WEATHER
CWB issues cold warnings
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) has issued warnings for cold temperatures in 20 cities and counties, with a strong continental cold front to linger until at least early this morning. An “orange” alert was issued for New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Chiayi City and Tainan, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Chiayi and Yilan counties, warning of temperatures of below 6°C last night into this morning. The CWB also issued a “yellow” alert, saying temperatures of below 10°C were expected in Keelung, Taipei, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, as well as Pingtung, Hualien, Taitung and Kinmen counties. In November last year, the bureau adopted a color-coded alert system to warn of low temperatures across Taiwan, with “yellow,” “orange” and “red” warnings denoting “cold,” “very cold” and “frigid” temperatures respectively in non-mountainous areas.
DIPLOMACY
Visa program extended
Taiwan and North Macedonia have agreed to extend their bilateral visa-free programs for five years through March 31, 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Passport holders from both sides can visit each other’s territory without a visa for up to 90 days within an 180-day period, the ministry said in a statement, adding that information has been updated on the Web site of each nation’s foreign ministry. However, the privilege only applies to Republic of China passport holders whose document contains their national ID number, the Taiwanese ministry said. Having the ID number means the passport holder is a Taiwanese national and has household registration in Taiwan, which guarantees their civil and political rights, it said.
DIPLOMACY
Ministry thanks US senator
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked US Senator Marco Rubio for urging the US to fully implement the Taiwan Travel Act, negotiate a bilateral trade agreement and increase military support for Taiwan. In an opinion piece published in the Washington Examiner on Thursday, Rubio said that Beijing would likely redouble its efforts to isolate Taiwan in the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s founding next year. Ship visits and face-to-face meetings between senior military and government officials are opportunities for US engagement, while the US should “fully implement the Taiwan Travel Act,” he wrote. The ministry said in a statement that the nation would continue working with the US administration and the US Congress with a pragmatic attitude, and steadily deepen bilateral partnerships around the world.
SOCIETY
Fire dog carer sought
The Taipei Fire Department is to accept applications to take care of its rescue dog, a five-year-old German shepherd named Humble, until Feb 17. Applicants should live on the first floor of a building with open space of at least 10m2, with Taipei residents preferred, the department said. The dog’s food is to be paid for by the department, it said, adding that if veterinarian services are required, the carer should inform the department first, but if there is an emergency, the carer can seek help first and apply for reimbursement from the department afterward on provision of medical certificates. Since 2015, six of its retired rescue dogs have been adopted by animal lovers, the department said.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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:
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
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