WEATHER
Cold front on the way
Temperatures across Taiwan are forecast to plummet with the arrival of a cold front tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Northern Taiwan is expected to have chilly weather tomorrow, with lows of 13°C, the CWA said. The cold would be more severe on Monday and Tuesday, when northern areas can expect lows of 7 to 9°C, it said. From Taichung to Tainan and in Hualien County, lows would fall to 8 to 10°C, while Kaohsiung, as well as Pingtung and Taitung counties, would have lows of 11 to 13°C, the CWA said. Sporadic showers are expected in the north, east and mountainous areas of central and southern Taiwan, while other areas would be mainly cloudy tomorrow, it said. On Monday and Tuesday, rain is expected in central regions. Snow might fall at altitudes higher than 1,000m to 1,500m in the north from Monday night, and in areas higher than 2,500m in central, southern and eastern Taiwan on Tuesday. Icy roads and rime ice can be expected in areas likely to have snow, it added.
MILITARY
Taiwan ranked No. 24
Taiwan has the 24th-most powerful military in the world, down one place from last year, an annual survey published on Jan. 9 by Global Firepower showed. Taiwan had a “Power Index” of 0.3302, with a “perfect score” being 0.0, said Global Firepower, a Web site that keeps track of global defense information. The ranking of 145 states was based on their potential war-making capability across land, sea and air fought by conventional means, it said. The results incorporate values related to personnel, equipment, natural resources, finances and geography, with more than 60 individual factors used to calculate the final ranking, it said. Taiwan has 2.58 million military personnel, including 215,000 active-duty troops and 2.31 million reserve soldiers, it said. The US topped the list with a score of 0.0699, followed by Russia (0.0702), China (0.0706), India (0.1023) and South Korea (0.1416), the Web site showed. The UK (0.1443), Japan (0.1601), Turkey (0.1697), Pakistan (0.1711) and Italy (0.1863) were sixth to 10th. Taiwan, which dropped one place after Germany rose from 25th last year to 19th this year, was one below Saudi Arabia. Taiwan’s highest placing in the rankings — which go back to 2005 — was in 2011, when it was 14th.
FARMING
Geese culled over H5N1
A goose farm in Yunlin County on Thursday was confirmed to have been infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus, leading to the culling of 1,477 geese, the Yunlin County Animal Disease Control Center said. Inspections were carried out after the farm in Dongshi Township (東石) on Jan. 14 reported to authorities that its geese had died in an abnormal manner, the center said. The culling began immediately after results of sample testing confirmed that geese at the farm had the H5N1 virus, the center said. It was the second report of avian flu in Dongshi this month after a chicken farm, at which 19,100 birds were culled. The two farms are just 1km apart, the center said, adding that it suspects the two reports are linked. Liao Pei-chih (廖培志), head of the Yunlin center, said the risk of poultry farms being exposed to H5N1 brought by migratory birds is relatively high. Farmers should reduce risks by tightening access to their property, and enhancing disinfection of personnel and vehicles, Liao said.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power