WEATHER
Mercury to fall further
A cold air mass affecting the nation is forecast to continue, with temperatures expected to fall further today and tomorrow, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The cold air was moving southward, it said, adding that daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan yesterday fell to 17°C to 18°C, down from about 23°C a day earlier, with nighttime temperatures of 13°C to 14°C. In central and southern areas, highs yesterday were 24°C to 30°C with low of 15°C to 17°C at night, it said. Meanwhile, Typhoon Wutip was about 3,360km east-southeast of Taiwan’s southernmost tip as of 2am yesterday, the bureau said. The storm was moving in a west-northwesterly direction toward Japan and is unlikely to affect Taiwan directly, it said.
DIPLOMACY
Delegation lands in St Lucia
Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) yesterday was to attend events to mark St Lucia’s 40th anniversary of independence as President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) special envoy after departing from Taiwan on Wednesday evening. Su and his delegation embarked on a seven-day trip, during which they are also to meet with top St Lucian officials, including Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, Senate President Jeannie Giraudy-McIntyre and House Speaker Andy Daniel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Su is also to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the Hewanorra International Airport redevelopment project, which is financed with a loan from Taiwan. St Lucia celebrates its Independence Day on Feb. 22, the date in 1979 when it became an independent state of the Commonwealth of Nations.
CRIME
Brother suspected of murder
The Keelung Police Bureau yesterday said it suspected that a squabble between two brothers led to an apparent homicide. A man surnamed Chen (陳), 44, called police yesterday morning saying he had killed his younger brother, police said, adding that when officers arrived at their home, they found the older Chen holding a knife splattered with blood and muttering to himself, while the younger brother, 42, lay dead in a bedroom with multiple stab wounds. Chen was saying: “Why does he not work? It bothers me,” police said, adding that both men had a history of mental illness. Forensic evidence indicated that the younger brother was stabbed in the bathroom before he was dragged to the bedroom, where he bled to death, police said. Preliminary investigations suggest that the suspect was angry because his brother was unemployed, frequently drunk and was physically abusing their sexagenarian mother, who also lives at the home, police said.
SOCIETY
Gay surrogacy event planned
The world’s largest “boot camp” to help gay men become parents is to stage its first Asia event in Taipei next month to address demand for surrogates in the region, organizers said on Thursday. New York-based non-profit Men Having Babies stages events around the world to provide advice and support to LGBT people who want to become parents and plans to stage its first annual Asian event on March 9 and March 10. “We have been witnessing over the last three years a growing interest from Asia — mostly Chinese — intended parents coming to the United States for surrogacy,” Men Having Babies founder and executive director Ron Poole-Dayan said.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
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