■ DIPLOMACY
Help to Guatemala continues
Taiwan said yesterday it would continue to help Guatemala build a highway connecting the capital, Guatemala City, to El Rancho, a harbor by the Atlantic Ocean. Ambassador Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) confirmed with the Central News Agency that the first phase of the project — expanding the two-lane road to four lanes — had been completed after two years of construction and that Taipei had agreed to continue to fund the project. Ou also said Taiwan was willing and able to provide assistance in cultivating talent for Guatemala’s small and medium enterprises.
■SOCIETY
Aunty White dies at 89
Marjorie Bly, a nurse from the US who treated lepers on Penghu for 54 years, died on Tuesday of heart failure. She was 89. Bly’s heart failure was the result of pneumonia brought on by a bout of flu, said her doctor, Wu Fang-tsan (吳芳燦). Paying his last respects to Bly at the hospital, Penghu County Commissioner Wang Chien-fa (王乾發) described Bly as “Penghu’s angel” and said her death would bring sorrow to many, adding that the county government would issue a public statement recognizing her long-term devotion to the island. Wu Wen-chung (吳文忠), a local priest, said local residents would follow Bly’s instructions and decorate her funeral ceremony with her sunflowers. Wu said the funeral would be simple, with little talk and hymns. Bly herself requested this, Wu said, because “she did not pass away. She is just sleeping.” Bly, nicknamed “Aunty White,” by local residents, was assigned to Taiwan by her church in 1952. She arrived in Penghu two years after that. Last April, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) bestowed a state medal upon Bly in recognition of her contributions and sacrifices for the people of Penghu.
■ EVENTS
Hakka Tung festival opens
The Hakka Tung Blossom Festival opens today, with seven counties in the north and south presenting a variety of activities to celebrate the annual flower season through the end of next month. Council for Hakka Affairs Chairman Lee Yung-teh (李永得) will hold a news conference today to provide information as to where visitors can go to see the spectacular drifts of snow-white flowers, as well as the many other activities reflecting Hakka culture in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taichung, Changhua and Nantou counties. April and May are the months when tung flowers, also known as paulownia flowers, are in full bloom in central and northern Taiwan.
■ CRIME
Rebar defendant released
The final defendant in the Rebar Asia Pacific Group case still under detention, Wang Lin-i (王令一), was released yesterday on NT$50 million (US$1.6 million) bail. Wang’s lawyer, Lee Wen-chung (李文中), brought the money to the Taipei District Court yesterday morning and Wang was able to leave the Taipei Detention House in the afternoon. Lee said that one of Wang’s friends in the construction business had helped him with part of the money. The other three defendants in detention — Frank Wang (王事展), Wang Lin-tai (王令台) and Wang Lin-chiao (王令僑) — have already paid bail and were released from detention on Monday and Tuesday. The court has requested that the defendants report back to authorities every Wednesday. Frank Wang, Wang Lin-tai and Wang Lin-chiao were all present in court yesterday morning. They declined to comment to the media.
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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