POLITICS
Legislature passes budget
The Legislative Yuan on Friday approved this year’s government budget, reduced by about NT$25.6 billion (US$901 million), or 1.18 percent, compared with last year. Under the Executive Yuan’s original budget proposal, the government planned to spend NT$2.1615 trillion, up NT$83.9 billion, or 4 percent, from last year. The Executive Yuan originally forecast a drop in government revenue of NT$62 billion to NT$2.045 trillion. However, in the budget approved by the legislature, government spending is budgeted at NT$2.1359 trillion, and revenue forecast at about NT$2.0534 trillion. The approved budget covers 5 percent less for subsidies to local governments, and 3 percent less for spending on military equipment and facilities. The allowances for official trips to China were cut by 40 percent, other overseas trips and training by 5 percent, outsourced projects by 5 percent and policy advocacy by 20 percent.
CULTURE
‘A Sun’ listed for Oscars
The Taiwanese family drama A Sun (陽光普照), along with 92 other entries, has been longlisted for best international feature film at the 93rd Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Thursday. The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on Feb. 9, it added. Directed by Pingtung County-born filmmaker Chung Mong-hong (鍾孟宏), A Sun depicts the hardships a family experiences in the aftermath of their son’s arrest. Starring Taiwanese actors Chen Yi-wen (陳以文) and Ko Shu-chin (柯淑勤), the film won a slew of awards at the Golden Horse Awards in 2019, including Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Film Editing. The academy is to announce nominees for all categories on March 15.
CULTURE
Taipei beautifies covers
The Taipei City Government has installed 25 uniquely designed maintenance hole covers across the capital, and it is inviting residents and tourists to explore the city’s rich culture and history through the often overlooked drainage system caps. The new covers feature eight designs, and are patterned and colored with symbols that reflect their respective surroundings. The city aims to raise aesthetic awareness and encourage people to learn more about Taipei, the Hydraulic Engineering Office said. The location of the special covers can be found at fb.watch/2pOKbCqkGU. There are about 16,000 maintenance holes on Taipei’s streets, with 7,000 accessible from underground locations.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
YouBike fares raised
Users of the bicycle rental service YouBike in New Taipei City would soon also be charged for the first half-hour, the New Taipei City Department of Transportation said. However, the NT$50 charged for rides up to 30 minutes would not be charged from those who transfer from the YouBike system to a different means of public transportation, it added. Transfer users account for 75 percent of all rides in the city, the department said, adding that it believes the change would not discourage people from using public transportation. Department director Chung Ming-shih (鍾鳴時) said that the change would come into effect in late March at the earliest. Implemented in 2014, the city’s YouBike system comprises 635 stations and a fleet of 20,265 bikes, the department said. It is used by more than 100,000 people per day, it said, adding that an estimated 113 million people have since 2014 used YouBikes in the city.
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
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,
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