CHARITY
Donations for Syria needed
World Vision Taiwan called on the public yesterday to give to Syrian refugees, saying that its international headquarters is still US$17 million short of its goal for relief funds. World Vision International has so far raised US$43 million for Syrian refugees, but it hopes to raise US$60 million for the mission, the local chapter said. As of Thursday last week, World Vision International had assisted more than 230,000 Syrian refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, and it estimates that the number of displaced people will increase to 500,000 in the coming months. The charity said it allocated US$100,000 in July to help Syrian refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Tuesday that more 2 million refugees have fled Syria because of the country’s civil war, while more than 4 million others are displaced within the country.
POLITICS
Summit set for Kaohsiung
The mayors or delegates from 72 cities will attend this year’s Asia-Pacific Cities Summit (APCS) from Monday to Wednesday next week in Greater Kaohsiung, according to the city government. As of Tuesday, 47 mayors had said they would take part in the regional forum for civic and business leaders. They include the mayors of Taiwan’s six municipalities and cities. Administrators or delegates will also be coming from Brisbane, Vienna, Honolulu and Seattle, Kumamoto (Japan), Incheon (South Korea), Tianjin (China) and the Kumgangsan tourism special administration district of North Korea. This year’s APCS will be held under the theme: “Reshaping the Urbanomics of Cities — City Challenges and City Solutions,” and will include forums and discussions.
TOURISM
Tourism to Japan continues
Travel to Japan by Taiwanese has shown no signs of decreasing, despite a significant rise in radiation levels at Japan’s damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the Travel Agent Association of Taiwan said yesterday. Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said that day that recorded radiation levels at the power plant have spiked more than 20 percent to 2,200 millisieverts, up from 1,800 millisieverts recorded on Aug. 31. Roget Hsu (許高慶), secretary-general of the association, said the information has had little effect on Taiwanese tourists because tour groups have avoided visiting areas potentially affected by radiation leaks since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that led to a meltdown of three reactors at the power plant.
WEATHER
Storms damage agriculture
Two tropical storms that hit the nation last month have caused agricultural losses of more than NT$700 million (US$23.51 million), with Chiayi County the worst-affected, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday. As of 11am yesterday, the estimated agricultural losses connected to tropical storms Trami and Kong-Rey since Aug. 20 had reached NT$736.94 million, the council said. Southern Taiwan posted the greatest losses, as the region was battered by torrential rain brought by Tropical Storm Kong-Rey, which skirted the country on Aug. 28. Chiayi County reported losses of NT$295.20 million, followed by Yunlin County with NT$248.45 million. Greater Tainan and Kaohsiung and Pingtung County each suffered losses estimated at tens of millions of dollars.
HEALTH
Ferret-badgers test positive
Two ferret-badgers tested positive for rabies on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 112 wild animals since the deadly disease resurfaced in middle of July after a seeming absence of 52 years. The Central Epidemic Command Center for Rabies yesterday announced the two newly confirmed infections, which came from Greater Tainan and Taitung County. Including the latest two, rabies-infected animals have been found across 47 administrative divisions of nine counties and cities in central, southern and eastern areas. As of Tuesday, a total of 490 wild animals had been tested for the disease, according to the command center. Of the 112 confirmed rabies infections, one was an infected Asian house shrew while all of the rest were ferret-badgers.
TRANSPORTATION
Events to mark road opening
Separate running and cycling events will be held tomorrow and on Saturday in Changhua County’s Yuanlin Township (員林) to mark the opening of a new road that is a focal point of a redevelopment project in the town, the county government said. The county government recently completed the preliminary redevelopment of a 184 hectare area in Yuanlin that now includes basic infrastructure, parks, and a revamped road system to help traffic in the area flow more smoothly. The centerpiece of the new network is an 8.84km-long, 30m-wide ring road, and to celebrate its opening, an evening run will be held on it tomorrow and a cycling event will be staged there on Saturday. The evening run has become a popular activity in the central county, with membership of Yuanlin’s jogging club growing to more than 3,800. The cycling event scheduled for Saturday morning will follow the formal opening ceremony for the new roadway, which has a 2m-wide cycling path on either side of it.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all