WEATHER
Cold air approaching
Two cold air masses are expected to arrive in Taiwan before Lunar New Year’s Day on Monday next week, with northern regions expected to experience chilly, wet weather during both cold waves, the Central Weather Bureau forecast yesterday. The first cold front, a continental cold air mass from southern China that is to affect the nation from today to Wednesday, is to send temperatures to lows of 13?C in the north and northeast. The mercury is to fall to lows of 14?C in central and southern regions, and 16?C to 17?C in Hualien and Taitung counties. During the period, rain is expected in the northern half of the nation, and some eastern and southern regions, the bureau said. That cold front is to weaken on Thursday, with another cold air mass approaching on Friday. It is to drive temperatures down to 12?C or 13?C in northern and northeastern regions, 14?C in southern regions and 15?C in eastern regions on Saturday, the bureau said.
HEALTH
Rabid animal bites farmer
The Council of Agriculture on Saturday confirmed the nation’s second rabies case this year after a farmer in central Taiwan was bitten by a ferret-badger. Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Deputy Director-General Shih Tai-hua (施泰華) said the farmer from Nantou County’s Puli Township (埔里) was bitten when he found a ferret-badger in his chicken coop on Friday last week. The animal was sent to the council’s Animal Health Research Institute and was put to sleep after it tested positive for rabies. The 70-year-old farmer was inoculated with a rabies vaccine and is said to be in good health. The bureau said people who do not vaccinate their pet dogs or cats for rabies as required by law may be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000. Rabies cases have been reported in the nation since 2013.
SOCIETY
Charity banquets held
A year-end free luncheon took place in the public plaza outside the Presidential Office Building yesterday, serving more than 23,000 socially disadvantaged people a menu of dishes Taiwanese typically associate with family gatherings. The annual charity weiya (尾牙, year-end banquet), an annual fixture since 1996, was organized by the Genesis Social Welfare Foundation and its two sister groups, the Jen’an and Huashan foundations. The groups held a total of 16 weiya, serving about 40,000 people, across the nation yesterday to treat low-income families, homeless people, elderly people living alone, and single mothers and their children to a meal ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
EDUCATION
Dropout rate increases
The dropout rate at the nation’s elementary and junior-high schools was slightly higher in the 2014-2015 academic year than in the previous year, according to figures released on Friday by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. A total of 4,214 elementary and junior-high school students dropped out during the 2014-2015 school year, translating to a dropout rate of 0.21 percent. Although the total number of dropouts was down 102 from the previous year, the dropout rate was 0.01 percentage points higher because of lower total enrollment caused by a declining birth rate. Of the dropouts, 90 percent were junior-high school students, 51 percent were boys and 60 percent were from single-parent families, according to the figures.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
China is attempting to subsume Taiwanese culture under Chinese culture by promulgating legislation on preserving documents on ties between the Minnan region and Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said yesterday. China on Tuesday enforced the Fujian Province Minnan and Taiwan Document Protection Act to counter Taiwanese cultural independence with historical evidence that would root out misleading claims, Chinese-language media outlet Straits Today reported yesterday. The act is “China’s first ad hoc local regulations in the cultural field that involve Taiwan and is a concrete step toward implementing the integrated development demonstration zone,” Fujian Provincial Archives deputy director Ma Jun-fan (馬俊凡) said. The documents
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