■ 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.
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final