WEATHER
Cold to return from today
The warm weather will not last long, as temperatures are forecast to drop today and continue to fall during the week, the Central Weather Bureau said. A cold air mass will likely begin affecting the nation from today and could strengthen into a continental cold spell tomorrow, bringing the mercury down to 13°C, the bureau said. Temperatures in northern, central and northeast Taiwan will likely fall to between 13°C and 15°C, while lows in the southern and eastern regions are forecast to drop to between 15°C and 17°C tomorrow, it added. The cold wave is expected to continue into Tuesday before temperatures start to recover on Wednesday morning, it said, adding that despite the cold, only showers are expected due to low moisture.
TOURISM
Bus flip injures 10 in China
Ten Taiwanese tourists in China’s Yunnan Province were injured on Friday after their bus flipped over on an icy road. The tour group, organized by Haomei Tour, was traveling from Lijiang to Lugu Lake at about 11am, when the tour bus skidded and turned over, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday. The accident injured all 10 passengers, with two sustaining major injuries and two sustaining bone fractures. The four were transferred to the Lijiang People’s Hospital and are to remain there for treatment. Although the tour was scheduled for six more days, five of the remaining six members have decided to return to Taiwan today, the bureau said. The husband of one woman who sustained bone fractures has decided to stay at the hospital to take care of her.
SOCIETY
Painter Wang Pan-yuan dies
Nationally renowned painter Wang Pan-yuan (王攀元) passed away on Friday at the age of 109 due to multiple organ failure, his daughter said. He was hospitalized for more than a month for complications arising from a pulmonary infection, she added. Wang was an important literati painter, who contributed to some of the most important chapters in the nation’s art history, Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said. “Even though he has left us, his artistic life is eternal,” Cheng said. Wang was born in China’s Jiangsu Province and spent most of his early years surrounded by war. He came to Taiwan in 1949 and lived in Yilan County. In 1961, Wang and his friends formed an art group in Yilan, where he concentrated on his painting and had a significant effect on the nation’s art development. The National Museum of History is to exhibit 150 of Wang’s works, including oil paintings, watercolors, Chinese brush drawings and ink-wash paintings, from May 4 to July 1 next year.
SOCIETY
Video 119 app launches
The Taipei Fire Department on Thursday launched a video chat app that allows people reporting an emergency to send videos, photographs and GPS coordinates to the Taipei 119 command center. The app, called “video chat 119” (視訊119), allows people to convey information about an emergency that might be difficult to do with words, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said at the launch event. The app can better relay information that the command center needs to dispatch personnel to the scene, Ko said. GPS is extremely helpful, because under current regulations, the fire department is unable to track the exact location of emergency calls made via cellphones, the department said. The app also allows the command center to instruct a caller on first-responder procedures, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
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
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
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