Reuters, LONDONBritish broadcaster Channel 4 on Thursday represented British Prime Minister Boris Johnson with a block of melting ice in a primetime election debate on the environment, prompting his Conservative Party to say that it broke impartiality rules. “This effectively seeks to deprive the Conservative Party of any representation and attendance,” the Conservatives wrote in a letter of complaint to broadcast regulator Ofcom. British television broadcasters are required to be politically impartial and face extra balance requirements during election periods. Ofcom can fine broadcasters that do not comply and, as a last resort, can cancel a broadcaster’s license. Channel 4 is not the only broadcaster who has struggled to book Johnson, whose Conservative Party is leading the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls and seeks to avoid any gaffes.

Staff writer, with CNAKaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, yesterday urged his supporters to disrupt opinion polls on January’s presidential election, saying that they do not genuinely reflect public opinion. A Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation poll released on Monday found that Tsai had 55.2 percent support, compared with 26.3 percent for Han and 7.6 percent for Soong. However, Han has said that some people were using “fake public opinion polls” to confuse voters and hurt his supporters’ faith in him. “No surveys for the presidential election of the Republic of China can obtain true opinions now,” Han said. Tsai yesterday said that public opinion polls reflect people’s free will.

Staff writer, with CNAAs the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections approach, shifts in regional voter preferences will likely dictate how the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and opposition candidates will fare, political observers said. However, that conventional wisdom did not hold up in the 2016 presidential election or in the local elections on Nov. 24 last year. In central Taiwan, dominated by Taichung and Changhua, voters have gone both ways, supporting the DPP in local elections in 2014 and in the presidential and legislative elections in 2016, but voting resoundingly for the KMT in last year’s local elections. Taichung is now the nation’s second-largest city, behind only New Taipei City, thanks to a continued influx of new residents, and the changing population structure could result in considerable uncertainty, Yu said. In Kaohsiung, Han is likely to lose to Tsai, because residents are unhappy with him for seeking the presidency just months after winning the mayoral election, he said.

The DPP government should enact a bill on compensation and nuclear waste disposal that passed a first reading at the Legislative Yuan three years ago, rather than adopt administrative guidelines, he said. The NT$2.55 billion should instead be used as a budget for relocating the nuclear waste, Syamen Womzas said. The government should establish a platform to discuss how to handle the nuclear waste and related compensation, while also continuing to reveal the storage site’s buried history, he said. After meeting with Tao representatives inside the Executive Yuan, Lin told them he would deliver their opinions to Tsai and Su, the National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform said in a statement. While Lin promised to continue delving into the site’s history, the statement cited him as saying that another budget would be allocated to relocate the nuclear waste, without elaborating.

By Chung Li-hua and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerMore than 1,000 cultural heritage sites nationwide do not have an accident emergency plan in place, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ho Chih-wei (何志偉) said yesterday, urging government agencies to protect the nation’s cultural assets. It is concerning that following the restoration, no emergency plans for fires have been proposed yet, he added. Ho called on the Ministry of Culture’s Bureau of Cultural Heritage and the Ministry of the Interior’s National Fire Agency to implement stricter measures on local culture authorities to follow the law and take measures to protect cultural heritage sites. Modern fire control facilities often cannot be installed due to heritage preservation regulations, and the infrastructure and management of electricity at historical sites differ from regular buildings, he said. When it comes to the management and prevention of accidents at historical sites, a binding legal force on the execution is still lacking, the Bureau of Cultural Heritage said.

Staff writer, with CNAStarting next month, individual travelers from Taiwan visiting Thailand would be required to provide financial details to obtain a visitor’s visa, local travel agencies said yesterday. The office said that it would cease to accept walk-in visa applications without an online appointment. Local travel operators yesterday confirmed that starting next month, applicants would also need to provide bank details for the prior three months as proof that they can cover their travel expenses. Taipei-based Cola Tour said that the requirement is limited to individual travelers and that members of tour groups would only have to provide a letter of guarantee from their place of work or travel operator. The number of Taiwanese who visited Thailand in the first 10 months of this year totaled 700,356, a 23.96 percent increase from the same period last year, Tourism Bureau data showed.

Staff writer, with CNAThe National Central Library is to host a major carnival in Taipei next month as part of an annual reading festival to encourage love and appreciation of books, Director-General Tseng Shu-hsien (曾淑賢) said on Thursday. Another highlight of the carnival would be a book market, at which 22 publishers are to sell their books, she said. “If you love reading, buying books is must,” Tseng said. “It is a joy to own your favorite books.”The carnival is part of the Taiwan Reading Festival, an annual two-month nationwide program that was launched in 2013. Under the program, public libraries and schools usually hold activities in November and December to promote reading.

