WEATHER
CWB mulls sea warning
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) could issue a sea warning for Typhoon Mawar as soon as Monday and does not rule out issuing a land warning based on how the storm develops, it said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the typhoon was moving west-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 209kph and gusts of up to 262kph, CWB data showed. It could get stronger and be pushed north on Monday, when it is expected to reach waters southeast of Taiwan, but the timing remained uncertain, bureau forecaster Yen Chih-chun (葉致均) said. The typhoon is to head toward Taiwan until Tuesday, when it might suddenly reverse course and head in a northeast direction, away from Taiwan, the bureau said. However, the US-based Global Forecast System said the storm could make another sharp turn west and make landfall in southern Taiwan on Sunday next week.
DEFENSE
PLA planes breach ADIZ
Thirteen Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft breached Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) during the 24-hour period that began at 6am on Thursday, including two BZK-005 drones that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait. The combat and reconnaissance drones crossed the median line at Taiwan’s southern end and continued flying in a southeastern direction for some distance before turning back, the flight paths released by the Ministry of National Defense yesterday showed. There were also incursions by six J-16 jets, two H-6 bombers, one Y-9 electronic warfare aircraft, one KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft and a Z-9 anti-submarine helicopter, all of which flew along the southern boundary of the ADIZ. In addition, eight other PLA planes and 11 vessels were seen in airspace and waters around the nation during the 24-hour period, the ministry said. The military scrambled jets and deployed air defense missile systems in response to the aircraft and vessels operating in the vicinity, the ministry said.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Debt stops lawmakers’ visit
Negotiators’ continuing failure to reach an agreement to lift the US debt ceiling forced the US House of Representatives’ new China committee to postpone a planned trip to Taiwan, committee chairman Mike Gallagher told reporters on Thursday. The House adjourned on Thursday and was not due to return until June 5, four days after June 1, when the US Department of the Treasury said the government could run short of funds to cover all its expenses. Several members of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party were to have left for Taiwan this weekend. As talks between the House and White House continued, House members were told to be prepared to return to the Capitol to vote on potential legislation to raise the debt limit with 24 hours’ notice.
SOCIETY
Two more bodies found
The Pingtung County Bureau of Fire and Emergency Services on Thursday found two more bodies in the search for three missing members of a 10-person river tracing group swept away by a surging waterfall on Saturday last week, raising the death toll to four, with one person still missing. The group was exploring a section of Flying Dragon Waterfall (飛龍瀑布) in Wutai Township (霧台). As they were climbing down a cliff, five people were swept away after torrential rainfall caused a water surge. The other five were stranded on the cliff and rescued by a helicopter the following morning.
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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