MILITARY
Mirage flights resume
Taiwan’s Mirage 2000 fighters returned to normal flying operations early yesterday after being grounded for safety checks following a crash earlier this month, a military source said. Flight operations resumed when a twin-seater Mirage 2000 copiloted by Major General Pan Tung-chu (潘東櫸), the leader of the Hsinchu-based Second Tactical Fighter Wing, took to the air yesterday morning, the source said. Another pilot was seen in the plane with Pan in an air force photo, but no further details were provided. The resumption of normal flight operations came after the air force lifted the grounding order for all of Taiwan’s 50-plus Mirage 2000s following the completion of a round of safety checks in the wake of an incident on Sept. 10. Preliminary indications were that one of the crashed fighter’s engines had lost thrust, the air force said. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
SOCIETY
Fire drill in Kaohsiung
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency on Monday advised people in Kaohsiung not to panic if they receive a forest fire drill text warning on their phones on Friday. A message reading: “Forest Fire Alert Drill. Please don’t panic” would be delivered through the Public Warning Cell Broadcast Service between 2:30pm and 3:30pm to devices in Tianliao (田寮) and Cishan (旗山) districts, the agency said. The drill is part of the agency’s efforts to help raise awareness of forest fires in higher-risk areas in central and southern Taiwan, particularly during next month’s dry season, the agency added. From 2019 to last year, Taiwan reported an average of 53.4 forest fires each year, 97 percent of which were caused by human factors, the agency said. Under Article 34 of the Forestry Act (森林法), the lighting of fires in forest areas or forest reserves is strictly prohibited unless prior approval is received from the authorities. Violators face a prison sentence of three to 10 years as well as a fine of up to NT$600,000 (US$18,770).
FOOD SAFETY
KFC seasoning stopped
A shipment of chicken seasoning imported from Thailand for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) was found to contain a banned pesticide and stopped by officials from entering Taiwan. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday published a list of 11 items that were found to be substandard after being inspected at the border over the past few months. Among them was a shipment of 2,024.42kg of chicken seasoning from Thailand in which 0.1mg/kg of the banned pesticide ethylene oxide was found during testing that began on July 22, the FDA said. FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said the importer of the spices, Jardine Food Services (Taiwan) Co (富利食品), which operates KFC and Pizza Hut in Taiwan, is to be subject to batch-by-batch inspections of its imported ingredients. The products imported by Jardine were previously under a heightened inspection rate of 50 percent, up from the customary 20 percent, Lin said. Condiments and spices imported from Thailand by other companies would also continue to be inspected at the higher rate until the end of the year, Lin said. The other items on yesterday’s list were tested from July 2 to Sept. 6. Among them was a shipment of 1,312.5kg of banana chips imported from the Philippines that was found to contain excessive amounts of the toxic substance benzopyrene and prohibited from entering Taiwan.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
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