WEATHER
High temperatures forecast
Most parts of the nation are forecast to see highs of 30oC or more, along with partly cloudy to sunny weather this weekend, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Daytime highs are forecast to climb to between 30oC and 34oC over the three-day break from yesterday to tomorrow. Temperatures tomorrow are expected to hit 33oC in Taipei and Taichung, and 34oC in Chiayi, Pingtung and Taitung, the bureau said. Showers are expected in Kinmen, Penghu and Lienchiang, with Matsu forecast to record a high of 28oC this weekend, it said. Scattered showers are likely in eastern Taiwan, while afternoon thunderstorms are forecast for the northern, eastern and mountainous areas of central and southern Taiwan between today and Monday, it added.
CRIME
KTV death toll rises to six
Another victim died from injuries sustained in a fire at a karaoke outlet on Sunday last week, bringing the death toll from the incident to six, police said on Thursday. The 29-year-old man, surnamed Chang (張), was in a critical condition when he was taken to National Taiwan University Hospital and placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, police said. However, his condition failed to improve and his family decided to end treatment after discussions with medical personnel. He passed away on Thursday afternoon, police said. Chang is the sixth person to have died from the fire, which broke out at the Cashbox Partyworld KTV branch on Linsen N Road. At the time, all five major safety features — an indoor fire hydrant, automatic sprinkler system, automatic fire alarm, emergency broadcasting system and smoke extraction equipment — were not working, investigating police and prosecutors said on Tuesday. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Thursday said a report determining responsibility for the fire would be released within a week, adding that the city government had set up an investigation committee to look into the safety inspection system.
CRIME
Man fined for pet’s action
A man in Miaoli County, surnamed Liao (廖), was fined NT$3,000 after a local police precinct received a video clip dated March 22 showing his dog poking its head out of a backseat window while he was driving in the city. Police said that pets, considered as properties by law, are subject to Article 29 of the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), which states that drivers could be fined between NT$3,000 and NT$9,000 for carrying items that exceed the regulated length, width or height limits.
DIPLOMACY
Dutch office pulls video
The Netherlands’ de facto embassy in Taiwan on Thursday confirmed that it had taken down a video on its Facebook page, in which it had announced a name change from the “Netherlands Trade and Investment Office” to the “Netherlands Office Taipei.” In the five-minute address in the video, Dutch Representative Guy Wittich said that relations and cooperation between Taiwan and the Netherlands have continued to strengthen in many areas. The video was a livestream that was on Facebook and YouTube for only a couple of hours, the office said in response to reporters’ queries about the issue. The video was removed after China protested the name change, urging the Netherlands to adhere to the “one China principle.” The move by the Netherlands to change the name of its Taipei office followed similar decisions by Australia, the UK, Japan and Poland over the past few years.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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