HEALTH
Darkening indicates diabetes
Overweight people with abnormal thickening and darkening of their skin creases should be on alert for diabetes, a doctor at Taipei’s Shuang Ho Hospital said. Most patients assume that dark, thick patches in skin folds are the result of lack of personal hygiene, but in fact, they are common symptoms of diabetes, said Liou Tsan-hong (劉燦宏), chief the hospital’s medical rehabilitation department. Acanthosis nigricans, the medical name for the skin disorder, is characterized by excessive melanin deposits in skin folds such as in the armpit, groin and neck, Liou said. Overweight people with insulin resistance have excessive insulin that tends to thicken and darken skin, and can sometimes even lead to small lumps, he said.
SOCIETY
Zoo collects panda sperm
The Taipei Zoo yesterday collected sperm from its male panda for future artificial insemination after its female panda went into heat, but failed to attract her mate this week, zoo officials said. The zoo collected sperm from Tuan Tuan (團團), one of the two pandas that China gave to the zoo in 2008 to signify warming relations with Taiwan, because he did not seem interested in mating with Yuan Yuan (圓圓), zoo director Jason Yeh (葉傑生) said. Yuan Yuan, who showed signs of estrus a few days earlier, lost her appetite and kept walking around and trying to cool down by soaking in her pool, Yeh said. Tuan Tuan, however, did not appear as passionate as Yuan Yuan, and the six-and-a-half-year-old panda was interested only in feeding and sleeping, Yeh said. Because of the lukewarm interaction between the pandas, the zoo collected Tuan Tuan’s sperm in case the animals fail to mate during the female’s estrus, Yeh said.
AGRICULTURE
Farms suffer losses
The agricultural and fisheries sector reported losses of NT$84.46 million (US$2.9 million) last month as a series of cold fronts damaged crops and fish farms in several areas, the Council of Agriculture said. As of Tuesday, financial losses from crop damage reached NT$21.58 million, with a total of 455 hectares affected, the council said. The heaviest damage was to high-stem grafted pears in Greater Taichung, with losses reaching NT$10.96 million, followed by wax apples and Hai-li tangors (a type of citrus fruit), the council said. In the fishery industry, total losses reached NT$62.88 million, the council said. Penghu County — the worst-hit area — suffered losses of NT$24.86 million, followed by Greater -Kaohsiung with NT$16.43 million and Greater Tainan with NT$16.1 million, it said. The council said it had approved plans to compensate tangor farmers for their losses and would decide on subsidies for Penghu County’s fishery industry after an inspection of the affected areas.
TOURISM
Kinmen to invite DFS bids
The Kinmen County Government said yesterday it would invite tenders to build duty-free shops at Kinmen airport later this year as part of the county’s plan to develop the island into a duty-free zone. Kinmen County Commissioner Li Wo-shi (李沃士) made the announcement during an inspection of the planned location for the airport duty-free shops. “[Management] will invite tenders for the duty-free shops, and the winning bidders will start operations in four months’ time,” he said. The first duty-free shops in Kinmen opened in 2005 at Suitou Wharf, which serves boats that provide direct transportation between Kinmen and Xiamen in Fujian Province, China. Several duty-free shops also opened in the county’s downtown area in December.
ENVIRONMENT
New reservoir approved
Taiwan will construct a new reservoir in the south after the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) gave its final approval to the project yesterday, a move that drew criticism from local environmentalists. The Water Resources Agency plans to use the Hushan Reservoir to solve the problem of overuse of groundwater in Yunlin County and said it would only be for residents’ use and would not provide water for several major industrial development projects in the area. Construction of the reservoir is to be completed in three years. The government passed an original environmental impact assessment on the reservoir in 2000, and an EPA committee gave its nod to a proposed change of plans on how to channel water to the reservoir. The change became necessary to address the issue of several major typhoons that have hit Taiwan in recent years. Critics, including some members of the committee itself, expressed concern that such a change may pose risks in the event of earthquakes.
CULTURE
Fusion concerts planned
Some of the nation’s best concertmasters will come together to perform at two fusion concerts on Saturday and Sunday at the National Concert Hall. Wu Ting-yu (吳庭毓), concertmaster of National Symphony Orchestra; Roger Chiang (姜智譯), principal violin player with Taipei Symphony Orchestra; Evergreen Symphony Orchestra’s principal violinist Kuo Wei-pin; and Jimmy Hsueh (薛志璋), former first violinist with National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, have been invited to perform at the concert titled “Ultimate Beauty, Crazy Love.”
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
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