SCIENCE
Student project wins gold
A Taiwanese high school student’s science project on arthritis medication won a gold medal at the Izmir International Innovation Science Energy Engineering Fair held in Turkey from Thursday last week to Tuesday, the National Taiwan Science Education Center said on Tuesday. Chung Chiao-yun (鐘巧芸), a student in her third year at Taipei First Girls High School, won the gold in biology for her study that found that itraconazole, a medication used to treat fungal infections, has the potential to treat arthritis, the Taipei-based education institute said in a statement. Chung used itraconazole, which has anti-inflammatory properties, to further her understanding of how the C1GALT1 gene causes arthritis symptoms, like inflammation and pain, the statement said. Citing the “2019 Global Burden of Disease Study,” Chung said she decided to study the disease that mainly affects people older than 40 because of the impact it has on their ability to move and their mental health. The 2019 study found there were about 528 million people with osteoarthritis and 18.6 million people with rheumatoid arthritis globally, 20 times higher than the total number of cancer cases, Chung said. Itraconazole can inhibit the C1GALT1 gene, which causes inflammation, and “potentially alleviate arthritis in vivo,” Chung concluded in her article.
Photo courtesy of Taipei First Girls High School
DIPLOMACY
Forum date announced
Taipei and Shanghai simultaneously announced yesterday that the 15th Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum would be held in Taiwan’s capital on Dec. 17. A delegation of about 100 people from Shanghai would attend the event, themed “Smart governance, sustainable future” at the Regent Taipei hotel. “It is expected to continue pleasant interactions, pragmatically promote exchanges, and enhance the well-being of residents in both cities,” a statement on the Taipei City Government’s Web site said. The two sides would sign memorandums of cooperation in “smart medical care” and zoo animal exchanges this year, it said. Taipei and Shanghai have taken turns hosting the forum every year since 2010, with a total of 14 events held and 45 agreements signed. Taipei City Government spokesperson Yin Wei (殷瑋) said that the delegation from China, led by Shanghai Vice Mayor Hua Yuan (華源), would engage in exchanges with the Taiwanese side, led by Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安). Yin said that there would be three sub-forums focused on “friendly transportation,” “river governance” and “cities of culture.”
INFRASTRUCTURE
Water repairs in Banciao
The water supply to about 26,000 households in areas of New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) would be temporarily suspended from Monday next week for pipeline maintenance, the city’s Water Resources Department announced on Tuesday. Beginning at 9am that day, the water supply would be suspended for 40 hours until 1am on Wednesday next week to carry out maintenance work on an old underground pipeline along Nanya S Road, the department said in a statement. A total of 26,352 households are expected to be affected, and consumers are advised to store water ahead of time, it said. Various makeshift water supply tanks would be available around the city, such as on Fuzhong Road, or people can contact Taiwan Water Corp for water delivery, it added. The wards of Chienkuo, Hanshen, Minchuan and Min’an as well as parts of Guoguang, Shehou and Xianya would be affected.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
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