ASTRONOMY
Equinox brightens night
The spring equinox tomorrow would be an ideal time to view zodiacal light, a phenomenon caused when sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust illuminates the night sky, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. On the vernal equinox, the sun passes directly above the equator, resulting in a day of equal darkness and light, on which the sun rises precisely in the east and sets due west. The weeks around the equinox are the best times for viewing zodiacal light, as this is when the plane of the solar system, where interplanetary dust resides, tilts steeply up from the western horizon after sunset. The equinox this year coincides with a new moon on Wednesday, creating favorable conditions to view the phenomenon in locations that are free from urban light, the museum said.
WEATHER
Warm weather coming
Temperatures are to rise around Taiwan over the next few days, peaking as high as 34°C by Friday in some places, although a cold front could bring cooler weather and rain to the north next weekend, forecasters said. The weather is to become summerlike in the daytime, but with large temperature gaps between daytime and nighttime, said Daniel Wu (吳德榮), a former Central Weather Bureau forecaster. The weather could be cloudy in some parts of the country, he added. Forecast models show a cold front approaching Taiwan from Saturday to Tuesday next week, bringing cooler temperatures and rain to the north, Wu said.
FRAUD
Fake rebate site blocked
A deceptive Web site impersonating a government Web site through which a planned NT$6,000 tax rebate can be claimed has been blocked by authorities, the Ministry of Finance said on Saturday. The phishing page registered as 6000govtw.com was designed as a scam, the ministry said, adding that it has reported the fake page to prosecutors, and its origin is under investigation. The authorities blocked the page immediately upon discovering it, the ministry said, adding that people should remain alert and call the 165 anti-fraud hotline to report any suspected cases of fraud regarding the rebate program. The URL of the fake page looks similar to 6000.gov.tw, which has been registered by the government and is to be launched on Wednesday as one of several ways for people to register to receive a NT$6,000 cash handout. The government is set to distribute NT$6,000 to each Taiwanese and foreign national as a rebate from last year’s surplus tax revenue, with the budget bill for the disbursement expected to pass into legislation on Friday.
AVIAN FLU
Chickens culled in Kinmen
The first domestic case of H9N2 avian influenza in Taiwan was on Thursday found at a chicken farm in Kinmen County, leading to the culling of 4,551 chickens to prevent the spread of the virus, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said on Friday. Disinfection work was conducted, along with testing on chickens from two other farms within 1km of the infected farm, bureau Deputy Director Hsu Jung-pin (徐榮彬) said, adding that no infected livestock were found. The bureau also monitored the health of one farm worker and 20 infection prevention staff members — the only people known to have had contact with the chicken — with none displaying any symptoms related to H9N2.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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