WEATHER
Temperatures to drop
The weather is expected to become cooler, with sporadic rain in some areas tomorrow and on Wednesday due to a stronger northeasterly monsoon and the arrival of a frontal system, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Showers are forecast in the nation’s north and east tomorrow and on Wednesday, while the weather in central Taiwan would change from mostly cloudy to sporadically rainy, the bureau said. Temperatures reached 30°C to 32°C in western Taiwan yesterday, and 27°C to 29°C in the east, the bureau said. Wu Te-jung (吳德榮), a professor at National Central University’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, said that as the frontal system moves south toward the nation, clouds would build up over the north of Taiwan, bringing the temperatures there down today, he said. The front is expected to reach Taiwan tomorrow, and it would send the mercury to as low as 15°C to 16°C on Friday, and would also bring rain, the meteorologist said.
HEALTH
Swine fever carcass found
Tests on a pig carcass found in Kinmen County’s Lieyu Township (烈嶼) came back positive for African swine fever, the Central Emergency Operation Center for African swine fever said on Saturday. The last time a dead hog was found washed ashore in the township was on Feb. 3, and it also was found to have the disease, the center said. Lieyu is on an island separate from Kinmen’s main island and is less than 5km away from Xiamen, China. To ensure that the disease had not spread to the seven active hog farms in Lieyu, quarantine personnel were dispatched to collect tissue samples for African swine fever testing, the center said. All tests came back negative. To date, 12 pig carcasses that washed ashore in Kinmen have tested positive for swine fever.
ASTRONOMY
Meteor shower to peak
Stargazers in Taiwan are to have a good chance to view the Lyrid meteor shower when it peaks on Wednesday, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. Observation conditions should be fair after 10:30pm tomorrow and before dawn on Friday, the museum said. Astronomy buffs can expect to see 23 shooting stars per hour during the peak, compared with an average of 18, thanks to less light interference from a crescent moon, the museum said. The Lyrid meteor shower is also known for producing bolides — extremely bright shooting stars that are brighter than Venus, it said. The museum said that it would broadcast the event live on its Web site. The meteor shower would be visible to the naked eye if the weather is good, it added.
SOCIETY
Restaurant offers hope
A Taipei restaurant that offers work opportunities to Hong Kongers seeking political asylum in Taiwan opened for business yesterday. The restaurant in the Gongguan (公館) area is called “Aegis” in English. Its Chinese name (保護傘) refers to the umbrellas that have been adopted as symbols of political resistance in Hong Kong. In a Facebook post on Thursday, it thanked its supporters “for never giving up or deserting us, and always staying true with your support and help.” The project is being led by Daniel Wong (黃國桐), a Hong Kong lawyer and politician who provided volunteer legal services to protesters arrested during the Hong Kong protests last year. Wong, a Kowloon City district councilor and member of the Hong Kong Election Committee, said at a recent forum that Hong Kongers are not asking for help from Taiwan’s government, but hope the country can provide refuge for those who need it.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
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