ENTERTAINMENT
Mayday to play 8 shows
Photo courtesy of B’in Music
Mayday has announced plans to hold eight concerts in Taoyuan, including a special New Year’s Eve concert. The concerts titled “Mayday Now-Here Re: Live 2022-2023” are to be held at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium from Dec. 23 to Jan. 8, with fans invited to welcome in the New Year with the band on Dec. 31, the band’s agent, B’in Music, said in a statement released on Monday. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Saturday for those using E.Sun Bank credit cards, and at 11am for everyone else.
COVID-19
Premier contracts virus
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has tested positive for COVID-19 after feeling unwell, Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said yesterday. Su felt ill after spending the morning at the Legislative Yuan, and went home to quarantine for seven days with mild symptoms after a COVID-19 rapid test came back positive, Lo said. Due to Su’s absence, the legislative caucuses decided to postpone the afternoon legislative session. While in quarantine, Su would be working virtually, Lo added. Su met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Central Epidemic Command Center on Saturday, Presidential Office spokesperson Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said. Tsai is in good health and her medical team would continue to observe her, Chang said.
SOCIETY
PFP’s Hwang Yih-jiau dies
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that it had no reason to suspect foul play in the death of former People First Party (PFP) legislator Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交), but did not say whether he had taken his own life. Hwang was found by paramedics with no vital signs at 5:11pm on Monday after receiving a report that a man had fallen from the 11th floor of an apartment building on Wende Road in Taipei’s Neihu District (?湖). He was pronounced dead at Tri-Service General Hospital after efforts to resuscitate him failed. He was 69 years old. PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said he was deeply shocked to learn of Hwang’s passing. Prior to being a lawmaker from 1999 to 2012, Hwang was a spokesman for the now-defunct Taiwan Provincial Government. He also held positions at the Government Information Office, which was dissolved in 2012.
TRAVEL
Fair to offer overseas deals
The Taipei International Travel Fair is to take place from Nov. 4 to 7 at the Nangang Exhibition Center, the Taiwan Visitors Association announced on Monday. The fair is to be the biggest of its kind since Taiwan reopened its borders on Thursday, the association said. The expo’s 1,200 booths would include tourism firms from countries such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as airline companies and hotels, it said. They would be selling travel items such as plane tickets, tour packages, food and lodging vouchers, and tickets to shows and theme parks at discount prices, the association said. Early-bird tickets priced at NT$150 are available today only at kiosks in Family Mart, 7-Eleven, Hi-life and OK Mart outlets, as well as via KKday, Klook and udn’s ticket sales Web site. Regular tickets cost NT$200. Those unable to get an early-bird deal can buy tickets at a 10 percent discount from tomorrow to Nov. 3. Medical professionals, firefighters and police officers would be given free entry to show gratitude for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the association said. Another 10,000 free tickets would be distributed to blood donors at Taipei’s 17 blood donation locations from Oct. 29 to Nov. 5, the association said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
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