WEATHER
Dad’s Day means typhoons
A total of six typhoon warnings were issued around Father’s Day from 2000 to last year, making it the most common time for tropical cyclones to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said in a social media post yesterday. The frequency of land warnings on Aug. 8 and 9 was a natural phenomenon, because tropical disturbances have the highest chance of affecting the nation during this period, bureau Director-General Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) said. The six storms were Typhoon Bopha in 2006, Typhoon Panbuk and Typhoon Wutip in 2007, Typhoon Morakot in 2009, Typhoon Soudelor in 2015 and Typhoon Lekima in 2019, bureau data showed.
CULTURE
Ghostly NYC TaiwanFest
The third edition of New York’s TaiwanFest market on Sunday brought a distinctly Ghost Month flavor to Washington Square Park, with a traditional altar set up alongside the usual offerings of Taiwanese cuisine and culture. Ghost Month falls on the seventh month of the lunar calendar, in which, according to traditional Taiwanese beliefs, spirits are released from the underworld into the mortal realm. Event executive organizer Hsu Puo-chen (許伯丞) said Washington Square Park used to be a cemetery, which inspired him to set up an altar at the market. People at the market were able to enjoy Taiwanese staples such as boba tea, steamed buns and Hakka lei cha (擂茶, ground tea), while business was also brisk for those selling jewelry, cosmetics and other cultural knick-knacks.
TRAFFIC
Fleeing driver racks up fines
A woman was ticketed 16 times after leading police on a chase on Provincial Highway 72 in a van, the Miaoli County Police Bureau’s Traffic Police Brigade said. On July 22, the driver, surnamed Peng (彭), was spotted driving a vehicle with an expired licensed plate at the interchange of Provincial Highway 3 and Highway 72, police said. When flagged by a police car, Peng refused to stop and fled onto Highway 72 by driving against the flow of traffic and running a red light, they said. During the chase, Peng drove on the shoulder, switched lanes recklessly and made abrupt changes in course before going against the traffic again to make her escape via the offramp to Chukuangkeng Township (出礦坑), narrowly missing several vehicles, they said. Police gave up their pursuit as the danger posed to the public was too high, they said. As there was plenty of video evidence, a police task force was able to locate Peng, who was issued a slew of tickets for breaking traffic rules, with fines totaling NT$117,300, they said.
SOCIETY
Indonesia event series starts
More than 40 people on Sunday learned the basics of the Bahasa Indonesia language and sampled dishes including tumpeng, klepon and nasi uduk at the first of a series of bimonthly cultural events in Taipei. The event, co-organized by IndosuarA and the Indonesia Economic and Trade Office (IETO), saw participants learn how to count and say simple phrases in Indonesian before playing traditional games while listening to dangdut music. The first event was held this month, as Indonesians celebrate their independence in August, host Mira Luxita said. IETO trade analyst Muhammad Fuad Hamzah said that learning about the country could be useful for developing business opportunities or investments. The next edition of the Learn Indonesian and Taste the Food for Free event is to be held on Oct. 2. More information is available at meetu.ps/e/LkVB3/xKmGn/i
MODERATE TYPHOON: Localized heavy rain is forecast to hit central and southern Taiwan, the CWA said, adding that the storm would likely move away on Saturday A sea warning for Typhoon Saudel, which shifted to a more northerly track as it approached Taiwan, is likely early today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the center of typhoon was about 630km northeast of Taipei, moving west-northwest at 14kph with maximum wind gusts of up to 162kph, CWA data showed. Saudel is a moderate typhoon and is expected to weaken as it nears Taiwan due to atmospheric and ocean conditions, CWA forecaster Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. A sea warning indicates hazardous typhoon conditions in waters surrounding Taiwan within 24 hours, Lin said. The storm is forecast to
A Straits Exchange Foundation official today warned that yielding to political pressure in exchange for access to China’s entertainment industry rarely ends well, amid rumors that China is seeking to lure Taiwanese K-pop star Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜). Chou, more commonly known as Tzuyu, is the only Taiwanese member of the girl group Twice. Her contract with JYP Entertainment is set to expire at the end of this year, and there have been widespread reports that she would not renew it. She is reportedly planning to pursue solo activities under her parents’ agency, Yu Hai Entertainment (瑜海娛樂), although China has also reportedly offered
China is urging its citizens to evacuate Eswatini and warning others not to visit the tiny African kingdom over what it said were safety concerns and scamming risks in Taiwan’s last remaining diplomatic partner on the continent. In a post on WeChat, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Consular Affairs described Eswatini’s security situation as “complex,” with crimes involving online fraud and illegal gambling “rampant” and the public-security and safety risk “extremely high.” “Chinese citizens and institutions currently in the country are urged to evacuate or relocate to relatively safer areas — such as South Africa — as soon as
A tropical depression near Hainan that was once Typhoon Saudel may once again strengthen into a tropical storm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, but a sea warning for waters around Taiwan is unlikely. CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said that Saudel would return to being a weak tropical storm by late yesterday or early this morning. However, as the storm is to gradually weaken again and would head toward China’s Guangdong Province away from Taiwan, the chances that it would affect Taiwan enough for the CWA to issue a sea warning are relatively low,
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