The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday a cold front that is expected to hit Taiwan today will bring more air pollutants to the country and advised people with cardiovascular or respiratory disease to avoid going outdoors.
Chang Shun-chin (張順欽), a section chief at the EPA's Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management, said that most of the pollutants that have accompanied cold fronts in recent weeks were industrial waste produced by factories along China's coast.
Sandstorms from Inner Mongolia -- the most common source of air pollution in Taiwan in past winter seasons -- had no noticeable effect this year, Chang said.
Monitoring conducted by the EPA as of yesterday morning showed that the air quality in Taiwan remained unsatisfactory, with an especially high concentration of particulate matter detected in the atmosphere.
The greatest increase in particulate matter concentrations was observed on Kinmen and Matsu, where they reached 151 micrograms per square meter (?g/m2) and 199?g/m2 respectively, EPA officials said.
Air quality in northern Taiwan was also poor, with particulate concentration at 124?g/m2 in Taipei County's Wanli (萬里), 111?g/m2 on Yangmingshan and 99?g/m2 in downtown Taipei City, all exceeding the background concentration of 80?g/m2, the officials said.
The concentration of sulfur dioxide detected in downtown Taipei City also increased.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it