ASTRONOMY
Bright comet on Saturday
Comet C/2023 A3, the brightest this year, is anticipated to reach its peak luminosity on Saturday, as it reaches its closest point to Earth, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The window of time to view the comet — discovered in January last year by the Tsuchinshan Observatory in China — is to last until the end of this month, it said. Stargazers should look out to the western horizon after sunset if they want to catch a glimpse, it said. While the comet is visible to the naked eye, using binoculars or a small telescope can improve a person’s viewing experience, it said. The comet could post an apparent magnitude of minus-2, equivalent to Mercury, it said. Since the comet has an orbital period of several tens of thousands of years, its upcoming appearance makes it a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity, the museum said, citing data from NASA. Astronomical buffs can also look forward to the year’s largest full moon on Thursday next week, the museum said. The supermoon would be at its fullest at 7:26pm, when it would be about 357,000km from Earth, it said.
FOOD
One more dies of poisoning
A food poisoning incident in Taitung County has left one more person dead, bringing the death toll to four, the Taitung Mackay Memorial Hospital confirmed on Saturday. The victim was a 59-year-old woman surnamed Yang (楊), who fell into a coma on Sept. 18, the hospital said. Before her death, she had been treated with tracheal intubation to keep her alive. However, Yang’s family had a meeting with doctors on Friday and decided to take her off life support as she had not shown signs of improvement, the hospital said. The food poisoning incident was traced back to the death of an 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾), who died on Sept. 17 after eating glutinous millet dumplings that she had made. That evening, several relatives and friends, including Yang, who came to her wake, and ate leftover dumplings and other items in Tseng’s kitchen later exhibited symptoms such as vomiting and convulsions. Three more people subsequently died, while nearly a dozen people were hospitalized for treatment. The dumplings were later discovered to contain a high level of terbufos — a hazardous chemical compound found in some pesticides. Only Yang’s younger sister, 53, remains hospitalized for treatment, the hospital said. Taitung prosecutors on Saturday said they were still investigating the case, without disclosing any further details.
ENTERTAINMENT
Ariel Lin wins in Busan
Taiwanese actress Ariel Lin (林依晨) on Sunday won best actress in a leading role at this year’s Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards in Busan, South Korea. Lin won the award for her performance in the Taiwanese television drama Imperfect Us (不夠善良的我們). Lin gave a teary speech in Korean, saying the award was “a great motivation for both me and the work.” She added in English that: “I truly believe that a good script can let people feel understood, it can be very inspirational, and it can show people what truly important things” are. The theme song for the series, Learn to Live Again (善良的我們), composed by Singaporean singer Tanya Chua (蔡健雅), won best original song. Having won the award with her first composition for a drama series, Chua said the award “means so much to me.” Imperfect Us had been nominated for five awards — the most for this year’s event, including best Asian contents, best male supporting actor and best writer. The awards, now in its sixth year, is organized by the Busan International Film Festival and South Korea’s National IT Industry Promotion Agency, according to its official Web site. The event aims to “increase audience engagement and showcase a diverse range of audiovisual content,” it says.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
As Taiwan celebrated its baseball team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 on Sunday, how politicians referred to the team in their congratulatory messages reflected the nation’s political divide. Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北隊), made history with its first-ever Premier12 championship after beating Japan 4-0 at the Tokyo Dome. Right after the game, President William Lai (賴清德) congratulated the team via a post on his Facebook page. Besides the players, Lai also lauded the team’s coaching and medical staff, and the fans cheering for them in Tokyo or watching the live broadcast, saying that “every
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