By Chen Yan-ting and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerSales of bananas from Pingtung County to Japan are expected to double by the end of this year, Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Hu Jong-i (胡忠一) said on Tuesday. Exports of bananas to Japan have reached 2,715 tonnes this year, a 62.5 percent increase from 1,670 tonnes in the same period last year, Hu said, adding that the number is still growing. Due to rising labor and production costs, the market share of Taiwanese bananas in Japan was shrinking, but the promotion efforts of Taiwanese officials — who visited Japan on Nov. 1 — have paid off, as their market share has increased, he said. Meanwhile, Kasumi, the largest supermarket chain in Kasama, also introduced Taiwanese bananas, which have quickly become a favorite of Japanese customers, he said. Representative Taiwan Office of Kasama City Director-General Chika Kinoshita said that Taiwanese bananas have an appealing aroma and a pleasantly soft texture, with which bananas from Southeast Asia or Ecuador cannot compare.

At 75cm, the concentration increased by 2.8 times and 3.7 times during the use of an automated or traditional vacuum cleaners respectively, she added. While using a vacuum cleaner, people should wear an anti-dust mask and avoid standing behind its exhaust, she said, adding that it is best to avoid vacuuming when children are nearby. Children should not enter a room that has been vacuumed until 90 minutes have passed, which is about how long it takes for particulate matter to settle, she said. Exposure to high concentrations of endotoxins can increase children’s risk of asthma or allergies 4.8 times over exposure to normal levels, she said. Bed sheets and duvet covers should be washed and changed frequently, and an air purifier could also help maintain a clean environment, she added.

For the nation’s universities, income from donations solicited as part of the endowment fund system is essentially their version of incense money and, similarly, there are questions over how this money is used. With the establishment of the university endowment fund, institutions were expected to manage donations and were allowed to solicit funds, giving them more financial flexibility. Before the National University Endowment Fund Establishment Act (國立大學校院校務基金設置條例) was amended in 2015, endowment fund management committees were responsible for the money. NCCU was followed, in order, by National Tsing Hua University, National Taiwan Normal University and National Cheng Kung University. If a new financial oversight and management mechanism is not put in place, before long national universities might be facing a crisis of credit overextension.

AFP, SYDNEYProtesters in Australia, Japan and India yesterday launched a fresh round of global demonstrations against climate change, heeding the call to action from 16-year-old climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg. “Our government’s inaction on the climate crisis has supercharged bushfires,” school strike leader Shiann Broderick said. Protests also took place in Tokyo, where hundreds marched through the teeming Shinjuku District to raise awareness of the issue. “I feel a sense of crisis because almost no one in Japan is interested” in climate change, 19-year-old student Mio Ishida said. Last month, millions of people took to the streets in nearly every major global city for a series of “climate strikes.”The latest demonstrations come as representatives of 200 nations prepare to gather next week in Madrid for a 12-day UN Climate Change Summit.

The Han-Lee family made “astounding profits by looting national resources” when Han was a KMT legislator and Lee’s father, Lee Jih-kuei (李日貴), was a Yunlin County councilor nearly two decades ago, Huang wrote on Facebook. Separately yesterday, Han said that everything should be handled through the legal process. He said that, as a presidential candidate, he could not discuss the matter, but that his campaign office would address it. Ye Yuan-zhi (葉元之), the spokesman for Han’s campaign headquarters, said that Huang has told a “story,” without solid proof. Huang is manipulating a political issue, as shown by his statement yesterday that he would hold another news conference if Han’s response warranted one, Ye added.

By Sean Lin / Staff reporterThe Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus’ version of an anti-infiltration bill yesterday advanced to a second reading and discussion in additional cross-caucus negotiations. Prior to yesterday’s legislative meeting, DPP caucus members were guarding the speaker’s podium to ensure that the caucus filed motions first. The caucus sponsored a motion to advance the bill to a second reading, which was not met with any objections, as no Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators were present. The bill advanced to a second reading without any objection, pending further deliberation during cross-caucus negotiations, which are to be arranged by the DPP caucus, Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said. The KMT caucus would demand that its bill be reviewed side-by-side with the DPP’s during cross-caucus negotiations, KMT caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.

Ordinarily, communications between Beijing and Hong Kong are conducted through a Chinese government body: the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong. Wang is the most senior mainland political official stationed in Hong Kong. The office has come in for criticism in Hong Kong and China for misjudging the situation in the territory. The Chinese State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the liaison office in Hong Kong did not reply to faxed requests for comment. The office of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) declined to comment for this story.

AFP, NAJAF, IraqIraqi protesters on Wednesday torched the Iranian consulate in the city of Najaf in an escalation of anti-government demonstrations that have left more than 350 people dead. The Iranian consulate in the city of Karbala was targeted earlier this month, and security forces defending the site shot four demonstrators dead at the time. In Baghdad’s colonnaded streets, young demonstrators donned helmets and medical masks to face off once more against security forces unleashing tear gas. A correspondent reported volleys of gunfire from behind concrete barricades where the security forces were deployed. They feared a repeat of Tuesday’s chaos, when clashes between riot police and protesters left one dead.