■WEATHER
‘Cold’ front expected
With the fall approaching, though the mercury is still high around the country, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday residents could look forward to the first “cold” front today and tomorrow, with temperatures dropping 5°C in the north. Huang Chuang-hsi (黃樁喜) at the bureau said that although the high was 35°C yesterday in the north and 33°C in central and southern regions, the temperatures would begin to change tomorrow. Those in the north will notice the change today, Huang said, adding that temperatures would not rise again until Wednesday. There is a chance of rain in the north and east and in Kinmen and Matsu, Huang said.
■EDUCATION
Dropouts at new low
The number of school dropouts hit a new low in July, Ministry of Education statistics showed yesterday. The data, published by the Student Affairs Committee, showed that 1,498 students dropped out of school as of the end of July. There has been a dramatic decrease in the number of dropouts compared with the statistics released by the committee over the past three years — from 4,156 to 1,498 students. In most cities and counties, there has been a significant decrease in the number of students who did not return to school after they received counseling from education personnel, the committee said. Kinmen and Matsu have been able to keep all of their students in school over the past two years.
■HEALTH
Virus measures defended
The Department of Health defended its decision to ease the criteria for confirming severe enterovirus cases this year, saying the change would aid epidemic control and prevention. The department made the remarks after a pediatrician said a sharp increase in the number of severe enterovirus cases in contrast to the low death rate this year was mainly the result of the new criteria. Fighting epidemics is like fighting fire, Shih Wen-yi (施文儀), deputy director-general of the Centers for Disease Control, said, adding that timing is a crucial element. Shih said it was necessary to adopt less stringent criteria for labelling severe enterovirus cases. This year, 349 severe enterovirus infections were recorded, accounting for 74 percent of all suspected and confirmed cases. However, only 10 fatalities were documented this year, representing 2.8 percent of the severe cases, a 10-year low. Since the first enterovirus outbreak struck Taiwan in 1998, the death rate has generally ranged from 10 percent to 20 percent.
■CRIME
Police bust drug ring
Police from Nantou County arrested a drug ring in Kaohsiung City on Saturday, seizing 14kg of amphetamine and 5kg of ketamine, with a total street value of more than NT$100 million (US$3.17 million), a police report said. The report said the ring was a joint operation between local and Chinese drug dealers. The Chinese dealers smuggled narcotics from China by boat, while the local smugglers transported the drugs from northern Taiwan to be sold in Kaohsiung, the report said. After a three-month investigation, the police arrested the local ringleader and two buyers in Kaohsiung City on Friday as the men were engaged in a deal. The police also seized NT$7.7 million in cash during the raid. The case has been turned over to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office for an in-depth investigation, the report said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods