ENTERTAINMENT
OneRepublic to perform
American pop-rock band OneRepublic is scheduled to perform its second concert in Kaohsiung on Dec. 19, the event’s organizer announced yesterday. The concert is to be held at the Kaohsiung Arena, with tickets going on general sale at 1pm yesterday. Prices range from NT$2,400 to NT$4,900, Live Nation Taiwan said in a Facebook post. A portion of the tickets is to be available for presale from Friday to Monday for artists, DBS Mastercard holders and members of Live Nation Taiwan, the organizer said.
LABOR
Worker dies in Changhua
A worker at a feed factory in Changhua County’s Beidou Township (北斗) died yesterday after his right leg was caught in a corn crusher while cleaning the machine as it was running. The 41-year-old man, surnamed Yang (楊), slipped on the stairs inside the machine and became trapped, the county’s fire bureau said. The bureau received an emergency call at 10:48am. Rescuers said they reached Yang at 11:10am and found him conscious. Advanced emergency medical technicians were dispatched to help control his bleeding and provide other critical care. At 11:34am, technicians from the machine’s manufacturer arrived to help dismantle the equipment, and Yang was extricated at 12:15pm, but he had already lost vital signs. He was pronounced dead after being sent to Yuanlin Christian Hospital.
FOOD SAFETY
Items blocked at border
A batch of coriander powder imported from India has been destroyed at the border for containing Sudan I, a banned toxic dye, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. The 10kg batch of spices also contained excessive amounts of pesticides, the FDA said. Meanwhile, two separate batches of gelato take-out containers from Italy, both imported by Venchi Taiwan Limited, Taiwan Branch (Hong Kong), were stopped at the border for contravening separate import regulations. The 62.04kg batch of containers for the chocolate brand Venchi contained optical brightening agents, which are banned for food container use, and also failed dissolution tests, the FDA said, adding that containers that fail dissolution tests could release toxic substances even under normal use. Also, on yesterday’s list of items blocked at the border were dried mulberries from China, cumin powder from India and fresh durian from Vietnam, which were flagged for excessive bleach, pesticides and heavy metal contaminations respectively.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
SOVEREIGNTY: The rigs show that Beijing ‘rejects Taiwan’s jurisdiction’ by building in areas where Taipei demands permission to build or alter installations Chinese oil rigs have been sighted just 26 nautical miles (42km), from Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), posing a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty if left unchallenged, a brief published by the Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday said. Pratas Island, 444km from Kaohsiung, is northeast of the South China Sea and houses a Taiwanese garrison. The brief, titled “Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island” — referring to the People’s Republic of China — analyzed photographs and said that Beijing’s tools to pressure Taiwan now include oil rigs. “Oil rigs now constitute part of Beijing’s
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
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