SOCIETY
Japan makes form change
Japan yesterday began allowing people to write “Taiwan” in the nationality field on household registration forms. The change lets Taiwanese who live in Japan change their registration from “China” to “Taiwan.” To register a household in Japan, one must be a Japanese citizen. Foreign spouses of Japanese citizens and foreign-born people who obtain Japanese citizenship have their nationality recorded in the household registry. The Ministry of the Interior said that about 800 to 1,000 Taiwanese marry Japanese annually. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that through correct descriptions in family registers, the rights and interests of Taiwanese in Japan would be further protected.
WEATHER
Cool weather to continue
Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed that at 8:30am yesterday, the temperature in Taipei dropped to 17.3°C, the second-lowest on record for late May since 2000. The cooler temperatures were brought by seasonal winds, the CWA said, adding that the wet and cool weather would last until late today. Some coastal areas might experience winds of 39kph, with gusts of 62kph until tonight, it said. By today, the rain is expected to ease in most areas except in Keelung, where occasional showers are likely to persist, the CWA said. National Central University Department of Atmospheric Sciences adjunct associate professor Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that another weather front is expected to approach Taiwan late tomorrow and would bring more rain. Most parts of the nation would see significant rainfall on Thursday, with some areas experiencing torrential rain, lightning and high winds, Wu said.
CULTURE
Museum to raise prices
The National Museum of Natural Science yesterday said it would raise some of its ticket prices for the first time since it opened in 1986. Starting on July 1, an adult ticket would cost NT$120, up from NT$100, while the price for the museum’s Dinosaur Card membership would rise from NT$300 to NT$360, the museum said. Tickets would cost NT$60 for children aged six to 12 and student groups of 20 or more, and for seniors aged 65 and older during holidays, it said. Tickets for students older than 12 and groups of more than 20 would cost NT$90, it added. Museum Director Huang Wen-san (黃文山) said that recent facility upgrades, made a price increase necessary. Discounted ticket prices are to remain unchanged, as would admission fees for the Botanical Garden, the Science Center, the Space Theater, the 3D Theater, the 921 Earthquake Museum, the Chelungpu Fault Preservation Park and the Fonghuanggu Bird and Ecology Park.
SOCIETY
Worker dies in construction accident
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) yesterday confirmed that a worker died after an accident at its under-construction packaging plant in Chiayi County. TSMC said it had halted all construction at the plant. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it received a report that a transformer box had fallen and struck a worker after the forklift operator transporting the box failed to notice a drop in the ground. TSMC said onsite personnel administered first aid immediately and an ambulance took the worker to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The company said it would cooperate with authorities in their investigation into the accident and assist the worker’s contractor with the aftermath of his death.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
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