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.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to