■ Agriculture
Flood losses break record
The recent flooding in southern Taiwan has caused a total of NT$2.15 billion (US$68.74 million) in agricultural losses as of yesterday morning, according to the latest Council of Agriculture (COA) statistics. The figure breaks the old record set in June 1998 when torrential rains caused NT$1.91 billion worth of agricultural losses. COA statistics show that crop losses have reached NT$1.2 billion, with 42,808 hectares of farmland being affected by the heavy rains and flooding. Livestock industry losses have reached NT$199 million, while those in the fishery sector have hit NT$705 million, and those in the forestry industry have reached NT$2.52 million. Affected farmers can apply for government assistance in the form of subsidies or low-interest loans, officials said.
■ Agriculture
Farmers delay China trip
The Taiwan Provincial Farmers' Association (TPFA) said yesterday that it will delay a trip to China for talks on fruit exports originally set for this week, in order to make better preparations. TPFA Secretary-General Chang Yung-cheng (張永成) made the remarks after the proposed trip drew criticism and warnings that the visit could violate the law if the group entered into any agreements with Beijing. Chang said that to better prepare for the trip, they have decided to delay the visit, adding that any agreement reached with the other side will not be illegal. He said that the talks with China would not violate government policy, or sidestep the government's authority. But he said he hoped that the government will attach importance to the TPFA's intention to help farmers tap overseas markets.
■ Legislature
DPP requests extra session
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus yesterday filed a request asking the Legislative Yuan to call a special session to debate an eight-year, NT$80 billion (US$2.5 billion) package upgrading flood-prevention infrastructure, among five other priority bills. The five bills are the US arms procurement bill, confirmation of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) selection of Control Yuan members, a bill governing the supervisory and management committee of the labor retirement fund, as well as draft amendments to the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法) and Tobacco and Liquor Law (菸酒稅法). DPP caucus whip Jao Yung-ching (趙永清) said that he would like the session to last between two and three weeks and welcomed opposition parties to propose other priority bills.
■ Health
Unapproved condoms banned
The Bureau of Pharma-ceutical Affairs of the Department of Health was very busy yesterday, the final day of a five-year period to register pharmaceutical products for general sale. One product to gain a lot of media attention because of the registration requirement was condoms. From today, only condom brands that have registered with the department can be sold. According to the deputy head of the bureau, Liu Li-ling (劉麗玲), all products, including condoms, that have not been registered must be recalled. Shopowners selling unregistered brands of condoms can be fined NT$20,000 to NT$100,000. Shops without a license to sell pharmaceutical products, could be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000. Condoms in vending machines must also be registered.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read: