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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
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