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.
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
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
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
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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