WEATHER
Temperature swings
Day-night temperature differences across most of the nation have been significant since Thursday, reaching “highly dangerous” levels in some areas of northern Taiwan and “dangerous” in other parts of the country, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Temperature differences within 24 hours of more than 13°C are “highly dangerous,” while an 11-degree difference is “dangerous,” 9 degrees is “alert-level” and 7 degrees is designated “take notice,” the CWA said. Drastic temperature are caused by radiative cooling, a phenomenon in which the ground rapidly loses heat under clear skies and dry conditions, the CWA said.
Photo provided by the Central Weather Administration
SPORT
NBA Taiwan night held
The NBA’s Washington Wizards hosted a Taiwanese Heritage Night during their match against the Orlando Magic on Friday. The Taiwan-themed event, sponsored by the nonprofit Millennial Global Youth, featured a bucket hat giveaway for ticketholders at the Capitol One Arena in Washington. The hats came in two designs: one was solid red with the Wizards’ team logo and the Chinese characters for “Washington Wizards,” while the other featured a white background adorned with Taiwan’s national flag. The nonprofit also produced a limited edition of 300 jerseys given to ticket holders featuring the word “Taiwan” and the number “52,” which phonetically resembles “I love Taiwan” in Chinese. Millennial Global Youth was founded by a group of Taiwanese living in Washington, and works to promote multiculturalism and diversity.
FIRE
Tainan blaze kills one
A woman was killed after a fire broke out in an industrial zone in Tainan’s Yongkang District (永康) early yesterday morning, the city’s fire bureau said. The bureau received a report of the fire in the Asia-Pacific Industrial Zone on Zhongzheng Road at 2:11am, it said. Firefighters who arrived at the scene quickly learned that a woman was trapped on the building’s second floor and they immediately began battling the blaze using water hoses, it said. The woman was later found dead at the scene, the bureau said. Preliminary investigations by police and firefighters identified the deceased as a 76-year-old woman. A total of 115 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire, which was eventually extinguished at 5:55am, it said. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
DIPLOMACY
Lin meets new envoy
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Friday met with new Somaliland Representative to Taiwan Mahmoud Adam Jama Galaal, with both expressing hope for strengthened bilateral ties, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Galaal was appointed by the new government of Somaliland after Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi was inaugurated on Dec. 12 last year. He arrived in Taipei at the end of January. Lin welcomed Galaal to Taiwan and expressed hope for continued bilateral collaboration in multiple fields, including education, healthcare, agriculture, information and communications, security, and energy resources, the ministry said in a news release. Galaal said that Somaliland is keen to deepen collaboration with Taiwan, and thanked the nation for funding various projects in Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, including the expansion of the main road connecting Egal International Airport to the city center and the construction of a medical center.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
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