HEALTH
Group calls for donations
The Taiwan Blood Services Foundation on Saturday called on the public to donate blood, as the nation’s supply of blood has fallen below the officially designated safe level of seven days. A shortage of all blood types has reached critical levels particularly in Taipei and Tainan, the foundation said. In Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, there is a shortage of type O blood, while in Taichung, types O and AB are in short supply, it added. Liu Chun-hong (劉俊宏) of the Taipei Blood Center, which is run by the foundation, said the low supply could be due to increased demand from people with cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal bleeding. Blood transfusions in Taipei in September rose by 6,000 bags from a year earlier, Liu said. One of the reasons could be the postponement of major surgeries at hospitals earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, adding that there was also high demand in October and last month.
RESTAURANTS
Ice Monster to close shop
Ice Monster, a Taipei chain store that sells shaved ice desserts, yesterday said that it would temporarily close its shop on Yongkang Street due to slow business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The store, the first in the chain, would close by the end of this year, but those on Songgao Road and in the Ximending (西門町) area would remain open, the company said in a statement. Yongkang Street is a popular tourist area that normally attracts foreign visitors. However, since the beginning of this year, several businesses in the Yongkang Street commercial circle have been forced to close or readjust, the Taipei Dongmen Yongkang Business Circle Development Association has said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Taiwanese film wins award
The Taiwanese comedy I WeirDO (怪胎) on Saturday won the best film award at the London East Asia Film Festival, the biggest Asian film festival in the UK. Written and directed by newcomer Liao Ming-yi (廖明毅), the movie tells the story of two lovers who have obsessive compulsive disorder. It has been touted as the first feature film in Asia shot entirely on an iPhone. The film has won the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema’s NETPAC Award at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea, as well as the Crystal Mulberry Award and Purple Mulberry Award at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. It also won the Audience Award at Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival and an Honorable Mention Award at the New York Asian Film Festival.
WEATHER
Temperatures to drop
Temperatures in most of northern Taiwan are expected to fall to 13°C this week with the approach of a seasonal northeasterly wind system, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The wind system began affecting Taiwan late last night, sending the mercury down to 14°C to 16°C degrees in northern and central parts of the nation until Wednesday, the bureau said. In low-lying and coastal regions, as well as in areas close to the mountains, the temperature is expected to dip to lows of 13°C, bureau forecaster Wang Pin-hsiang (王品翔) said. In eastern and southern parts of the country, lows will hover around 17°C to 18°C, he said. The cold and wet weather in northern Taiwan is likely to last until Friday, after which the mercury would rise again and the rain would stop, he said. However, another cold wave would arrive on Saturday, bringing cold and rainy weather to northern Taiwan again, he said.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
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