POLITICS
Tsai makes Swiss list
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been listed as one of five “women we will talk about in 2023” by Swiss media. The article published on Tuesday by 24 Heures and La Tribune de Geneve described Tsai as a “president who dares to confront Beijing.” Tsai did not hesitate to link Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Taiwan’s situation and reiterate that there is no room for compromise when defending democracy, the article said, adding that her words would be of great importance as next year’s presidential election approaches. It also noted her achievements as Taiwan’s first female president and in overseeing the legalization of marriage equality in 2019. The other women named were Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, US Vice President Kamala Harris and British Queen Consort Camilla Parker Bowles.
CRIME
Man nabbed over fake bills
A courier in Changhua County was on Wednesday arrested after 207 counterfeit banknotes of varying amounts were allegedly seized from his vehicle and home a day earlier, local police said yesterday. Two NT$1,000, five NT$500 and 200 NT$100 fake bills were discovered at the residence of the man, surnamed Lai (賴), in Dacun Township (大村) by police, who acted on a tip-off received on Tuesday. Lai told police that he spent NT$4,698 to buy 660 counterfeit banknotes online in November and that he had been giving customers the notes as change over the past three months. Police estimated that as of Wednesday, Lai might have racked up about NT$40,000 in illegal gains. At least four people had been known to have received fake bills, they said.
HEALTH
COVID-19 cases down 20%
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 18,414 COVID-19 infections, including 390 imported cases, and 48 deaths. The number of cases dropped 20.4 percent from the same day a week earlier, it said. The deceased ranged in age from their 40s to their 90s. All but six had underlying health issues, while 27 of them were not vaccinated against COVID-19, the CECC said. New Taipei City reported the highest number of new cases with 3,775, followed by Kaohsiung with 2,164 and Taichung with 2,145. Taoyuan reported 1,989 new cases, Taipei 1,917, Tainan 1,518, Changhua County 731, Hsinchu County 576, Hsinchu City 486, Miaoli County 426, Yunlin County 358, Keelung 354, Pingtung County 342 and Yilan County 245. Chiayi County had 231 cases, Hualien County 208, Nantou County 205, Chiayi City 139, Taitung County 96, Kinmen County 72, Penghu County 33 and Lienchiang County 14, the CECC said.
FOOD
Instant noodles seized
A shipment of instant noodles from South Korea was seized at the border, after being found to contain residue of a banned disinfectant, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday. A total of 1,128kg of Nongshim Shin Ramyun noodles with tofu and kimchi imported by Shing Her International was confiscated after sample testing on Dec. 9 detected 0.075mg/kg of ethylene oxide in the product’s seasoning sachets, the FDA said. Ethylene oxide, a widely used industrial product, is banned in foods in Taiwan, as it is classified as a first-class carcinogen. Long-term exposure can increase the risk of cancer and cause central nervous or peripheral neuropathy, it said. The Nongshim Shin Ramyun noodles would either be returned to the country of origin or destroyed, it added.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
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