NASA Image: Typhoon Muifa

NASA satellite image shows Typhoon Muifa to the east of Taiwan

Picture: REUTERS / NASA

Taiwan on the Nuclear Watch List

Taiwan has placed a local company on a watch list after the firm sold specialised equipment to Iran, an official said on Wednesday.

"The company is on an observation list, which means it must obtain prior export permits, after it imported 108 pressure sensors from Europe and sold them to Iran in March 2008," said an official at the Bureau of Foreign Trade.

Pressure sensors can measure altitudes and are therefore used in aircraft and rockets.

The official, who declined to identify the company, stressed that the device is neither high-tech nor restricted, rejecting media reports that it could be used to make nuclear weapons.

Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported last month that Iran had tried unsuccessfully to buy the device for more than a year from European and American firms before turning to a Taiwanese company.

UN officials are investigating whether the European companies conducted proper checks of end-user certificates for the equipment, the paper said.

The international community has warned Iran to stop construction of its second uranium enrichment plant, wary that it is trying to develop a nuclear bomb.

Iran rejects the charges and says it wants to build up a civil energy programme.

Taiwan Farmers Potty Train their Pigs to Reduce Pollution

Farmers in southern Taiwan have started to potty-train their pigs in response to a planned water pollution fee, breeders and officials said Monday.
To keep their livestock from defecating into nearby rivers, a growing number of farms have established special "toilets" smeared with faeces and urine to attract the pigs -- and farmers say the results have been very encouraging.

"The pig toilets on my farm help me collect about 95 percent of all pig waste, making cleaning much, much easier," Chang Chung-tou, a pig farmer in Yunlin county, told AFP.

The Environmental Protection Administration, which will introduce a new fee on water pollution in the middle of 2010, plans to encourage other pig breeders to begin potty training.

"Apart from Yunlin, we have launched trial pig toilets in Changhua county (in central Taiwan). We are evaluating the results," an official from the administration said.

Taiwan has a total of about six million pigs, most of them raised on farms in the centre and the south.

One in five complaints about water pollution received by the administration is about waste from livestock farms.

China Threatening Border with Taiwan with Extensive Missile Systems

China has nearly 1,500 missiles pointed at Taiwan, with no signs that the build-up is about to stop anytime soon.

Taiwan's Premier Wu Den-yih has urged China to remove missiles targeting the island to pave the way for peace talks between the formal arch-rivals, a report said Saturday.

Beijing needed to build deeper trust with Taiwan by removing the rockets as well as allowing the island greater space in the international community, Wu was quoted by the United Daily News as saying.

"We can only begin talks on a peace agreement when the two sides accumulate more mutual trust and mutual benefits, and when there is a strong consensus in Taiwan and more concrete goodwill by China.

"It is not the time to rush into any peace talks now," he said.

China has nearly 1,500 missiles pointed at Taiwan, with no signs that the build-up is about to stop anytime soon, according to the island's defence officials.

Taiwan's missile capability is not known. It has been test-firing weapons such as the Hsiungfeng 2E surface-to-surface missile, with a range of 600 kilometres, but it remains unclear how effective it is.

Although Taiwan has been governed separately since the civil war ended in 1949, China still claims the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Relations have improved markedly since Beijing-friendly Ma Ying-jeou became president of Taiwan last year. However, Ma has repeatedly said the missiles remain a major obstacle to improved relations.

Solar Eclipse: Moon's Shadow seen from NASA's Earth Observatory

This image, released by NASA's Earth Observatory, reveals a dark spot on our planet, covering Taiwan and surrounding areas, during the total solar eclipse on July 22, 2009.

Credit:
NASA/WebGMSñMTSAT/GMS (HIMAWARI) Website, Institute of Industrial Science