SOCIETY
Three injured by falling tree
Three people were yesterday injured after they were struck by a tree that toppled suddenly at a recreational park in Taichung, possibly because of strong winds, the city’s Fire Bureau said. The bureau said it received a report at about 11:23am that a tree had fallen on three visitors at Aofong Mountain Park, about 2.5km west of Taichung International Airport. The three were at a playground in front of the Cingshuei Ghost Cave, one of several attractions at the park, firefighters said. The injured were two adults and a 12-year-old boy, all identified by their last name Ko (柯), police officers who arrived at the scene to investigate said. One of the adults was the uncle of the child, and he and the boy were treated for bruises to their limbs and pain in the back of their heads, police said. The third person, a 48-year-old man whose relation to the child and uncle was not specified, was knocked out by the falling tree, but regained consciousness and was in stable condition. Police said they were still looking into what caused the tree to fall, but witnesses at the scene cited strong winds as blowing the tree over.
TRAVEL
CAL explores rail-fly service
China Airlines (CAL), the nation’s flagship carrier, on Friday said that it has been exploring the intermodal travel market, reaching agreements with German and Japanese rail companies to provide more rail-fly service options for its passengers. Starting today, CAL passengers can use the airline’s codeshare agreement with German national railway Deutsche Bahn to book multimodal itineraries that combine international flight tickets with a train ride to any of 13 German cities, which they can take after they land in Frankfurt Airport. Passengers can enjoy seamless connections and preferential fares for as low as NT$1,000 on a train trip to cities such as Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne and Nuremberg, the airline said. The trip can be directly arranged on CAL’s Web site, and since the partnering Deutsche Bahn trains would be assigned with CAL’s “CI” code, it would be easier for flight passengers to find their connecting trains upon arrival, it said. The carrier said it has also been working with West Japan Railway Co to provide intermodal travel bookings from now until March 31 next year. CAL added that its passengers holding select round-trip flight tickets to Osaka dated from now until June 29 next year can book train travel packages in nearby regions at preferential rates.
CULTURE
Sarah Brightman coming
Singer and UNESCO Artist for Peace Sarah Brightman is to perform in Taiwan in the middle of December, when she is to showcase her favorite music and greatest hits for local fans as part of her international “A Christmas Symphony” tour. Brightman is to perform in Taiwan from Dec. 14 to 18, when she will entertain music lovers in Kaohsiung, Taichung, Taipei and Pingtung. Ticket sales started on Thursday. People can buy them kham.com.tw, as well as Hi-Life and OK Mart convenience stores. Brightman, who rose to fame playing the role of Christine Daae in the musical The Phantom of the Opera, has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, making her the world’s best-selling soprano. She was honored on Thursday with the 2,736th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Pantages Theater for her outstanding contributions to theater/live performance.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
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