TAX REBATE
Most Taiwanese claim cash
More than 16 million people have collected a NT$6,000 cash handout from the government, representing 70 percent of the population, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. About 4.2 million people who belong to special groups — such as National Pension Insurance recipients — were paid directly into their accounts. Meanwhile, 9.08 million people collected their allowance by direct deposit, Deputy Minister of Finance Juan Ching-hua (阮清華) said at a news conference. Eligible recipients can collect the handout from Monday to Oct. 31 at post offices by showing a National Health Insurance card. Those whose ID cards end with an odd number can collect on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while those with even numbers can do so on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. People aged 65 or older and those with disabilities are not subject to the restrictions.
SOCIETY
Ma to speak at Greek forum
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is to participate in a “fireside chat” at the Delphi Economic Forum later this month, sharing his views on the future of cross-strait relations based on his recent visit to China, his office said on Thursday. During a visit to Greece, Ma is scheduled to attend the forum’s opening ceremony on April 26, and then engage in a discussion on April 28 with Cheng Li (李成), director of the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center. Ma and Li are to discuss current geopolitical tensions in Asia and whether Taiwan is at risk of sharing Ukraine’s fate, Ma’s office said. The former president is interested in sharing his thoughts and observations about his China visit, which is a first for a former Taiwanese leader, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation executive director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said. Ma is expected to express the view that “Taiwan has another route to peace that differs from the policies of the Democratic Progressive Party, one that can ensure cross-strait harmony and regional stability,” Hsiao said.
SOCIETY
Fire kills one in Taitung
A 68-year-old man has died while a woman has been hospitalized for smoke inhalation after a fire ripped through a subdivided residential building in Taitung early on Thursday morning. Firefighters rescued three others from the blaze on Jingcheng Road, which was reported at 12:22am and extinguished by 2:30am, the Taitung County Fire Department said. Diesel fuel and wooden partitions used to subdivide rooms caused the fire to spread up the three-story building before engulfing a sheet metal structure on the roof, the department said. Firefighters found the body of a 68-year-old man surnamed Yang (楊) in one of the building’s rooms after extinguishing the fire, it said. A second, unrelated fire broke out in a building of similar construction about 500m from the first blaze at 6:30am, in which no one was harmed, the department said.
EARTHQUAKES
Two tremors strike Taitung
Two earthquakes of magnitude 4.1 and 3.6 struck Taitung County at 11:54am yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said. The epicenter of the bigger quake was in Taitung City, 4.2km north-northwest of Taitung County Hall, at a depth of 5km, it said. The magnitude 3.6 earthquake was centered about 10km away, in Beinan Township (卑南), 3.7km north-northwest of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 9.1km. On Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the largest tremor measured 4, while the other had an intensity of 3, it said. No damage or injuries were reported.
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
RSS