WEATHER
Taoyuan hit by heavy rain
Taoyuan yesterday morning was hit by heavy rain due to a low-pressure system that brought unstable weather, and more rain was expected as extremely heavy rain warnings were in effect for Taoyuan and other areas in northern Taiwan. A weather station in Taoyuan’s Dayuan District (大園) had accumulated 128mm of rain as of 11:30am yesterday, the most anywhere in Taiwan, Central Weather Bureau data showed. The bureau’s heavy rain alert was also in effect for Taipei and Hsinchu City, and Hsinchu and Miaoli counties, as well as for Yilan County in the east, Taichung, and Changhua and Nantou counties in central Taiwan, and Chiayi City, Tainan and Kaohsiung, and Yunlin, Chiayi and Pingtung counties in the south. A heavy rain warning is defined as 80mm of rainfall over a 24-hour period or more than 40mm in one hour.
HEALTH
Mpox travel notice issued
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday raised a travel notice relating to mpox for China and Thailand following surges in cases of the disease there, advising people to practice precaution when traveling to the two nations. The nations join 38 others on the Level 1 watch list — the lowest in the CDC’s three-tier travel alert system. The list also includes South Korea, Australia, the US and Japan, CDC spokeswoman Tseng Shu-huai (曾淑慧) said. The CDC on Tuesday confirmed 14 mpox cases last week in Taiwan, bringing the total to 280 since the disease was designated a Category 2 communicable disease in June last year. The new cases were in New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, and the ages of the people ranged from 20 to 60, Tseng said.
DIPLOMACY
Letter of intent signed
Taiwan and Guatemala on Monday signed a letter of intent at the Customs Administration in Taipei to promote cooperation in customs matters. The Customs Administration said the letter of intent was signed by Customs Administration Director-General Peng Ying-wei (彭英偉) and Marco Livio Diaz Reyes, head of the Guatemalan Superintendency of Tax Administration. The agreement is aimed at paving the way for the two nations to deepen bilateral customs cooperation through expertise and information sharing to more effectively crack down on criminal activity, the agency said. A long-term diplomatic ally, Guatemala signed a free-trade agreement with Taiwan in 2005 and a Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Authorized Economic Operator in 2021.
TOURISM
People chosen for campaign
A total of 15 groups and individuals, including a chef and YouTubers, have been selected to stay overnight in the Presidential Office Building as part of a government campaign to raise the nation’s global visibility. The campaign drew submissions from nearly 100 groups worldwide, Presidential Office spokesperson Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said on Monday. Running from next month to December, the program would give participants the chance to spend a night in the historical setting, and explore cities and counties that showcase Taiwan’s diverse attributes, Lin said. The selected participants include people from Canada, the US, Japan, Slovakia, France, the Netherlands, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Israel, said Lee Hou-ching (李厚慶), secretary-general of the General Association of Chinese Culture, one of the campaign’s organizers.
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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