■ WEATHER
Typhoons forecast
Unstable weather is expected over Taiwan in the next couple of days, when two tropical depressions in adjacent areas are likely to develop into typhoons, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The tropical depression located near the Ryukyu Islands was moving north-northwest at 25kph, while the other one near the South China Sea was stagnant, forecasters said. The systems do not pose any direct threat to Taiwan for the time being, they added. Meanwhile, another tropical depression was taking shape in waters southeast of Taiwan, which together with the other two depressions will form a large depression belt, forecasters said. As the belt moves closer to Taiwan today, chances of rain will significantly increase around the nation, the bureau said.
■ SOCIAL WELFARE
Disadvantaged up 27%
The number of disadvantaged households rose nearly 27 percent to 15,077 in the first six months of this year, with 90,146 people receiving financial assistance from the government, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The government provided NT$228.9 million (US$7.2 million) to disadvantaged families from January to June, up 20 percent from the same period last year. The ministry said the number of families receiving assistance increased because of an amendment last year to the Act on Assisting Families in Difficult Circumstances (特殊境遇家庭扶助條例) that made single fathers and those families in which grandparents raise their grandchildren eligible for government subsidies and allowances. The act — originally aimed mostly at taking care of women — was first implemented in March 2008. It was amended last year to include eligible single fathers, grandparents and people under the age of 65 whose spouse has died.
■ FISHERIES
Taiwan joins tuna agency
Taiwan yesterday officially became a full member of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), which entitles it to vote in the commission’s policy-making process and gives a boost to the rights of Taiwanese fishermen, the Council of Agricultural Affairs announced on Friday. At a time when international management of tuna stocks has become increasingly restrictive, Taiwan’s full membership in the IATTC is very helpful in protecting Taiwanese fishing boats operating on the high seas, the council’s Fisheries Agency said. The IATTC is in charge of the management and conservation of tuna in the East Pacific, an important fishing ground for high-value species such as bigeye and yellowfin tuna for Taiwanese fishing vessels. Taiwan has been an IATTC observer since 1973, but that status did not confer voting rights.
■ DIPLOMACY
Chow Mei-ching to visit Haiti
First lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) is scheduled to make a humanitarian trip to Haiti today after the Caribbean country was devastated by a major earthquake in January, World Vision Taiwan said. She will make the trip as honorary president of the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China and as “Love Ambassador” for World Vision. According to World Vision, Chow will give away solar-powered light fixtures as part of Taiwan’s continuing effort to help its ally get back on its feet. After Haiti, Chow will also make a two-day stopover in the Dominican Republic, where she will visit a job training center, two primary schools and a health center. The first lady is scheduled to return to Taiwan next Sunday.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
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