WEATHER
Koppu to bring rain today
Typhoon Koppu is moving at a slow pace, but its peripheral cloud system is expected to bring rain to the nation’s northern and eastern regions starting from today, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. As of yesterday morning, Koppu was about 810km from Taiwan, moving west at a speed of 10kph toward Luzon Island in the Philippines, the bureau said. The storm was previously expected to move closer to Taiwan on Tuesday, but the bureau said that it would take longer for Koppu to bring heavy rain to the nation, given that it is now moving at a slower pace. Starting from Tuesday, Taiwan is expected to feel a stronger impact from the typhoon and see heavy rain due to its peripheral current, the bureau said.
HEALTH
Chickens to be culled
About 20,000 free-range chickens at a farm in Changhua County’s Dacheng Township (大城) are to be culled today after they tested positive for influenza A virus subtype H5N2, a highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza. It is the second confirmed case of bird flu at the farm this year, which resumed poultry farming in July after a mass culling and disinfection, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Director-General Chang Su-san (張淑賢) said, adding that sentinel chickens were raised during the preoperative period to ensure that the virus was not active in the environment. Migrant birds might be a possible source of contagion, as the affected farm is located along the shore and it is migration season, Chang said.
PUBLIC HEALTH
Dengue cases reach 24,874
Another 367 cases of dengue fever have been reported in Taiwan, bringing the total number of infections since the start of May to 24,874, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. In Tainan, 183 new cases were reported on Friday, which was 16 fewer than on the same day last week, the CDC said. Kaohsiung reported 173 new cases, 39 more than a week earlier. From the start of the outbreak up until Friday, the three worst-affected areas are Tainan, with 20,172 reported cases, Kaohsiung (4,274) and Pingtung County (100), CDC figures showed. Since May 1, there have been 106 confirmed fatalities in the nation from the disease, the CDC said. While 22,500 dengue patients have recovered, 44 are still being treated in intensive care units, CDC statistics showed. CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) predicted that numbers of reported cases of dengue fever in Kaohsiung would start to slow by the end of this month as the weather cools.
ELECTIONS
FTP calls for candidates
The newly formed Free Taiwan Party (FTP), which advocates Taiwan independence, is inviting people who share its political ideals to join it and run for seats in next year’s legislative elections. A new political party needs to nominate candidates in at least 10 of the 73 electoral districts in order to qualify to run for seats in the Legislative Yuan. The FTP is hoping that if it can qualify to run, it could win 5 percent of the votes and win one of 34 party-list seats, FTP Chairman Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) said. Tsay said that by representing the FTP in the Jan. 16 elections, politicians interested in public office could build their reputation through increased public exposure. However, the FTP, as a new party, is concentrating more on the 2018 city and county council elections, he added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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