CRIME
Fake banknotes reported
Police yesterday said they had received information about counterfeit NT$100 (US$3.29) banknotes in Yunlin County and were working to trace the source of the bills. Police said they had received word that businesses in a traditional market in Beigang Township (北港) had been given fake NT$100 bills all bearing the serial number CQ281880VJ. A task force would investigate the incident, police said. A vendor who received two of the notes at once said they had an “unusual texture” and identical serial numbers, police said. A resident wrote on social media that they also received fake banknotes while buying seafood at the market, police said. The reports follow an announcement on Wednesday that bogus NT$1,000 banknotes had been seized in the county.
HEALTH
Chinese positivity drops
The COVID-19 positivity rate among arrivals from China dropped to 11.8 percent on Wednesday, likely due to an easing of the pandemic across the Strait, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, adding that the data indicated there would be three waves of infections among them. On Wednesday, 201 of the 1,685 arrivals from China tested positive, down from one-quarter on Jan. 1, the CECC said. The first wave was among people from cities in China, while a second would likely arise after the Lunar New Year as city residents infect people in rural areas of China, it said, adding that there would be a reflected wave from rural to urban.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
President offers condolences
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday visited the Holy See’s apostolic nunciature in Taipei, where she offered condolences over the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Tsai, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Stefano Mazzotti, the Vatican’s charge d’affaires at its Taiwan mission, made the visit together, the Presidential Office said in a statement. Tsai wrote: “May the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose humanity has a constant place in all our hearts, rest in eternal peace; and may the longstanding friendship between Taiwan and the Vatican remain firm and enduring,” the office said. Benedict passed away on Dec. 31.
SOCIETY
McDonald’s ordered to pay
A McDonald’s restaurant in Kaohsiung has been ordered to pay NT$4.72 million to the family of a 23-year-old employee who died several months after collapsing in a walk-in freezer. The Kaohsiung District Court said in its ruling on Wednesday last week that the part-time employee, surnamed Lee (李), had fainted while moving an estimated 1.1 tonnes of food for 40 minutes between the kitchen and the fifth-floor freezer of the Yixin branch of McDonald’s on May 29, 2021. Lee was taken to hospital in a taxi with help from the store manager and other employees, but died nearly four months later on Oct. 5 after a brain hemorrhage and entering septic shock. The Bureau of Labor Insurance initially said the incident was not work-related, determining that Lee had died due to “spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage combined with communicating hydrocephalus.” However, Lee’s parents sought NT$10.05 million from the McDonald’s branch to cover medical, funeral and other costs, accusing the employer of negligence and failure to comply with safety standards. The court ruled that there was a causal relationship between the work Lee had done on the day of his collapse and his death. The ruling can be appealed.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to