■ EDUCATION
English tests to be offered
The US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) will begin offering English writing and speaking tests next month for enterprises in Taiwan in a drive to improve English skills, the Taiwan representative of the ETS Taiwan branch said yesterday. Wang Hsing-wei (王星威) held a press conference in Taipei to announce the new tests, which are part of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) targeting working people, alongside tests in listening and reading. The new TOEIC tests will be available for group applicants in January and for individual applicants in August, with the examinees required to take the tests on a computer, according to the ETC office.
■ GOVERNMENT
Taipei takes over pools
The Taipei City Government took over the management of seven heated swimming pools in the city yesterday after a private company contracted to run the facilities shut them down a day earlier due to financial difficulties. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) told reporters that the city government will safeguard the interests of Taipei residents and their right to use the facilities, based on provisions of the contracts between the city government and Eden Athletics. Hau said he has asked the Parks and Street Lights Office of the city government's Public Works Bureau to seek legal counsel to resolve the dispute. Eden Athletics was awarded contracts to run 14 swimming pools owned by the city government, including seven heated pools which remain open in winter. The company has run into financial difficulties recently and owes NT$20 million (US$617,650) in royalties to the Taipei City Government.
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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