WEATHER
Dozens of flights canceled
Dozens of domestic and international flights were canceled yesterday as Typhoon Doksuri continued to move closer to Taiwan and was expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds. As of 10am yesterday, 47 domestic flights and four international and cross-strait flights had been canceled, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said. The canceled domestic flights were those connecting Taipei to Taitung and Taichung, and the flights from Kaohsiung to Hualien, Kinmen and Penghu. In addition, 127 ferry services on 17 routes — mostly domestic — were also affected.
HEALTH
FDA recalls ADHD drug
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered the recall of a batch of Methydur Sustained Release Capsules 44mg, a medicine used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), after it failed a dissolution test. The FDA issued a recall notification on Tuesday, saying that lot number M082004 of the medication, which contained about 110,000 pills and was produced by Taiwanese biopharma company Orient Pharma, would be recalled by Aug. 18. There is another batch in the country, also of 110,000 pills, which is about a year’s supply, so the recall would not affect those who need the drug, FDA Deputy Director Chen Hwei-fang (陳惠芳) said.
CRIME
Chinese man surrenders
A Chinese man in his 40s surrendered to the authorities on Matsu, after seeking assistance from tourists in an effort to get treatment for a bee sting on Monday. The man sought help near Qinbi Broadcasting Station in Beigan Township at about 8am on Monday, local residents said. After the tourists contacted the local authorities, county officials were dispatched to the location and confirmed that the individual was a Chinese national. The man was immediately taken to Beigan Health Center, an official said, adding that he was recovering after receiving treatment. The man claimed to have swum more than 10 hours from the Huangqi Peninsula in China’s Fujian Province to Matsu to “seek freedom,” the local authorities said. The Chinese man was later taken to the Lienchiang District Prosecutors’ Office as part of an investigation conducted in accordance with the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the officials said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
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