POLITICS
Lai to hold tea reception
President William Lai (賴清德) is this morning to host a Lunar New Year tea reception for the heads of the five government branches. He would be joined by Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in the closed-door event. Lai previously said he would invite the heads of the government branches for a gathering after the Lunar New Year, emphasizing the importance of harmony, “maintaining good intentions and speaking kind words.” He expressed hope that a positive atmosphere would help “transform misunderstanding into understanding, and divergence into unity.” A source said that the reception marks the first working day of the Lunar New Year, and by gathering the heads of the five branches for a tea reception, the president aims to exchange blessings and begin the year with the spirit of mutual respect and cooperation between constitutional institutions.
WEATHER
Warm weather to turn cold
The Central Weather Administration yesterday forecasted mostly cloudy to sunny skies for today, followed by two consecutive cold fronts starting tomorrow. From today to the daytime of tomorrow, temperatures would remain cool during the mornings and evenings, with a significant day-night temperature difference, it said. Most areas would see cloudy to sunny skies, with brief showers in the eastern areas and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島). The lowest temperatures are expected to be between 16°C and 20°C on Taiwan proper, Penghu and Kinmen counties, while Lienchiang County (Matsu) might see temperatures between 12°C and 13°C. Temperatures could reach 24°C to 28°C in the north and east, 29°C to 30°C in central and southern Taiwan, 24°C to 25°C in Penghu, 22°C to 23°C in Kinmen and 15°C to 18°C in Matsu. A cold front would pass from tomorrow night to Wednesday, and the northeast monsoon would slightly strengthen. Brief showers are expected in the north and east, as well as Hengchun Peninsula. The monsoon is expected to weaken on Thursday, but another front would enter on Friday, followed by a stronger northeast monsoon the next day. The probability of rain would increase nationwide.
SOCIETY
Puli forest fire contained
A forest fire that broke out on Feb. 15 in Nantou County’s Puli Township (埔里) and burned 29.54 hectares was contained on Saturday, the Nantou branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said yesterday. A total of 94 agency personnel were deployed, while the army’s Aviation and Special Forces Command, and the National Air Service Corps carried out aerial water drops, it said. The agency said information about the blaze would be forwarded to the Nantou County Fire Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Seventh Special Police Corps, which would investigate the fire.
AVIATION
Starlux flight U-turns
Starlux Airlines flight JX800 bound for Japan’s Narita International Airport yesterday suddenly U-turned back to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport about one hour after takeoff. Starlux Airlines said the return was due to mechanical issues. A replacement aircraft transported passengers to Tokyo at 1:15pm, and the return flight from Tokyo, JX801, was expected to be delayed by about three hours, it said. While waiting for the replacement flight, Starlux Airlines passengers in Taoyuan and Tokyo were provided with meal vouchers to use at the airport, it said, expressing its sincere apologies for the inconvenience.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
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