■WEATHER
Hagupit intensifies
Tropical Storm Hagupit is expected to intensify into a typhoon and approach the southern tip of Taiwan tomorrow, the Central Weather Bureau forecast yesterday. Bureau meteorologists said that as of yesterday afternoon, Hagupit’s center was located nearly 660km southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鸞鼻). The bureau issued a sea warning at 8:30pm yesterday. The storm was first spotted on Sept. 14 as a tropical disturbance northeast of Guam. It developed into a minor tropical depression on Wednesday as it moved toward the eastern Philippine Sea. It intensified into a severe tropical storm on Saturday. The storm is expected to move northwest across the Bashi Channel at a speed of between 20kph and 23kph, with the rim of its radius sweeping across the southern tip of Taiwan tomorrow. Data supplied by other weather services, including the US Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Center, forecast it to strike Hong Kong as a typhoon early Wednesday morning.
■SOCIETY
Volunteer shares experience
At a conference in Taipei yesterday showcasing students’ volunteer experiences, college junior Huang Ying-chien (黃盈倩) said that after spending one-fourth of her summer in Cambodia this year and witnessing the poverty of children in a village, she realized how blessed people in Taiwan are. “Many children there were forced to make their living by begging because of poverty. Since we are better off, we should do something for them,” she said. Huang and eight other students served as volunteer teachers of Mandarin, English, math and science in the Toul Prasat High School and a Cambodian orphanage until July 31. “I was very moved to see the children’s thirst for knowledge and learning,” Huang said. “We may become teachers in the future someday ... but we do not necessarily have to limit our devotion to students within just our home country.”
■TRANSPORTATION
Council to study flight data
The Aviation Safety Council said yesterday it would analyze the flight data in the black box of China Airlines’ flight CI687 today to determine which country is to investigate the turbulence incident that occurred on Saturday. The four-year old Boeing 747-400 encountered turbulence on its way from Taipei to Bali on Saturday, injuring 30 people. Eight of the injured, including four crew members, were admitted to a hospital in Bali for treatment after the plane touched down safely on the island. The other 24 injured were given first aid on board and left on their own after landing.
■SOCIETY
Foundation presents honors
Fourteen out of 26 people who were selected from around the world as recipients of the 2008 Global Award for Fervent Love of Life by the Chou Ta-kuan Cultural and Education Foundation are expected to gather in Taipei City today to launch two new books they have written. The 14 recipients, selected from among 1,868 candidates recommended from around the world, will include “Anti-Cancer Philanthropist” from the Czech Republic Pavla Ticha, the “Hero of the Well” Ryan Hreliac from Canada, a model father from China Cai Xiaowan (蔡笑晚) and “Cancer-fighting Cardinal” Paul Shan (單國璽), the foundation said. Of the 26 recipients of this year’s awards, eight are foreign nationals.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
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