■ Weather
More cold weather coming
Rainy days are expected in northern and northeastern Taiwan as well as in Penghu (澎湖), Kinmen (金門) and Matsu (馬祖) over the next two days, because of the arrival of a cold front on Saturday, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Temperatures will drop to a low of 14oC in the north, 15oC in central Taiwan and 17oC in the south. The public are advised to take umbrellas and raincoats whenever they go out, the bureau said. The effect of the cold front is likely to affect the weather around the nation until tomorrow. Chances of rain will be low on Wednesday and Thursday as the cold front is expected to move away from the island and temperatures could reach into the 20s. But the sunny weather is not expected to last as another cold front is scheduled to arrive on Friday.
■ Defense
Jets to land on freeways
The Ministry of National Defense said yesterday it was considering a military exercise where air force jets stage landings on freeways. The drill is scheduled for May 15 on a section of freeway in central Changhua County, the Chinese-language China Times said, citing freeway administration authorities. Blocks separating the freeway lanes would be removed and traffic interrupted for several hours during the drill, which would cost at least NT$20 million (US$607,900), it said. "This has been under evaluation," ministry spokesman Major-General Wu Chi-fang (吳季方) said. But he said the drill, part of this year's Han Kuang Exercises, would be decided "after mid-April." If approved, it would be only the second time the military has staged such a drill.
■ Health
Texter gets `trigger finger'
A young woman in her 20s has been diagnosed with "trigger finger," a form of repetitive stress injury caused by frequent sending of text messages. Lin Yu-cheng (林育誠), a doctor of Chinese medicine at Yangming branch of Taipei City Hospital, said the woman loved to communicate with friends via text messages, and sent over a dozen texts per day. Her frequent texting eventually led to a thumb strain. The doctor said that the average age of patients with this kind of problem has been decreasing, and people who like to send texts, play video games and computers are at a higher risk of developing this ailment. He reminded patients to relax their fingers and try to change their habits. Frequent texters should also soak their hands in hot water regularly, and squeeze their fists slowly for 10 to 15 minutes, repeating three to five times a day, Lin added.
■ Environment
Taiping Island protected
Kaohsiung City Government declared yesterday that Taiping Island -- the largest island in the Nansha (Spratly) island group -- will become a conservation area for the endangered green sea turtle and will enjoy a protected status. The city government's Marine Bureau said the conservation area extended from the center of Taiping Island to the beach and stretches 22km out to sea. The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora has placed the green sea turtle on its list of endangered species. In December last year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) built an L-shaped pier on the island, triggering concerns that the construction might affect the local ecology and ruin the natural habitat of the turtles. Taiping Island is located southwest of Taiwan in the South China Sea. At 1,360m long and 350m wide, the island has an area of just 489,600m2.
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TAIWAN ADVOCATES: The resolution, which called for the recognition of Taiwan as a country and normalized relations, was supported by 22 Republican representatives Two US representatives on Thursday reintroduced a resolution calling for the US to end its “one China” policy, resume formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and negotiate a bilateral Taiwan-US free trade agreement. Republican US representatives Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th District were backed by 22 Republican members of the US House of Representatives. The two congressmen first introduced the resolution together in 2021. The resolution called on US President Donald Trump to “abandon the antiquated ‘one China’ policy in favor of a policy that recognizes the objective reality that Taiwan is an independent country, not
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)