WEATHER
Snow falls on Yushan
Snow fell on Taiwan’s tallest mountain, Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山), in Nantou County, amid freezing temperatures early yesterday morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 6am, 5mm of snow had accumulated at the weather station on the highest peak of the mountain, on the northern ridge, at an elevation of 3,952m, the CWA said. It estimated that the snow had fallen on Yushan between midnight and 1am, after which the temperature there dipped to a low of minus-3.1°C at about 2am. On Hehuanshan (合歡山), the heaviest snowfall of this winter season was recorded, the Highway Bureau said. Rime ice and snow pellets fell intermittently from about 8pm on Sunday to early yesterday morning, it said.
Photo courtesy of Huang Tu-feng
HEALTH
Train riders warned
High-speed rail passengers who traveled between Kaohsiung and Taichung late last month in the same train cars with a man diagnosed with measles should contact the Kaohsiung Department of Health, the department said yesterday. It said the Centers for Disease Controls (CDC) on Friday confirmed that the man who traveled on the high-speed rail late last month had been infected with measles. The man traveled from Zuoying to Taichung on Dec. 28 in Car 2 of train No. 160 and went from Taichung to Zuoying on Tuesday last week in Car 4 of train No. 153, it said. The department urged those who traveled in the same cars as the man to contact it at (07)-723-0250 or call the CDC toll-free hotline 1922 as quickly as possible given that measles is highly contagious four days before or after its onset. People who have not been vaccinated or are not immune could be infected with the measles virus within two hours if they were in an enclosed space with an infected person, regardless of duration of exposure, it added.
GUATEMALA
Ambassador visits Lai
Newly appointed Guatemalan Ambassador to Taiwan Luis Raul Estevez Lopez yesterday pledged to enhance 90 years of diplomatic relations, as he presented his credentials to President William Lai (賴清德). Estevez said Taiwan and Guatemala’s long-term friendship is based on shared values of peace-loving, fighting for democracy, a mutually beneficial partnership and respect for international laws. Lai praised Estevez as the perfect man for the position, given the veteran diplomat’s 32 years of experience with Guatemala’s foreign service. Estevez previously served as Guatemala’s representative to the Organization of American States, and to the International Court of Justice, and his appointment as ambassador reflected the high priority Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo has given to his country’s ties with Taiwan, Lai said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
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