WEATHER
New cold front expected
Miaoli in northern Taiwan recorded the lowest temperature of 7.5°C of all low-lying areas in Taiwan proper early yesterday morning as a strong continental cold air mass continued to grip the country, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Data compiled by the agency showed temperatures in most areas in northern and northeastern Taiwan dipped below 10°C early yesterday morning. The cold air mass is likely to weaken today, sending temperatures slightly higher, while brief rain is forecast in eastern Taiwan, the Hangchun Peninsula, as well as the mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan, the CWA said. Another weather front is expected to set in tomorrow as a northeasterly wind system gathers momentum, it said, adding that it is likely to strengthen and affect the nation until Wednesday.
ARTS
Sundance returns to Taipei
The Sundance Film Festival Asia, an expansion of the independent film event in the US, is to be held in Taipei for the second time on Aug. 21 to 25. “2024 marks the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival in the United States,” a statement from the Sundance Institute and G2Go Entertainment said. “The continuation of Sundance Film Festival Asia in Taipei is a further celebration of this marvelous achievement and a commitment to invigorate local artists with outreach and dialogue.” The organizers have begun accepting submissions for a short-film competition for the film festival’s Asia event, which drew more than 250 entries last year, the statement said. Submissions are open until May 31, and the winner is to be announced at the opening event of the film festival and receive a NT$50,000 cash prize, it said.
CRIME
Woman arrested over drugs
A section assistant in the Taipei Department of Social Welfare who on Wednesday was allegedly found with more than 20g of cannabis has denied dealing the drug after her arrest by local police, sources said. Police from the Daan Precinct (大安) said they began investigating the city government employee, surnamed Liu (劉), after a man caught with cannabis during a roadside stop in January said he had bought drugs from her. Liu was arrested along with her boyfriend, surnamed Chou (周), following a series of searches and raids on Wednesday, during which police seized “dozens of grams of cannabis” as well as drug paraphernalia. Liu and Chou denied selling drugs, saying that the seized cannabis was for personal use only, a source familiar with the matter said. The pair were transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and are currently being investigated for narcotics offenses.
ARTS
Biennale includes Idas Losin
Taiwanese oil painter Idas Losin is to be the second indigenous artist from Taiwan to participate in the Biennale of Sydney, titled “Ten Thousand Suns,” which runs from yesterday to June 10. The 48-year-old artist from the Truku and Atayal communities in Hualien County follows in the footsteps of Aluaiy Kaumakan (武玉玲), who attended the previous edition of the Australian event — one of the three biggest international art biennials in the world. Idas Losin’s murals are to be exhibited at the entrance of the University of New South Wales Galleries at the biennial, for which she reorganized three pieces related to Easter Island to represent the Moai statues and Rongorongo, a unique kind of hieroglyph. The other Taiwanese participant in the event is Li Jiun-yang (李俊陽).
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
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