ENVIRONMENT
Earthquake strikes northeast
An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale struck northeastern areas of the country at 4:30pm yesterday. No casualties were immediately reported. The earthquake was centered beneath the seabed about 33km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.2km, the Central Weather Bureau said. The strongest tremor, with an intensity of 5, was felt in the county’s Nanao Township (南澳). The quake was felt at an intensity of 4 in Heping in Hualien County, 3 in Yilan City and 2 in Taipei.
CRIME
Thailand agreement inked
Taiwan signed a cross-border crime agreement with Thailand on Wednesday. The agreement is a new milestone in international police cooperation, National Police Agency director-general Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) said. Since August 2009, Taiwan and Thailand have jointly investigated 32 cross-border fraud cases, leading to the arrest of 417 people, Wang said. Over the past two years, Taiwan has launched six operations against cross-border fraud in cooperation with China and Southeast Asian countries, with a total of 2,943 people arrested, the agency said.
Travel
Stomach woes most frequent
Stomach complaints are most commonly reported by Taiwanese who request medical assistance while overseas, especially during the Lunar New Year holiday, the Taiwan office of International SOS said yesterday. Over the past five years, the company has received an average of 4,700 requests per month from Taiwanese overseas that were linked to stomach ailments, and the average number is 5,300 for the month in which the Lunar New Year holiday falls, it said.
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
Traffic controls are to be in place in Taipei starting tonight, police said, as rallies supporting recall efforts targeting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers as well as a rally organized by the KMT opposing the recall campaigns are to take place tomorrow. Traffic controls are to be in place on City Hall Road starting from 10pm tonight and on Jinan Road Section 1 starting from 8am tomorrow, police said. Recall campaign groups in Taipei and New Taipei advocating for the recall of KMT legislators, along with the Safeguard Taiwan, Anti-Communist Alliance (反共護台聯盟), have previously announced plans for motorcycle parades and public
A tropical depression near the northwestern Philippines is expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Danas by early tomorrow, becoming the fourth tropical storm of the season, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 8am today, the system was located approximately 370 kilometers southwest of Taiwan's southern tip, Cape Eluanbi, and has developed a more organized structure, forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The storm is currently moving slowly toward the Taiwan Strait in an east-northeast direction and may trigger a sea warning if it reaches tropical storm strength tomorrow morning. The system is expected to shift direction later tomorrow toward the north
‘ON THE RIGHT TRACK’: US analysts praised the ‘less scripted’ drills as strengthening defenses and resilience, as confusion and spontaneity are common in actual warfare This month’s annual Han Kuang military exercises are to feature six types of “gray zone” tactics used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the aim of weakening their effectiveness, Chief of the General Staff Admiral Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹) told the military yesterday. The 41st Han Kuang drills, scheduled from Wednesday next week through July 18, would simulate a Chinese blockade and invasion, with President William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday saying that Taiwan is already in a “war without gun smoke.” In a speech broadcast to officers and soldiers yesterday, Mei said that the six types of harassment are: legal warfare,
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