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.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said yesterday, as tensions between China and Taiwan raise concerns in Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defense identification zone near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). The US military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which
STRATEGIC MISTAKE: Beijing’s deployment of aircraft near Taiwan proves the ‘China threat theory’ that sees it attempting to destabilize the region, an analyst said China on Saturday and yesterday sent a record number of military aircraft into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in what analysts said was an attempt to flex its military might for US President Joe Biden. Thirteen Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ on Saturday and 15 entered yesterday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. On Saturday, eight Xian H-6K bombers, four Shenyang J-16 fighters and a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, entered the ADIZ, while yesterday there were two Y-8s, two Su-30s, four J-16s, six J-10 fighters and a Y-8 reconnaissance
DISPOSING MYTHS: A new constitution would better reflect reality, as the current one was drafted ‘in and for China,’ without the consent of Taiwanese, advocates said Independence advocates yesterday launched the Taiwan New Constitution Alliance to promote drafting a new, localized constitution. “This is a historic moment for Taiwan. Drafting a new constitution is the most important task Taiwanese face,” veteran independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said at the inaugural event in Taipei. “Although the Democratic Progressive Party is in power, its authority is based on the Republic of China [ROC] Constitution, which has no connection to Taiwan,” said the 95-year-old Koo, a former presidential adviser. “The historic task of drafting a new constitution depends on efforts by all Taiwanese,” Koo said. “A constitution for a sovereign, independent Taiwan
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