WEATHER
Hot weather forecast
A cold weather front, which brought periods of heavy rain and cooler weather across much of the nation yesterday, would give way to hot and mostly sunny weather over the coming week, forecasters said yesterday. The Central Weather Administration issued a heavy rain advisory yesterday for Taipei and New Taipei City, mountainous areas of Miaoli County and from Taichung down to Pingtung County in the western half of Taiwan. More than 80mm of rain within 24 hours or more than 40mm in a single hour was expected. As the system moves into the Bashi Channel today, temperatures would rise across Taiwan, with rain giving way to cloudy weather in the south and clouds giving way to sunny conditions in other regions, independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said. Tomorrow and Wednesday, sunny weather is expected across Taiwan, with temperatures in some areas reaching highs of up to 35°C and overnight temperatures dropping as low as 17°C, Wu said. According to the latest European forecasting models, hot and partly sunny conditions would prevail in Taiwan from Thursday through Tuesday next week, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
TRAFFIC
Pedestrian zone launched
A trial pedestrian zone was launched in Taipei’s Yongkang Street (永康街) area on Saturday, with streets closed to most vehicles on weekends through June 10 to promote a more pedestrian-friendly environment, the Taipei City Government said. The campaign, which limits vehicle access from 2pm to 8pm on Saturdays and Sundays, spans about 250m of Yongkang Street — from its intersection with Xinyi Road (信義路) Sec 2 to Lane 14 — and includes nearby alleys around the popular tourist destination. During the trial period, only vehicles with local access permits or those making deliveries would be allowed through, with police and traffic volunteers onsite to enforce the restrictions, the city government said in a news release. Taipei Department of Transportation Director Hsieh Ming-hung (謝銘鴻) on Saturday said that the first day of the trial went better than expected, adding that the city would continue gathering public feedback and adjust the plan as needed. Local borough warden Lee Ming-ying (李明螢) said the mixed residential-commercial area might not be suitable for regular street closures.
CULTURE
French festival returns
The second edition of the Kaohsiung French Festival would take place in the southern port city on Friday next week to promote French culture with a variety of activities ranging from art and sports to gastronomy. The festival would return to Kaohsiung from Friday next week to May 25, offering an “even richer cultural experience” that builds on the success of last year’s event, which attracted about 110,000 visitors over three days, the French Office in Taipei said. The event would serve as a testament to the deepening cooperation between France and Kaohsiung, it added. The three-day event at the city’s Pier-2 Art Center features outdoor concerts, a market with about 100 French and Taiwanese brands, drawing workshops, petanque games and virtual-reality film screenings, among other activities. For this year’s festival, French illustrator Christopher Boyd would also showcase his work, which highlights the beauty of the French Riviera and the importance of maritime conservation, the French office said. Such visuals for the event are intended to align with this year’s UN Ocean Conference, which is scheduled to take place in the coastal city of Nice, in southern France, from June 9 to 13, it said.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
INTEL: China’s ships are mapping strategic ocean floors, including near Guam, which could aid undersea cable targeting and have military applications, a report said China’s oceanographic survey and research ships are collecting data in the Indo-Pacific region — possibly to aid submarine navigation, detect or map undersea cables, and lay naval mines — activities that could have military applications in a conflict with Taiwan or the US, a New York Times report said. The article, titled “China Surveys Seabeds Where Naval Rivals May One Day Clash,” was written by Chris Buckley and published on Thursday. Starboard Maritime Intelligence data revealed that Chinese research ships last year repeatedly scanned the ocean floor east of Taiwan’s maritime border, and about 400km east and west of Guam; “waters that
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