■ Weather
Mercury to plummet
The mercury is expected to drop sharply in the next few days with the approach of a cold front from China, the Central Weather Bureau reported yesterday. The cold front arrived over northern Taiwan late yesterday. Temperatures in coastal areas north of Chiayi County and on Kinmen and Matsu are expected to plummet to 8?C between tomorrow and Thursday, the bureau said. It called for the farming and fishery sectors to be on guard against frost damage. It also called for fishing boats operating to the north and northeast of Taiwan, as well as those in the Taiwan Strait, to be on the alert for strong winds and high tides as the strong northeast monsoon is sweeping in.
■ Travel
Beijing flight a hot ticket
Tickets for the Beijing-Taipei Lunar New Year charter flight scheduled for this Saturday proved to be best-sellers. All tickets for the 125-seat charter flight scheduled to depart Beijing for CKS International Airport have been booked, according to Chen Kuo-yuan (陳國原), secretary-general of the Taiwan Business Association in Beijing. There will be three more flights until Feb 20 for the convenience of Beijing-based Taiwanese businesspeople and their relatives during the Lunar New Year period, Chen said. Demand has been higher than expected, Chen said. Seven charter flights operated by six Chinese carriers arrived in Taiwan from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on Saturday, the first day of the charter services, carrying about 1,700 Taiwanese home for the holidays.
■ Politics
Lien willing to visit HK
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has said he would be glad to visit Hong Kong at the invitation of academic institutions, a Hong Kong-based Taiwanese business executive said yesterday. Chen Zi-chuang (陳自創), managing director of the Taiwan Industrial and Business Association in Hong Kong, said he had conveyed a university's invitation to Lien during a recent visit to Taipei. Lien said that if he can obtain a visa this year, he will accept the invitation to deliver a speech, according to Chen. Lien was last in Hong Kong on Oct. 11, 2003, but only for a transit stay of a few hours.
■ Politics
Kaohsiung deputy named
Acting Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said yesterday that he has invited Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文隆), vice chairman of the Public Construction Commission, to serve as his deputy. Chen said he had decided to name Cheng as his deputy because Cheng is an engineering expert. "I need his assistance to oversee construction of the city's mass rapid transit system and a number of sporting facilities for the 2009 World Games to be held in Kaohsiung," Chen said. He said that Cheng had agreed to join his team.
■ Cross-strait Ties
Russians praise charters
An influential private radio station in Russia said several times on Saturday that the launch of direct cross-strait charter flights for the Lunar New Year holiday is an important matter of "the two countries" across the Taiwan Strait. According to the Echo Radio Station in Moscow, Taiwan has been a sovereign and independent state since former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) fled to Taiwan from China in 1949. The reports ran counter to the Kremlin's policy, which recognizes Beijing as the sole ruler of China and does not recognize Taiwan.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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