First-stage water rationing measures imposed in southern Taiwan since March might be lifted following heavy rainfall over the past few days, while the water supply in the north could stabilize if the rain continues, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) said yesterday.
The rainfall has helped ease a drought that has gripped the nation for the past two months, particularly in the south, Yang said.
Following heavy precipitation in the north last month, first-stage water rationing in northern Taiwan was lifted on April 28, Yang added.
Under first-stage water rationing, tap water pressure is reduced every day during off-peak hours — from 11pm to 6am — the Water Resources Agency said.
Under the government’s color-coded monitoring system, the water supply for northern Taiwan has shifted from yellow — indicating a need for first-stage water restrictions — to green, which signals tight supply and the need for water resources to be reallocated.
If the rainfall continues, water supply in northern Taiwan might soon return to blue, indicating a stable supply, and first-stage water rationing in the nation’s south could also be lifted, Yang said, citing agency hydrological data.
However, whether water rationing is lifted hinges on rainfall over the next few days, he said.
The agency is to meet on June 5 to address national water shortages caused by a prolonged dry spell this year, he added.
First-stage water rationing is in effect in Kaohsiung and Tainan, as well as Chiayi County.
Water reserves at major reservoirs in central and northern Taiwan are at about 70 percent to 90 percent of capacity; the reserves of major reservoirs in southern Taiwan are 10 percent to 40 percent of capacity; and reserves at the Tsengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫) in Chiayi are at 15.08 percent, agency data showed.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day