HUALIEN, Taiwan — Residents in an eastern Taiwan town where flooding from a strong typhoon killed 14 people took to shelters on Wednesday fearing further disaster, as Premier Cho Jung-tai called for an inquiry into what went wrong with evacuation orders.

Sub-tropical Taiwan, frequently hit by typhoons, normally has a well-oiled disaster mechanism that averts mass casualties by moving people out of potential danger zones quickly.

But many residents in Guangfu, an inundated town in the beauty spot of Hualien thronged by tourists, said there was insufficient warning when the lake overflowed during Tuesday’s torrential rains brought by Super Typhoon Ragasa.

Mr. Cho said the immediate priority was to find the 129 still missing, but questions remained.

“For the 14 who have tragically passed away, we must investigate why evacuation orders were not carried out in the designated areas,” he told reporters in Guangfu.

“This is not about assigning blame but about uncovering the truth.”

The barrier lake, formed by landslides triggered by earlier heavy rain in the island’s sparsely populated east, burst its banks to send a wall of water into Guangfu.

As heavy rain continued on and off in Hualien, police cars sounded sirens for a new flood warning in Guangfu on Wednesday, sending people scrambling for safer areas as residents and rescuers shouted, “The flood waters are coming, run fast.”

“We will not return until the overflow is finished or the risk of it bursting is reduced. It’s too dangerous,” said a woman who gave her family name as Tsai from a packed emergency shelter in an elementary school.

Deputy disaster command center chief Huang Chao-chin said with rainfall easing and much of the water from the lake already released, he did not expect a repeat of Tuesday’s mass flooding.

Lamen Panay, a Hualien councilor, said government evacuation requests before the flood had not been mandatory.

Referring to guidance for people to head to higher floors, she said, “What we were facing wasn’t something ‘vertical evacuation’ could resolve.” 

Taiwan has been lashed since Monday by the outer rim of Typhoon Ragasa, which was downgraded from a super typhoon and is now hitting China’s southern coast and the Asian financial hub of Hong Kong.

LIKE A ‘TSUNAMI’
The water hit like a “tsunami,” said Guangfu postman Hsieh Chien-tung, who was able to flee to the second floor of the post office just in time. Later, he got home to find his car had been swept into the living room.

Fire officials said all the dead and missing were in Guangfu, where the waters destroyed a major road bridge across a river.

Regions across Taiwan have dispatched rescue teams to Hualien, with the military sending 340 troops to help.

In Guangfu, soldiers operating from an armored personnel carrier to keep clear of thick mud in the streets went door-to-door handing out water and instant noodles. Wrecked cars and scooters were littered around.

About 5,200 people, or 60% of the population, sought shelter on the higher floors of their own homes while most of the rest left to stay with families, government data showed.

The government said the overflow of the barrier lake released about 60 million tons of an estimated 91 million tons of water, enough to fill about 36,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. 

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office offered condolences, in a rare sign of goodwill from Beijing, which has a deep dislike of Taipei’s government.

China views Taiwan as its own territory, despite the strong objections of the island’s democratically elected government.

Besides the wilderness beauty that makes it one of Taiwan’s top tourists draws, Hualien is also home to many members of the island’s indigenous groups, including the Amis.

The typhoon brought about 70 cm (28 inches) of rain to Taiwan’s east, though the populous west coast, home to the crucial semiconductor industry, was not affected.

In 2009, Typhoon Morakot brought destruction to Taiwan’s south, killing about 700 and causing damage of up to $3 billion. — Reuters

LONDON — The Belgian beer industry, Mexico’s tequila makers and Heineken all lobbied governments this summer to resist a push by the UN’s health agency to introduce tougher rules targeting alcohol, letters and an e-mail reviewed by Reuters show.

The previously unreported efforts reflect how the $1-trillion global drinks industry is taking on the World Health Organization (WHO) over its hardening stance that there is no risk-free level of drinking.

That position is disputed by the industry. And as cash-strapped and increasingly health-conscious consumers cut back on alcohol, dealing a blow to companies’ profits, the stand-off reveals how the sector is ramping up its efforts to head off further threats.

ALCOHOL POLICIES WATERED DOWN IN UN HEALTH AGREEMENT
The WHO and other health authorities say drinking, sometimes even in small amounts, is linked to higher risks of certain cancers and other diseases.

Dag Rekve, the WHO’s technical policy officer, told Reuters that at the population level, these health harms were “consistent and well documented.”

But alcohol makers say the science is more complicated, and shows drinking in moderation is low-risk. Julian Braithwaite, CEO of the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD), told Reuters the industry aims to “take back control of the alcohol debate.”

To that end, IARD’s members, which include leading brewers and spirit makers, have increased the organization’s funding to have it play a more active role in alcohol-related science debates and counter the message coming from health bodies.

The current flashpoint in that battle is a new UN-backed agreement, due for adoption by countries on Sept. 25, that sets targets for tackling non-communicable diseases, some of them linked to alcohol.

Proposed WHO-backed alcohol controls appeared in the first draft of the agreement published in May. But a later version, from earlier in September, also public, shows they have been dropped or weakened.

The WHO said last week that the process had been affected by intense lobbying, including by the alcohol industry.

A letter seen by Reuters shows that, in May, soon after the first draft of the agreement was released, Mexico’s National Chamber of the Tequila Industry (CNIT), which represents top spirits makers, wrote to the Mexican government.

