10.31.111 "Read the News" — A Quick Overview of the Day's Focus Issues

October 31, ROC Year 111 (2022 AD): a daily real-time online roundup of hot focus topics from global news events, covering technology, life, travel, transportation, industry and finance, business, companies and enterprises, stocks, foreign exchange markets, investment, real estate, automobiles, real-time news, art, design, politics, society, Taiwan, mainland China, cross-strait relations, weather, natural disasters, current affairs, and many other dimensions of intelligence.

The “Read the News” section collects the headline events and brief summaries of the most important key news from around the world that deserve your attention in recent days, letting you see the real-time context of society through the flow of news events listed quickly one by one.

Focus News Issues of October 31, 2022

• International and Social Events
• Science and Technology
• Business and Investment
• Nature and Medicine
• Travel and Leisure

International and Social Events

On the 28th, the National Palace Museum was accused by a legislator of breaking three treasured artifacts. Director Wu Mi-cha admitted that two artifacts were found damaged when taken out of their storage boxes, and one was accidentally dropped during an inspection. Because the artifact storage information had not been digitized, it cannot be traced.

A tragedy erupted in South Korea on the eve of Halloween. On the evening of the 29th, a large crowd gathered to celebrate in the famous commercial district of Itaewon in the capital, Seoul, triggering a massive crowd crush and stampede. According to the latest figures from the fire department, at least 154 people have died and 132 been injured, the vast majority of them young people. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a national half-masting of flags and a 7-day mourning period.

Russia accused Ukraine of using drones to attack the Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol, and said British naval experts also had a plan to assist Ukraine, with the targets being warships involved in Ukraine’s grain exports; some warships suffered “minor damage,” while all 16 drones were destroyed. After the incident, Russia announced an indefinite suspension of its participation in the UN-brokered Ukraine grain export agreement. The United Nations called on all parties not to take actions that would endanger grain shipments, lest it affect millions of people worldwide.

Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan, epidemic commander Wang Pi-sheng, and CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang were reported to have paid a nighttime visit on the evening of the 27th to former Health Minister and DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung, sparking criticism from all sides, with some voices accusing them of “coordinating testimony” over the Medigen vaccine controversy. In response, Wang Pi-sheng stressed that they were just chatting, with content like “whether Lo Yi-chun sings better or Chen Shih-chung sings better.”

Science and Technology

The Republic of China’s household registration system was reported to have been hacked. A netizen was selling 200,000 records of citizens’ household registration data on the foreign forum BreachForums, claiming to hold data on all 23 million people of the Republic of China. The Investigation Bureau launched an investigation after receiving the report on the 25th of this month. A preliminary investigation confirmed that the 200,000 records currently released are concentrated in the Yilan area of Taiwan Island, and the data all match, including the personal data of County Magistrate Lin Zi-miao and DPP legislator Chen Ou-po.

A research team from Tokyo Institute of Technology and others discovered bacteria in the groundwater around Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Okuma and Futaba towns, Fukushima Prefecture) that can dissolve metals such as iron and nuclear fuel uranium. Since there are precedents overseas of bacteria decomposing part of the melted nuclear fuel (fuel debris), the Fukushima Daiichi plant may also see fuel debris corrode faster, adversely affecting future removal operations.

Business and Investment

For ordinary bicycle businesses, performance has declined by more than 50%. Even though electric bicycles are not affected as severely as ordinary bicycles, among them, mass-market mid- and low-end models under US$1,000 (NT$32,000) are hit hardest, with orders shrinking 40 to 50%; high-end models are least affected, but average performance still declined by 10%.

Twitter fell into chaos after Tesla CEO Elon Musk completed his acquisition. US auto giant General Motors fired the first shot, immediately withdrawing its paid advertising, because Musk vowed to restore accounts banned “for suspicious reasons.”

Nature and Medicine

Spinach is about to enter its season. It is one of the dark green vegetables most praised by nutritionists, and also an affordable and delicious vegetable. It contains abundant nutrients such as vitamin K. It is rich in antioxidants. It prevents chronic diseases. It maintains brain health. It controls blood pressure. It protects eye health.

Most of the benefits of apples come from the polyphenols in them. According to a WebMD report, eating apples helps control blood pressure and maintain healthy blood vessels, promoting good circulation. Apples also help reduce chronic inflammation, which is a risk factor for heart disease.

Travel and Leisure

The Kinmen Bridge, which the people of Kinmen have awaited for 30 years, has finally opened to traffic! Central and local leaders, including former President Ma Ying-jeou, Executive Yuan Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai, Kinmen County Magistrate Yang Cheng-wu, and legislators Chen Yu-chen and Chen Hsueh-sheng, gathered at the Kinmen Bridge head for the opening ceremony. After all the guests jointly cut the ribbon, it was officially announced that the Kinmen Bridge would open to traffic at 3 p.m., marking a new historic milestone.

After hiking up Weiliaoshan and coming down, a person went to the nearby Bulu Busha Suspension Bridge in Maolin District and was extorted; a chubby middle-aged man forcibly charged 15 yuan when he crossed the bridge.

Yilan County was affected on the 16th by continuous heavy rainfall from the combined circulation of Typhoon Nesat and the northeast monsoon, and multiple sections of the Northern Cross-Island Highway (Provincial Highway 7) collapsed and were cut off. Among them, the section from kilometer 76.1 to 83 was originally scheduled to be reopened on the 31st, but today (the 29th) another collapse was reported, making it impossible to reopen on schedule. The Fourth Maintenance Office of the Directorate General of Highways said it would further assess and formulate a repair strategy tomorrow (the 30th), and would then announce a new expected reopening time.

On the popular central Taiwan hiking route, the Yuanzui-Shaolai Trail, two men and two women were climbing yesterday when one man slipped down a slope and broke his arm. Today it was reported that the rope the injured person was climbing had been deliberately cut, like a “perfect murder trap.” After receiving the report, police and firefighters comprehensively inventoried the guide ropes along the trail and found that more than 40 guide ropes had been deliberately cut. They urged hikers not to use the guide ropes to assist their climbing, for the sake of hiking safety.