DIPLOMACY
Guatemala touts coffee
Guatemalan Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Karla Samoyoa on Thursday said she hoped Taiwan can help the Central American country’s coffee industry reach new heights. In a prerecorded video message at a tasting event in Taipei, Samoyoa said that Guatemala’s coffee exports to Taiwan increased 46 percent over the past two years to become Taiwan’s fourth-largest supplier of beans. Samoyoa also praised bilateral ties with Taipei, saying that diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Guatemala were “stronger than ever.” The tasting event was organized by the Guatemalan embassy and the government-funded Central America Trade Office (CATO) to promote Guatemalan coffee. Attendees at the fourth edition of the event sampled brews using industry-standard cupping techniques that measure the body, sweetness, acidity and aftertaste of coffee beans. Representatives and tasters from more than 30 Taiwan-based companies sampled and rated 33 varieties of Guatemalan coffee at the event, CATO head Augusto Liao (廖鴻達) said.
EDUCATION
Taiwan rises in reading
Taiwan has moved up one place to rank seventh out of 44 countries and areas that took part in an international comparative assessment of student achievement in reading, the Ministry of Education said on Tuesday. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2021 international assessment of reading comprehension found Taiwan scoring 544 on average, which advanced the country in the rankings relative to 2016, the previous time the study was conducted. The study assesses reading and comprehension at the fourth-grade level of the participating countries and areas. For instance, students were asked to retrieve explicitly stated information, interpret ideas and evaluate content. Singapore ranked first in the survey.
SOCIETY
Tainan to change crossing
An exclusive pedestrian phase is to be added next week at an intersection in Tainan where a three-year-old girl was hit and killed by a car while she was legally crossing the street with her mother earlier this month, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said on Thursday. The phase, which stops traffic in all directions while pedestrians cross, is expected to go into use at the intersection of Chenggong and Xinyi roads on Friday next week, Huang said during an inspection of traffic conditions in the area. The city has launched a plan to improve pedestrian safety at the city’s 100 most dangerous intersections by the end of this year, he said.
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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