CNIT asked Mexican authorities to use talks with other governments to help remove references to WHO-supported policies, including commitments to raise taxes on alcohol and restrict its availability in stores, the letter showed.

Those proposals were subsequently tempered in the September draft to say countries should “consider” introducing tax increases “in line with national circumstances” and “consider … availability measures.”

A separate letter sent to the Mexican government on behalf of Dutch beer giant Heineken suggested changing a proposal to ban or restrict alcohol advertising to instead focus it on advertising to minors.

Calls for restrictions on alcohol advertising were dropped from the September version of the agreement.

Trade association Belgian Brewers, meanwhile, wrote to the Belgian deputy prime minister’s office in June complaining that the country’s health minister was pursuing “radical positions” in relation to the UN text, an -email seen by Reuters showed.

The industry group pointed to attempts to change a reference about reducing the impact of harmful consumption, such as alcohol addiction, into a statement that referred to all kinds of drinking.

A SHIFT NEEDED?
Heineken, CNIT and Belgian Brewers told Reuters it was standard practice to communicate industry views to policymakers. CNIT said it did not seek to weaken the UN agreement, only to ensure that it was both effective and fair to the industry by providing robust science and added that this resulted in better policies.

Both the Mexican chamber and Heineken said the private sector has a recognized role in the UN health process.

Belgian Brewers, meanwhile, said a shift to focus on all alcohol consumption risked being counterproductive.

It is not clear if the Mexican government adopted the industry’s suggestions during negotiations over the UN-backed document. Mexico’s health ministry did not respond to Reuters’ questions.

IARD’s Braithwaite said the changes made to the health targets reflected governments’ recognition that an approach that distinguishes between moderate and harmful consumption, such as drink-driving, works.

But Jeremy Farrar, the WHO’s assistant-director general in charge of health promotion, disease prevention and care, said that the body had to address the main causes of ill health — from alcohol to pollution — more strongly.

“There does have to be a shift,” he told Reuters.

A BATTLE OF MESSAGES
The WHO’s headquarters and European office have increased the number of publications released relating to alcohol since 2022, according to a Reuters review of their output. And in 2023, they moved to a stance that there is “no safe level” of drinking.

Company executives have argued the industry needs to more actively push back and promote positive aspects of moderate drinking.

In March, Diageo advertised for a new role on its global lobbying team, citing “an unprecedented challenge” from the WHO and related non-governmental organizations pressuring governments.

Such roles are a “standard part of how we engage with governments to advocate for proportionate, evidence-based policies that support both society and business,” a Diageo spokesperson said.

Diageo interim CEO Nik Jhangiani said at a recent conference that the spirits sector was being “outshone” by negative messaging, and it should do more to manage the dialogue.

And Carlsberg CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen told Reuters last month that moderate drinking has benefits for socializing and mental health and said the industry should communicate those.

But health or policy arguments from drinks companies should be taken with a grain of salt, said Eric Crosbie, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno’s School of Public Health.

“We have to remember these are businesses,” he said. “They’re there to make money.” — Reuters

KARACHI — Diamond sets and a drone light show at a near-million-dollar wedding have become evidence for Pakistan’s tax authorities under a new “Lifestyle Monitoring Cell” tasked with scanning social media for lavish spenders, officials said.

A team of 40 investigators from the country’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has started scouring Instagram, TikTok and YouTube posts this week, to match influencers, celebrities, realtors and businesspeople with disproportionate filings.

“It’s open-source — their Instagram accounts are a public declaration,” one senior FBR official said, adding tax evasion cases can be opened up in a matter of hours. The FBR did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The monitoring cell has been formed to address Pakistan’s chronic inability to meet revenue collection targets, and to help meet tougher goals set in this year’s International Monetary Fund-backed budget.

The country has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in Asia, a chronic weakness that has forced it into nearly two dozen IMF programmes. Less than 2% of the country pays its income tax.

The unit was formally set up this month, according to an internal document seen by Reuters, which said its mandate was to “systematically monitor, scour and analyze data from major social media platforms” and identify people who display wealth but are either not registered for tax or declare income that appears incongruous with their expenditures and assets.

According to the document, the cell will build digital profiles of suspects, assess the money behind their lifestyles, and prepare reports that can be used for tax or money laundering investigations.

It will maintain a central database of evidence, including screenshots and timestamps, the document said.

DIAMONDS, DRONES, DJS, AND DATABASES
Officials said one wedding under review carried a price tag of nearly 248 million rupees ($878,000).

Documents seen by Reuters showed nearly $283,000 spent on diamond and gold sets and $124,000 on bridal outfits by leading South Asian designers.

Guests entered through a hallway of floral arches as drones lit up the sky, before sitting down to multi-course meals prepared for 400 people.

The celebrations featured top makeup artists, DJs and traditional qawwali music bands, while international consultants helped choreograph the six-day affair that officials said epitomized the kind of extravagant spending now in their crosshairs.

The wedding is just one of several cases under review, officials said. Investigators are also examining videos of luxury cars, high-end property tours and influencers flaunting expensive lifestyles.

“People themselves tag the event managers, the caterers, the jewelers, etc. It makes our work easy,” another official said, adding the expenditure of the two families involved did not match their income declaration. ($1 = 282.3300 Pakistani rupees)

Despite its recent formation, the new unit has already shortlisted multiple files for deeper scrutiny, officials said.

Past efforts to net high earners fizzled, but officials say the new focus on social media offers stronger leads and quicker ways to flag undeclared wealth. ($1 = 282.3300 Pakistani rupees) — Reuters