WEATHER
Cold front to hit Taiwan
The mercury is expected to drop nationwide from today as a cold front accompanied by seasonal winds is to pass over Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The air movement may bring a cool and wet weather pattern across the nation with the effects most likely to be felt in the northern and northeastern regions, it said. The trend might continue for a week, the bureau said, with daily temperatures forecast to range between 22°C and 30°C in northern Taiwan, between 24°C and 31°C in central Taiwan, and between 25°C and 31°C in southern Taiwan. Meanwhile, more rain is expected starting next Friday caused by the outer rim of an approaching tropical storm, the bureau said. As of 8am yesterday, Tropical Strom Jelawat was centered 1,470km southeast of the southernmost tip of Taiwan, moving slowly in a westerly direction.
SOCIETY
Poverty levels increase
There were 137,000 low-income households in the country as of the end of June, an increase of 20.2 percent from the same period last year, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The number of low-income individuals for the same period stood at 338,000 people, up 22.4 percent, and increased to 1.5 percent of the total population as a result of the easing of regulations governing public assistance introduced last year, the ministry said. The implementation of an amendment to the Social Assistance Act (社會救助法) in July last year allowed 71,000 households or 228,000 individuals, considered to be “lower middle income” earners to receive government subsidies as of this June. Currently, 2.6 percent of families in Taiwan and 2.4 percent of the total population are receiving help from the government, the ministry said.
EDUCATION
Global role for academics
Five members of Academia Sinica, the nation’s top academic research institute, have been elected to the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), headquartered in Italy, the institute said in a statement on Friday. Chang Tzu-ching (張慈錦), an assistant research fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, was elected a 2012 TWAS Young Affiliate — an honor awarded annually to exceptional scientists aged under 40. The five academicians elected as TWAS fellows were Wang Kuan (王寬), director of the Academia Sinica’s Institute of Chemistry; Wang Lu-hai (王陸海), acting president and distinguished investigator of the National Health Research Institutes’ Division of Molecular and Genomic Medicine; Liang Kung-yee (梁賡義), president of National Yang-Ming University; Chu Shih-i (朱時宜), director of the Kansas Center for Advanced Scientific Computing and Hu Chenming (胡正明), a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California at Berkeley.
AVIATION
Airline looks for new recruits
Over 4,000 people were interviewed yesterday in the first stage of a selection process to hire 126 flight attendants for China Airlines (CAL), the nation’s largest carrier. CAL’s recruitment drive, its second this year, is being conducted in two stages as part of its business expansion plan. The airline said it hopes to find flight attendants with excellent communication skills. An independent panel of representatives from the government, academic and industrial sectors would be interviewing more than 4,000 applicants over the weekend, CAL said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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