected animals or failing to report large numbers of potentially infected animals could face a fine of up to NT$1 million under the Act for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Disease (動物傳染病防治條例), Peng said.
WEATHER
Temperatures to increase
Temperatures are to increase today as a cold air mass weakens, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday, forecasting highs of 20°C. However, early morning temperatures would remain low, and the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures might reach 10 degrees in northwestern Taiwan and nine degrees in other areas, it said. The bureau had earlier issued a warning for an overnight cold snap for areas north of Changhua County and along the coast of Yilan County, forecasting a low of 10°C due to the cold air mass moving in from China. Temperatures would further increase on Wednesday and Thursday before northeasterly winds begin to gain strength on Friday, sending the mercury plummeting again in northern and northeastern Taiwan, the bureau said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
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