■Environment
Spoonbill migration begins
Black-faced spoonbills have begun arriving in southern Taiwan in large numbers, a bird-watching society reported yesterday. Lee Ming-hua, of the Black-faced Spoonbill Society, said that he recorded 529 of the rare birds at the mouth of the Tsengwen Creek in Chiku, Tainan County as of Tuesday. Lee estimated that the number of the rare birds could eventually exceed the record number of 588 arrivals last year. Members of the society also saw two spoonbills that had been tagged by researchers -- one whose feet were ringed in Taiwan in 1996 and another that was tagged in South Korea in June. The news that a large number of the rare birds has arrived at the major habitat has attracted large crowds. Last Friday the Council of Agriculture and the Tainan County Government announced the creation of a black-faced spoonbill conservation area.
■ Meteorology
Fake forecasters to be fined
Those who are unauthorized to release natural disaster forecasts or warnings could face a fine of up to NT$1 million, according to the draft amendments to the Meteorology Law approved by the Executive Yuan yesterday. The draft will proceed to the Legislative Yuan for further review and final approval. Under the draft, those who are unauthorized or go beyond their authority to release weather forecasts would face a fine of between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000. Those who are unauthorized or go beyond their authority to release forecasts or warnings of earthquakes, typhoons and other potential natural disasters would face a fine of between NT$200,000 and NT$1 million. The measure came in the wake of the exaggerated predictions by some TV weather forecasters over the course of powerful Typhoon Sinlaku in early September.
■ Military
New toys for armed services
The logistics command is promoting several new products it has developed to the armed services, the command said yesterday. It is selling products such as an automatic targeting shooting result reporting system, a target shooting simulation system, and a next-generation rifle. The buyers are mainly the army, military police and the marine corps, all of which have placed orders for these products and intend to order more if satisfied with the product's performance. The logistics command had encountered some setbacks when attempting to sell earlier products, such as the next-generation T-86 rifle, to the armed services.
■ Government
Cabinet rules on water levels
In a bid to prevent possible droughts, the Executive Yuan yesterday requested that the Water Resources Agency (水利署) (under the Ministry of Economic Affairs) adjust its water-level alarm system. The Executive Yuan also asked the agency to report to the Cabinet when water supplies reach moderate levels, rather than waiting until water resources are already scarce. Premier Yu Shyi-kun made the request after listening to a report presented by the agency on the status of the nation's water supply during the weekly closed-door Cabinet affairs meeting yesterday morning. Yu also pledged to make efforts to help outlying islands such as Kinmen and Matsu to solve their water-shortage problem. Kinmen water officials in June had planned to ask China to help solve its water shortage-problem.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
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