WEATHER
Typhoon approaches
The outer rim of Typhoon Soudelor could start affecting Taiwan on Friday, bringing showers across the country, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. At 2am yesterday, Soudelor was centered 2,650km east-southeast of the nation’s southernmost tip, moving at 22kph in a west-northwesterly direction. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 144kph, with gusts reaching 180kph, the bureau said. The storm could bring rain to northern and eastern regions on Friday, with the southern and mountainous regions in central Taiwan also expected to see showers from later that day, forecasters said. The future trajectory of Soudelor will depend on the strength of a Pacific high-pressure system in the coming few days, the bureau said. According to the current forecast, the typhoon could reach eastern Taiwan over the weekend.
LAW
E-cigarette sales up: group
The John Tung Foundation called for tighter control of e-cigarette sales after recording a dramatic increase in the number of tip-offs of illegal sales. According to the charity, it received 4,436 reports of illegal sales of e-cigarettes from January to June, more than six times the total number of reports it received last year. The group said the jump in the number of tip-offs show that the government’s attempt to regulate e-cigarettes under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法) has not worked. Although the Ministry of Health and Welfare does not allow e-cigarettes to be manufactured, imported or sold in the nation, they are widely available online and through street vendors, the foundation said. If e-cigarettes were regulated under the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法), there could be tighter control of the user end, and online sales would be banned as a result, the group said.
EVA Airways was ranked the eighth-best airline in the world for this year, the only Taiwanese carrier to make it into the top 25 Airline Excellence Awards this year, aviation reviews Web site AirlineRatings.com said on Wednesday. AirlineRatings.com has a seven-star rating system to evaluate more than 360 airlines around the world every year, EVA Airways said in a statement on Thursday. “We are delighted that efforts by the entire EVA staff have been recognized by Airline Ratings,” EVA Airways president Clay Sun (孫嘉明) said in the release. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company identified and adopted services and procedures that enhance and
A promotional event for the launch of a drinks store led to police questioning a 26-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), the Taichung Police Department said yesterday. Police said that they questioned Chang and forwarded the case to prosecutors, accusing her of producing, distributing, broadcasting or selling pornography. Police said she faces charges related to the alleged distribution of indecent photographs on Twitter and using overtly sexual innuendos to promote the store on Monday night. Officers stumbled upon the content during a routine Internet “patrol.” Chang faces a prison sentence of up to two years and up to a NT$90,000 fine if found guilty
Exiled Chinese democracy advocate Wang Dan (王丹) yesterday denied an accusation by former Taiwanese political worker Lee Yuan-chun (李援軍) that Wang had sexually harassed him in a hotel room in New York nine years ago. There was a huge gap between Lee’s accusation and his own understanding and memory, Wang wrote on Facebook, adding it was hard for him to respond further regarding a “unilateral description” made by someone else. Wang made the remarks after his initial response on Facebook was met with criticism, with people saying he did not directly address the allegation. Lee on Friday wrote on Facebook that he
MORE WARNINGS: If the US company does not clarify and solve issues with its frozen berries, the FDA might extend an import suspension implemented last month, it said The Kaohsiung Department of Health yesterday said it fined Costco NT$4.5 million (US$146,265) over contaminated frozen strawberries, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that although the US company had filed an improvement plan, an import suspension on frozen berries could remain. Three types of frozen berry products imported and sold by Costco have tested positive for the hepatitis A virus since April. The Kaohsiung health department previously fined Costco NT$300,000 for not providing the sales list of a contaminated batch of Kirkland Signature Three Berry Blend imported from Chile, in contravention of the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法). It later
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