ENTERTAINMENT
TWICE coming in November
South Korean pop group TWICE is to perform in Kaohsiung on Nov. 22 as part of their 11-city THIS IS FOR world tour, the group announced on Sunday. It would be TWICE’s first performance in Taiwan after debuting 10 years ago, with local fans especially excited to see the group’s Taiwanese member, Chou Tzuyu (周子瑜). Chou is from Tainan, and became the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. The announcement drew excited comments such as: “Finally! We’ve been waiting for TWICE,” and “Tzuyu finally comes back for a concert in Kaohsiung!” Along with Blackpink’s concert on Oct. 18 and 19, Kaohsiung is to host two big-name girl group performances this year. The upcoming performances would also make Blackpink the first girl group to perform twice at the Kaohsiung National Stadium. It would be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert.
Photo: screen grab from TWICE’s X account
TRAVEL
Tigerair adds three routes
Tigerair Taiwan is to launch three new international routes — two to South Korea’s Jeju Island and one to Japan’s Ishigaki Island, as summer vacation nears. The Kaohsiung-Jeju route is to begin on June 30, followed by Taichung-Jeju on July 1 and Taoyuan-Ishigaki on July 17, the Taiwan-based low-cost carrier said in a statement yesterday. With the additions, Tigerair Taiwan would become the first domestic carrier to offer direct flights to Jeju from northern, central and southern Taiwan. The Ishigaki route would also bring the number of Japanese destinations served by the airline to 23, the statement said. The Kaohsiung-Jeju and Taoyuan-Ishigaki routes are new, while the Taichung-Jeju route would be a revival of an old route, the airline said. Tigerair plans to operate four weekly flights on the Kaohsiung-Jeju route, and two per week each on the other two routes, with adjustments being made depending on demand. A two-day promo — tomorrow and on Thursday — offers a base fare of NT$500 for the Jeju route and NT$1,599 for the Taoyuan-Ishigaki route, the airline said.
SOCIETY
Vietnamese’s body found
The body of a 32-year-old Vietnamese migrant worker who reportedly fell into the Houlong River (後龍溪) in Miaoli County on Sunday was found after emergency services resumed their search of the area yesterday, local authorities said. The man, surnamed Nguyen, was discovered at about 12:20pm, trapped between concrete blocks at a check dam near the border of Miaoli City and Gongguan Township (公館), the Miaoli County Fire Bureau said. The bureau was notified at about 6pm on Sunday that Nguyen had fallen into the river while barbecuing near the riverbank with four other Vietnamese, said Cheng Sheng-feng (鄭勝峰), head of the bureau’s first disaster relief unit. Nguyen slipped on a concrete block near the check dam and fell into the river, his companions said. The bureau immediately dispatched more than 10 firefighters and volunteer rescuers to the scene, along with a drone camera, Cheng said. However, the search was called off at night due to poor visibility and the strong current. Nguyen’s body was found near the spot where he fell, the bureau said, adding that he might have been pulled under by a whirlpool and trapped on the riverbed. Local prosecutors and police are taking over the case to investigate the cause of death, the bureau added.
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do