WEATHER
Temperature to drop
The Central Weather Bureau issued a low-temperature warning yesterday in anticipation of an approaching strong cold air mass over the weekend. It predicted lows will reach 10°C in coastal areas in northern Taiwan and on several outlying islands. The most significant mercury drop could be felt overnight on Monday in areas north of Hsinchu County, as well as the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu, the bureau said. Central and southern Taiwan could see lows at 13°C and 14°C respectively, according to forecasts. Meanwhile, rain is likely in northern and northeastern Taiwan until Tuesday, when temperatures across the island are also expected to rise to the current levels, the bureau said. According to the bureau, temperatures until tomorrow may hover between 12-17°C, 13-20°C and 14-24°C in the northern, central and southern parts of the country respectively.
ASTRONOMY
Shooting stars to light up sky
Stargazers will have a chance to see shooting stars soon, as the Quadrantid meteor shower nears its peak, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said yesterday. The Quadrantids are expected to peak at 0:10am on Jan. 4, producing about 120 meteors per hour from a radiant near the North Star, the museum said. For astronomy buffs who want to greet the first meteor shower of the year, the museum suggested it would be better to head out long before midnight to avoid light interference by a rising moon. The origin of the Quadrantids remains unclear, the museum said, adding that it is most likely that they are the debris from Comet C/1490 Y1.
SOCIETY
ICRT to air Christmas drama
International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT) is to air a seasonal classic radio drama -— A Christmas Carol — based on the novel by English author Charles Dickens, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of his birth. The perennial favorite has been given a new lease on life by the ICRT production team and the Taipei-based Red Room Radio Redux, creating a magical piece of theater of the imagination, the radio station said in a statement. “Music, sounds and voices come together to weave a rich tapestry of storytelling, and bring the cobbled streets of Victorian London to life,” the statement said. The drama is scheduled to be aired tomorrow at 5pm and repeated at 8am and 5pm on Christmas Day.
SOCIETY
useum launches app
For anyone who would like to explore the nation’s national treasures, but is unable to visit the National Palace Museum (NPM), an app recently launched by the museum offers a virtual tour at one’s fingertips. Discover NPM was developed by Digimax Production Center Co, which handpicked 100 paintings, calligraphy scrolls, antiquities and works of literature from the museum’s more than 690,000 items and turned them into digital content. Users can view the museum’s famed Jadeite Cabbage in 3D interactive display and see the Bixie auspicious beast from the Eastern Han Dynasty come alive. The app also features games and a learning center section designed to teach children more about the country’s historic treasures. One potential downside of the app is its large size — 390MB. The app is available for download at Google’s Play Store and will hit Apple’s App Store next month.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard