TRAVEL
Sichuan gets level-2 alert
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday raised its travel alert for China’s Sichuan Province to level-2 after a new case of H5N1 avian influenza was reported there. Authorities confirmed on Friday last week that a 46-year-old man in the Sichuan city of Suining had contracted the avian flu strain, the first H5N1 human infection in the province this year. The man, who was exposed to dead poultry, developed H5N1 symptoms on Feb. 18 and died on Feb. 27, according to the CDC. Another H5N1 case was reported in China’s Jiangsu Province earlier this year, where a level-2 alert is still in place. Travelers to China should avoid contact with birds, alive or dead, pay attention to personal hygiene and seek immediate medical attention if they develop such symptoms as a fever or a cough, CDC officials said.
POLITICS
New party established
A new political party called Minkuotang (民國黨) — or the Republic Party (MKT) — was officially established yesterday. The founder and chairperson is Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), a legislator who withdrew from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in late January, saying that she wanted to form a “third force” and “to fulfill what the public expects of her.” About a dozen government officials and politicians across party lines, including Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) and Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) attended yesterday’s ceremony and offered their congratulations. Hsu said at the ceremony that the founding of the MKT, “a party that places people before the nation,” was prompted by the need to get back to the grassroots level and “awaken society.”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday. A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother. Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors. The