CRIME
Cody Wilson sent to US
Cody Wilson, a US citizen who fled to Taiwan after he was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in Texas, was yesterday escorted by National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where he was put on a 10pm flight to Houston. Taiwanese aviation security officers were expected to accompany Wilson on the flight and US law enforcement would board to arrest Wilson after the airplane lands in Houston, sources said. Wilson was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Bureau in a cheap hotel in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) on Friday evening. NIA official Chang Wen-hsiu (張文秀) yesterday said that the US on Friday sent a notice to Taiwan, saying that Wilson’s passport had been revoked, which made Wilson’s stay in Taiwan illegal. After Wilson’s arrest in Taipei, his lawyer contacted the NIA on Friday, saying that Wilson was willing to leave Taiwan, Chang said, adding that the lawyer said his willingness to leave Taiwan came after negotiations with US prosecutors.
WEATHER
Storm might affect Taiwan
A tropical storm has formed over the Pacific, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Tropical Storm Trami, which was 2,150km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) in southern Taiwan as of 8am yesterday, was moving west-northwest at 23kph toward Japan’s Okinawa. Although Trami is expected not to affect Taiwan in the short term, it is forecast to come closest to Taiwan on Thursday or Friday, bringing rain to the northern and eastern parts of the country, the bureau said. Trami could affect Taiwan if it continues to gain strength and develops into a typhoon by Thursday or Friday, meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said.
HEALTHCARE
Care rule change proposed
As many as 28,000 households could benefit from a proposed loosening of regulations governing applications for respite care services when their regular foreign caregivers take time off, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said on Thursday. The rule change, which could be adopted as soon as November, would allow those who qualify to apply for a maximum of 21 days of respite care annually without having to go through a 30-day waiting period without care, which is the situation at present, Long-term Care Services Division official Chou Tao-chun (周道君) said. If implemented, the provision would initially focus on applicants who are severely disabled with limited support, such as individuals who live alone or are older than 75, Chou said. According to the plan, low-income households would be fully subsidized for respite care services, while middle-low-income and general households would be required to pay 5 percent and 16 percent of costs respectively.
SPORTS
Team wins tug-of-war gold
Taiwanese athletes yesterday snagged another gold medal at the Tug of War International Federation World Outdoor Championships in South Africa, giving Taiwan six gold medals at this year’s championship, with other events still being contested. The tug-of-war team from Taipei Jingmei Girls’ High School and National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) defeated the host country to win the women’s under-23 500kg title. On Friday, another team of students from Jingmei Girls’ High School and NTNU won a gold medal in the women’s 500kg tug-of-war after defeating Switzerland 2-0 in the finals.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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