WEATHER
Storm nears Taiwan
Tropical Storm Talim has formed in the South China Sea yesterday, said the Central Weather Bureau (CWB). While the storm is not on course to affect Taiwan directly, its outer cloud system could cause intermittent rainfall in Keelung, eastern and southern Taiwan, and mountainous areas across the country today, it said. Taiwan could experience thunderstorms and severe weather conditions, including thunders, strong winds, and momentary torrential rains around noon until Wednesday next week, said Daniel Wu (吳德榮), a former CWB Weather Forecast Center director who is now an adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University.
TRANSPORTATION
MRT station opens
An 800-meter extension of the Taoyuan Airport MRT that runs into the heart of Jhongli District (中壢) in Taoyuan is set to start commercial operations by the end of this month, Railway Bureau says. The section connecting the Huanbei Station (A21) and the new station to its south, the Laojie River Station (A22), has passed all the necessary tests and received an operating permit from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications earlier this month, the bureau said. Taoyuan Metro Co is to decide on a launch date for the section, it said. The new station is part of a NT$17.3 billion (US$559 million) extension project that started in 2020 to add two stops to the existing 51.03km line.
CRIME
Dog poisoner sentenced
A man in Taitung County has been sentenced to two months in prison and fined NT $270,000 (US$8739) for killing a stray dog with poison. The verdict, released on Wednesday by the Taitung District Court, found the man, surnamed Chang (張), deliberately fed a stray dog the pesticide methomyl on Oct. 15 last year. A nearby person, surnamed Wu (吳), reported to the police that after the dog was fed by Chang, it began twitching and died immediately. Chang initially denied feeding the dog poison and told the police that he did not know the food he had given the animal contained methomyl. He later admitted to poisoning the dog, but said he did so to relieve the animal’s suffering as it was sick and malnourished, the court said. Based on a nearby surveillance footage, the dog appeared to be in good condition and was even wagging its tail at Chang before it was poisoned, the court said.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: As authorities were busy with post-typhoon cleanups elsewhere, residents cleaned fallen leaves and cut small fallen trees blocking the hiking trails All hiking trails damaged by Typhoon Kong-rey have been repaired and has reopened for people who want a refreshing hike in Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday, a city official said. The Taipei Basin is known for its easily accessible hiking trails. It has more than 130 trails combined into the 92km-long Taipei Grand Trail, which was divided into seven major routes when it was launched by the Taipei City Government in 2018. Last year, a part of the sixth route of the Grand Trail collapsed due to Typhoon Kong-rey, which hit Taiwan in October. The damaged section belongs to one
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