■ Health
Kids need regular snacks
Unlike adults, it is important for young children of kindergarten age to snack regularly, in order to get their required nutrients, officials from the Taipei City Government's Department of Health said yesterday. "This doesn't mean that they should only eat cakes and sweets though," Deputy Director of the Department of Health Promotion Lee Chieh-fang (李玠芳) said. However, according to a survey conducted by the John Tung Foundation, in which 742 kindergartens across Taiwan participated, snacks that were high in sugar, salt and oil content were dished out to children in five out of 10 snack times during the course of the week. In a move to promote a "healthy eating culture," the Xinyi District Health Center in Taipei City, in addition to educating kindergarten kitchen staff about children's nutrition needs, has also created recipes for healthy eating which can be obtained by calling (02) 2723-4598, extension 261.
■ Earthquake
Temblor shakes Taipei
An earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale hit Taipei and the surrounding area yesterday, causing buildings to sway, according to seismologists. The quake came amid a controversial warning that the weight of the world's tallest skyscraper may cause an increase in temblors. The quake struck at 18:15pm with an epicenter around 7.3km southeast of the capital, the Seismology Center said. The tremor, which originated 64.3km below the earth, was strongly felt in Taipei, although there were no immediate reports of damage.
■ Food safety
DOH may toughen laws
The Department of Health (DOH) has recently completed a proposed amendment to laws concerning food product management in an effort to stop dishonest food producers from selling substandard food that is hazardous to health. The problem of food safety is a perennial concern among consumers because of frequent news reports exposing the sale of dangerous food such as pork from sick hogs and contaminated cooked eggs. In the proposed amendment, punishments for dishonesty in the food businesses will be stiffened, allowing health authorities to ban problematic goods from being traded as soon as they are found to contain toxic or hazardous substances, or to carry no descriptions or incomplete descriptions of their contents.
■ Environment
EPA prepares trash policy
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will launch a publicity drive this month to prepare for the nationwide implementation of a garbage separation policy on Jan. 1. The policy, which has been enforced in 10 cities and counties nationwide since the beginning of this year, requires the public to sort their garbage into three categories -- ordinary garbage, recyclables and food scraps -- before taking it out to the garbage truck. Garbage that is not properly separated will be rejected, with offenders facing a fine of NT$1,200 to NT$6,000. The policy is set to expand to all 25 cities and counties across the nation next year. Local EPA staff will open garbage bags for inspection to see if the rules are being followed, EPA officials said. During the first three months, while the policy is being implemented, offenders will not be fined but will be given advice. Those who ignore the advice will be fined.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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