WEATHER
Early 2018 to be warm, dry
Normal or slightly warmer temperatures are expected with a limited chance of rain in the first quarter of next year, Central Weather Bureau Weather Forecast Center Director Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) said. This has to do with the weakening of La Nina, which usually causes ocean temperatures to drop, as well as the strengthening of northeasterly winds, which are to reduce rain in central and southern Taiwan, Lu said. However, January and February are typically the coldest months of the year, so even though there have been no cold surges this year, the bureau cannot rule out cold snaps in the coming months, Lu added. As for weather trends over the past year, he said this was possibly the warmest year in recorded history, with an average annual temperature of 24.4°C.
IMMIGRATION
Online status check launched
From Monday, foreign residents who hold Alien Resident Certificates (ARCs) or Alien Citizen Digital Certificates can apply online to see whether they are prohibited from leaving Taiwan, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Residents can already file their tax returns and check departure and entry dates online, saving them the trouble of visiting agency offices, the agency said. However, people from China, Hong Kong and Macau will not be covered by the program for the time being, it added. Legal foreign residents aged 18 or above are eligible to apply for an Alien Citizen Digital Certificate at local agency service centers by submitting a valid ARC, it said. Applicants must pay NT$275 and register the number of their application form at moica.nat.gov.tw within 15 days of applying, it added.
CULTURE
Israel chosen as show theme
Israel is to be the theme nation for next year’s Taipei International Book Exhibition, the organizers announced on Wednesday. The exhibition is to run from Feb. 6 to Feb. 11 and is to feature various events, including talks, movie screenings and virtual reality experiences, Israeli Representative to Taiwan Asher Yarden said. Visitors will be able to experience Israel with all five senses, as it will feature some iconic sights, tastes, smells, sounds and textures from the country, theme planning director Hsieh Pei-ni (謝佩霓) said. Four renowned Israeli authors — Noa Yedlin, Yannets Levi, Gil Hovav and Hanoch Piven — are to attend, along with the indie-folk acoustic band Di Gasn Trio. Israeli food and drinks are also to be showcased at the event, which is to take place at exhibition halls 1 and 3 of the Taipei World Trade Center.
CRIME
Special gang unit launched
A special unit aimed at combating fraud, narcotics sales and other gang-related crimes was on Monday launched by the Criminal Investigation Bureau. The Special Tactical Unit, a team of 26 elite officers, is to combat crime and help carry out various advanced tactical operations, bureau Commissioner Liu Po-liang (劉柏良) said. In addition to supporting criminal investigations, the unit is also to conduct exchanges on counterterrorism training with foreign law enforcement agencies, Liu said, adding that he hopes to see increased exchanges with agencies from the US and Europe. The unit will be equipped for a variety of scenarios, including sniper detail, surround and capture, and close-quarters combat in an urban environment, the bureau said. Members will be armed with weapons including Glock 19s, M4 assault rifles, SIG-SSG-2000 sniper rifles and MP5 submachine guns, it said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching