WEATHER
CWA forecasts warm fall
The nation is likely to experience a warm autumn with above-average rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The Pacific Ocean is warmer in the west and cooler in the east, which could indicate that La Nina might be developing, increasing the chances of warm and wet weather, CWA Weather Forecast Center Director Chen Yi-liang (陳怡良) said on Friday. With the typhoon season in the northwestern part of the Pacific continuing through this month and next month, Taiwan could still be affected, he said. Between January and last month, temperatures averaged 24.8°C, above the 24°C average for the first half of the year since 1951, he said.
POLITICS
KMT begins youth program
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has initiated the “2024 KMT Youth Flying Program,” aimed at recruiting 12 people aged 18 to 35 to visit Singapore, with all expenses paid by the party. The program is an addition to KMT Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) efforts to attract more young people to join the party, which have included speeches, conversation workshops and training camps, the party said yesterday. From Nov. 3 to Nov. 7, participants would visit Singaporean government agencies, foundations, the National University of Singapore and famous sustainable tourism sites, it said. Applicants must be Republic of China (ROC) citizens who identify with the ROC, while undergraduate and graduate students would be prioritized.
ENERGY
Officials to attend wind talks
Taiwan is to send representatives to Europe this month to discuss its local-content policy for wind farms following an EU request for dispute-settlement talks at the WTO. “The European Union is quite concerned about wind power, and Taiwan is to discuss a way with the EU that can be accepted by domestic and foreign manufacturers,” Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) told reporters on Monday, adding that Taiwan would gradually work toward an open market. The nation has been promoting wind power to meet clean-energy goals, but content rules requiring developers to source a portion of equipment and services from local manufacturers have proved contentious. Rystad Energy has estimated that the approach raises costs of some parts by as much as 70 percent. In July, the EU raised a request for dispute-settlement consultations at the WTO, saying the policy discriminated against imported goods and services.
SPACE
TASA to host science forum
The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) is to hold an international space science meeting in Kaohsiung in late November, the agency said on Wednesday. The Taiwan International Assembly of Space Science, Technology and Industry (TASTI) — set to open on Nov. 30 at the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center — is to feature academic paper presentations, a small satellite contest, and seminars and forums covering topics such as satellite communications and lunar exploration, TASA said. Former NASA Ames Research Center director Simon Worden and Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station, would be keynote speakers during the five-day assembly, it said. As part of the assembly, an industry expo, “TASTI 2024 Expo,” would feature 35 exhibitors across 53 booths, with TASA showcasing a demonstration model of the Formosat-8 project, a series of high-resolution optical remote sensing satellites set to be launched from next year, the agency said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
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