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.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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