WEATHER
Temperatures to drop
The weather is expected to become cooler, with sporadic rain in some areas tomorrow and on Wednesday due to a stronger northeasterly monsoon and the arrival of a frontal system, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Showers are forecast in the nation’s north and east tomorrow and on Wednesday, while the weather in central Taiwan would change from mostly cloudy to sporadically rainy, the bureau said. Temperatures reached 30°C to 32°C in western Taiwan yesterday, and 27°C to 29°C in the east, the bureau said. Wu Te-jung (吳德榮), a professor at National Central University’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, said that as the frontal system moves south toward the nation, clouds would build up over the north of Taiwan, bringing the temperatures there down today, he said. The front is expected to reach Taiwan tomorrow, and it would send the mercury to as low as 15°C to 16°C on Friday, and would also bring rain, the meteorologist said.
HEALTH
Swine fever carcass found
Tests on a pig carcass found in Kinmen County’s Lieyu Township (烈嶼) came back positive for African swine fever, the Central Emergency Operation Center for African swine fever said on Saturday. The last time a dead hog was found washed ashore in the township was on Feb. 3, and it also was found to have the disease, the center said. Lieyu is on an island separate from Kinmen’s main island and is less than 5km away from Xiamen, China. To ensure that the disease had not spread to the seven active hog farms in Lieyu, quarantine personnel were dispatched to collect tissue samples for African swine fever testing, the center said. All tests came back negative. To date, 12 pig carcasses that washed ashore in Kinmen have tested positive for swine fever.
ASTRONOMY
Meteor shower to peak
Stargazers in Taiwan are to have a good chance to view the Lyrid meteor shower when it peaks on Wednesday, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. Observation conditions should be fair after 10:30pm tomorrow and before dawn on Friday, the museum said. Astronomy buffs can expect to see 23 shooting stars per hour during the peak, compared with an average of 18, thanks to less light interference from a crescent moon, the museum said. The Lyrid meteor shower is also known for producing bolides — extremely bright shooting stars that are brighter than Venus, it said. The museum said that it would broadcast the event live on its Web site. The meteor shower would be visible to the naked eye if the weather is good, it added.
SOCIETY
Restaurant offers hope
A Taipei restaurant that offers work opportunities to Hong Kongers seeking political asylum in Taiwan opened for business yesterday. The restaurant in the Gongguan (公館) area is called “Aegis” in English. Its Chinese name (保護傘) refers to the umbrellas that have been adopted as symbols of political resistance in Hong Kong. In a Facebook post on Thursday, it thanked its supporters “for never giving up or deserting us, and always staying true with your support and help.” The project is being led by Daniel Wong (黃國桐), a Hong Kong lawyer and politician who provided volunteer legal services to protesters arrested during the Hong Kong protests last year. Wong, a Kowloon City district councilor and member of the Hong Kong Election Committee, said at a recent forum that Hong Kongers are not asking for help from Taiwan’s government, but hope the country can provide refuge for those who need it.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
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