SOCIETY
Hunting for food is legal
Aborigines can legally hunt to provide food for themselves and their families, according to an interpretation of the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) published by the government yesterday. As long as wild animals are not caught for the purpose of making a profit, it is not illegal for Aborigines to hunt them, the Council of Agriculture and the Council of Indigenous Peoples said in their interpretation of the law. Wild animals may be caught as food for hunters and their families or for sharing with others, in accordance with traditional Aboriginal culture, the two agencies said. The interpretation was issued to address a dispute over whether hunting for self-consumption was permitted under Article 21-1 of the act.
HEALTH
Woman has encephalitis
Doctors confirmed that a 45-year-old Ukrainian woman working in Tainan has contracted Japanese encephalitis, the second such case this year, the Centers for Disease Control said yesterday. The woman initially experienced a severe headache and fever before losing consciousness and was hospitalized on May 30, the agency said, adding that she was confirmed as having contracted Japanese encephalitis on Wednesday. The agency said health officials have determined that the woman had not received related vaccinations and had not traveled overseas recently, adding that they identified her daily routine as traveling from her residence to her place of work in Danei District (大內), with occasional shopping trips to Yujing District (玉井).
WEATHER
Dry weather forecast
The nation is to enjoy dry, cloudy and hot weather until Sunday, with afternoon showers in mountainous areas in the north, the Central Weather Bureau forecast yesterday. However, from Monday the weather is to become unstable, the bureau said, forecasting that the instability will become more apparent the following day due to the arrival of a weather front and southwesterly winds. On Tuesday, showers or thundershowers, with occasional heavy rain, are to begin to hit, the bureau said, adding that the stationary front — a typical plum rain feature — would affect the nation for about five days. Yesterday, peak temperatures nationwide dropped slightly to between 31°C and 34°C thanks to a weak frontal system passing over the seas north of Taiwan, the agency said.
DIPLOMACY
President thanks Harris
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday expressed gratitude to Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris for his long-standing and unwavering support of Taiwan in its efforts to attend the World Health Assembly (WHA) and other international organizations. In a meeting with a visiting Saint Kitts and Nevis delegation led by Harris, Tsai said that she hopes the nation will continue to support international participation that allows Taiwan to make greater contributions to the international community. Tsai said that Harris has visited Taiwan several times, including to attend her inauguration ceremony last year, and established good relations with officials. She thanked Harris for speaking in favor of Taiwan’s participation at the UN General Assembly in 2015 and last year, as well as Saint Kitts and Nevis’ support for Taiwan to attend this year’s WHA in Geneva, Switzerland, last month.
HEALTH
Food safety to be checked
Big food producers and registered importers of certain categories of food products are to soon be required to conduct regular food safety checks, according to a set of draft regulations published on Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration. Businesses are to also have to draw up a food safety monitoring plan and implement it, or risk a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$3 million (US$996.5 to US$99,651), the draft regulations state. The draft regulations are to be open to public review until Aug. 7, after which they will be finalized and put into effect, the agency said. The new regulations would apply to more than 20,000 businesses, including companies or factories that import agricultural plants, frozen, chilled, dehydrated and pickled mushrooms and algae, vegetable protein and its products, and processed soybean products, the agency said. Registered importers of baby foods and processed meat, dairy and fish products, as well as registered food producing and processing factories with a contributed capital of NT$30 million or more are to also be on the list, it said.
CHARITY
Rummage sale at TAS
The Taipei American School (TAS) Orphanage Club is to host its annual spring rummage sale — its 47th — tomorrow from 10am to 5pm. Club members have collected a wide variety of new and second-hand clothing, household items, shoes, toys, games, electronic items and appliances. The sale is to be held in the school’s forecourt and lobby come rain or shine. All of the proceeds go to the club’s funds for needy children and orphans in Taiwan and overseas. The school is at No. 800 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 6 in Tianmu (天母).
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it