WEATHER
Cold front approaches
A continental cold air mass is forecast to envelop Taiwan next week, sending temperatures to below 10°C in some areas on New Year’s Eve, National Central University adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences Wu Der-rong (吳德榮) said yesterday. With the arrival on Wednesday of the first cold front this winter, the mercury is expected to plunge to as low as 8°C to 10°C in some parts of the country at night as the system intensifies, Wu said. Temperatures would fall across Taiwan, with the coldest weather forecast for New Year’s Eve on Thursday, he said. Citing data from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Wu said that the temperature in the Taipei metropolitan area on Thursday would be about 7°C, while in some low-lying parts of the city the mercury is likely to plunge to 5°C. Residents in northern Taiwan would see a temporary break in the wet weather on Saturday next week, Wu said, adding that the following day, a cloud system from the south would bring rain to many parts of the country.
SOCIETY
Age amendment passed
The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to the Civil Code, officially lowering the age of majority from 20 to 18. The new regulations would be effective from Jan. 1, 2023. Modern technology allows young people to develop self-awareness, and mental and physical maturity faster than before, the Ministry of Justice said, adding that it has answered public expectations and proposed the amendment to make 18 the new age of majority. With the rule change, people aged 18 would be allowed to freely marry or divorce, while they can get engaged at age 17. The amendments removed Article 981 of the Civil Code, which states that minors must obtain the permission of their legal guardians to marry.
SOCIETY
Nitori announces recall
Nitori Taiwan, a retailer of Japanese furniture and home accessories, on Thursday announced a voluntary recall of nine types of diatomaceous bath mats and coasters due to possibly excessive levels of asbestos. In a notice on its Web site, Nitori said that people who purchased the products can take them to a Nitori store for a full refund, with or without a receipt. The nine affected products were made in China, and 2.41 million of them have been sold globally, the company said. It has removed an additional 54 items from its shelves, pending testing for asbestos — a carcinogen, Nitori said. People who have items confirmed as containing asbestos or that are being tested for the substance should double-wrap them in plastic until they can be returned or are deemed safe, the company said. Products that are worn or broken pose the greatest danger, as this can allow asbestos particles to be released into the air, the company said.
SOCIETY
Volcano drill scheduled
Residents of Hutian Borough (湖田) in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) on Tuesday are to receive a test warning on their mobile phones as authorities run a drill for a volcanic eruption to upgrade the national disaster warning network, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. Residents of Hutian are to receive a text messages reading: “Drill, Volcanic Info, CWB 02_2349 1181,” between 10am and 10:30am, depending on their telecommunications provider, the bureau said. If the messages are delivered smoothly, the bureau would apply to have the volcano warning system included in the Public Warning System, it said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,