WEATHER
Cold front approaches
A continental cold air mass is forecast to envelop Taiwan next week, sending temperatures to below 10°C in some areas on New Year’s Eve, National Central University adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences Wu Der-rong (吳德榮) said yesterday. With the arrival on Wednesday of the first cold front this winter, the mercury is expected to plunge to as low as 8°C to 10°C in some parts of the country at night as the system intensifies, Wu said. Temperatures would fall across Taiwan, with the coldest weather forecast for New Year’s Eve on Thursday, he said. Citing data from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Wu said that the temperature in the Taipei metropolitan area on Thursday would be about 7°C, while in some low-lying parts of the city the mercury is likely to plunge to 5°C. Residents in northern Taiwan would see a temporary break in the wet weather on Saturday next week, Wu said, adding that the following day, a cloud system from the south would bring rain to many parts of the country.
SOCIETY
Age amendment passed
The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to the Civil Code, officially lowering the age of majority from 20 to 18. The new regulations would be effective from Jan. 1, 2023. Modern technology allows young people to develop self-awareness, and mental and physical maturity faster than before, the Ministry of Justice said, adding that it has answered public expectations and proposed the amendment to make 18 the new age of majority. With the rule change, people aged 18 would be allowed to freely marry or divorce, while they can get engaged at age 17. The amendments removed Article 981 of the Civil Code, which states that minors must obtain the permission of their legal guardians to marry.
SOCIETY
Nitori announces recall
Nitori Taiwan, a retailer of Japanese furniture and home accessories, on Thursday announced a voluntary recall of nine types of diatomaceous bath mats and coasters due to possibly excessive levels of asbestos. In a notice on its Web site, Nitori said that people who purchased the products can take them to a Nitori store for a full refund, with or without a receipt. The nine affected products were made in China, and 2.41 million of them have been sold globally, the company said. It has removed an additional 54 items from its shelves, pending testing for asbestos — a carcinogen, Nitori said. People who have items confirmed as containing asbestos or that are being tested for the substance should double-wrap them in plastic until they can be returned or are deemed safe, the company said. Products that are worn or broken pose the greatest danger, as this can allow asbestos particles to be released into the air, the company said.
SOCIETY
Volcano drill scheduled
Residents of Hutian Borough (湖田) in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) on Tuesday are to receive a test warning on their mobile phones as authorities run a drill for a volcanic eruption to upgrade the national disaster warning network, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. Residents of Hutian are to receive a text messages reading: “Drill, Volcanic Info, CWB 02_2349 1181,” between 10am and 10:30am, depending on their telecommunications provider, the bureau said. If the messages are delivered smoothly, the bureau would apply to have the volcano warning system included in the Public Warning System, it said.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
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