■ENVIRONMENT
Kaohsiung's air gets worse
Air pollution got worse in Kaohsiung last month, with the smoke stacks of factories in the neighboring counties and cities of Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan blamed for fouling the air, city officials said yesterday. Quoting an Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) report on air quality in the Kaohsiung and Pingtung area, officials from the city's Department of Environmental Protection indicated that the frequency of poor air quality in Kaohsiung City stood at 12.5 percent last month, meaning that there were four or five days when air quality in the city was significantly below standard. That percentage surpassed the single-month average of the first 10 months by 2.5 times, the officials said, noting they believe the deteriorating air quality was caused by emissions of waste gas from petrochemical factories in Yunlin County's Mailiao Township (麥寮). In the presence of sunshine certain waste gases change into harmful ozone, which the wind blows away from the area where it is produced, said department Director Hsiao Yu-cheng (蕭裕正).
■ EDUCATION
Study in US grows
The number of Taiwanese students enrolled at US colleges and universities grew by 4.4 percent last year, making the country the fifth largest source of foreign students in the US, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday. The AIT issued a statement saying that a new annual report published by the Institute of International Education with support from the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs indicated that the number of Taiwan students increased to 29,094 last year, overtaking Canada with 28,280 students.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
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