SOCIETY
Health minister to lead event
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) is to lead the singing of the Republic of China national anthem at the flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei on New Year’s Day. Chen is to lead a group of 60 healthcare workers in singing the anthem at the ceremony, which is to start at 5am on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard and feature musical and marching band performances, the Presidential Office said. The ceremony is dedicated to frontline medical workers who have been working to combat the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, it said. A band composed of 10 emergency room doctors is also to perform, as is a choir of 100 healthcare workers, and the nation’s five medical associations are to perform two songs to wish Taiwanese a happy new year, it added.
PRODUCE
Eggs codes to start Jan. 1
Eggs sold in Taiwan must have a traceability code on their shells beginning next year, enabling consumers to more easily identify their source. The measure applies to all washed eggs sold at convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, wholesale retailers and on e-commerce platforms, the Council of Agriculture said on Thursday. Each egg must be stamped with a two-line traceability code denoting the system used to house the hen that laid the egg, its packaging date and where it was farmed, it said. From Saturday, consumers can choose between organic (O), free range (F) or barn (B) eggs, where hens are allowed to move around more freely, or conventional (C) or “enriched” (E) cage systems. The council established a dedicated Web site to educate consumers about where the eggs they purchase originated and how the hens are farmed, it said.
TRAFFIC
Four injured in pileup
Four people were yesterday injured in a five-vehicle pileup on a section of the improved Suhua Highway near the northbound exit of the Suao Tunnel in Yilan County, local police said. The crash occurred at around noon on a northbound lane of the highway, police said, adding that the injured had been rushed to hospitals, but no one had life-threatening injuries. The cause of the accident is being investigated, they said. Chen Kuo-cheng (陳國正), of the Directorate-General of Highways’ Fourth Maintenance Office, said traffic was restored to a single lane at 1:30pm after the entire northbound section was closed. The new Suhua Highway, which opened in January last year and forms part of Highway No. 9, includes three stretches and links Yilan and Hualien counties.
ENVIRONMENT
NTU to raise fireflies
A National Taiwan University (NTU) firefly conservation project that seeks to teach people about the effects of human activity on the environment on Wednesday released 1,200 Aquatica ficta larvae donated by Taipei Zoo into an on-campus farm. Aquatica ficta is a critically endangered species mostly found in Taiwan in still water and rice paddies. The university said in a statement that a campus planning team and the NTU farm first created a clean hydrophilic habitat for the larvae, after which snails were introduced in August as a food source for the fireflies. After nearly four months of preparation, the ecosphere was ready to accept the larvae. The campus expects the larvae to hatch in April.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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