SOCIETY
Squirrel bites woman in MRT
A person’s pet squirrel escaped from its carrier in a crowded Taipei MRT station earlier this month and bit a woman on the leg, the Taipei City Police Department’s Rapid Transit Division said in a news release yesterday. A woman was standing on a platform at Zhongxiao Xinsheng MRT Station on Aug. 16, when a squirrel climbed up her right leg and bit her on the back of her knee, the division said. The squirrel escaped through a gap in the carrier caused by other passengers pressing up against it. The owner only noticed the carrier was empty after their train had departed, and had to take the next train back to the station, where they found the squirrel, police said. Under the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), pet owners whose animals escape and injure others can face a maximum fine of NT$12,000 and up to three days in detention.
CRIME
Kidnap victims rescued
Seven jobseekers, lured by offers of high-paying jobs only to be forcibly confined by a suspected criminal ring in an abandoned bunkhouse in Kaohsiung and have their bank accounts used for criminal purposes, were rescued, and five suspects were arrested last week, Kaohsiung police said yesterday. A woman in her 40s was reportedly shot with a stun gun and beaten with a water pipe when she was caught trying to flee after having written down the license plate number of a vehicle belonging to her captors, police said, adding that others were allegedly burned with cigarettes. A person who escaped on Thursday called the police from a nearby private home. Police immediately headed to the bunkhouse and arrested five suspects on site. Stun guns, chilli and pepper sprays, handcuffs, metal rods, wire nails, account books and bank cards were seized.
WEATHER
Agency to seed clouds
The Water Resources Agency on Sunday said that it is preparing to seed clouds to boost rainfall amid concerns over a water shortage in parts of northern Taiwan. The agency on Saturday set up a disaster response team, which immediately initiated cloud seeding operations. On Sunday, it notified the management offices of several reservoirs in northern Taiwan and Zengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫) in the south to prepare for cloud seeding operations and an afternoon thunderstorm system. The average rainfall in Taiwan last month was 8.3cm, down 63.9 percent from a year earlier and the lowest for the month since 2008, in part because no typhoons made landfall, a Bureau of National Statistics report showed.
SPORTS
Taipei Marathon entries open
People wanting to enter the annual Taipei Marathon can register now for the event, which is to be held on Dec. 18 for runners aged 18 and older, the city’s Department of Sports said yesterday. Registration lasts until Sept. 28, with up to 9,000 athletes to be accepted, the department said, adding that the marathon covers 42km from Taipei City Hall to the Taipei Municipal Stadium. A half-marathon is also to be held on Dec. 18, and registration opens today for a maximum of 19,000 runners. First held in 1986, the annual Taipei Marathon is one of the city’s major events, not just for sports, but for tourism marketing and promotion, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism 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