MILITARY
PLA to hold military exercise
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it would closely monitor a planned live-fire military exercise by China later this month off China’s east coast, but the drill is not expected to have any direct impact on Taiwan. The upcoming drill, part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army routine annual exercises, would be held off China’s Zhejiang Province in waters north of Taiwan, the ministry said in a statement. The expected location in the East China Sea is quite far from Taiwan and the exercises are unlikely to have any direct impact on Taiwanese airspace or coastal waters, it said. Nonetheless, the armed forces would closely monitor the drills and take appropriate action if the need arises, it added.
HEALTH
Fruit seller fined
A night market fruit seller was fined NT$60,000 after being caught adding the artificial sweetener saccharin to pears for the second time in less than 24 months, the Taipei Department of Health said on Wednesday. Pears sold by the Nan Ke (男哥) fresh diced fruit stall at Guangzhou Street Night Market in Wanhua District (萬華) were found to contain saccharin, in contravention of the Standards for Specification, Scope, Application and Limitation of Food Additives (食品添加物使用範圍及限量暨規格標準), the department said. The department said that Nan Ke had been caught adding saccharin to pears during a previous inspection last year, and was thus given an aggravated penalty for a second offense. The department in July conducted a random inspection of produce sold at fresh diced fruit stalls in several night markets in Taipei.
BUSINESS
Starlux to fly to Nagoya
Starlux Airlines yesterday announced that it would begin a new daily service between Taoyuan and the Japanese city of Nagoya on Dec. 1, as part of its efforts to expand into the Japanese market. In a statement, the Taipei-based airline said that the flight to Nagoya, which is to be its first destination in central Japan and its eighth in that country, would allow passengers to connect more easily to the Japanese prefectures of Nagano, Ishikawa and Gifu. An Airbus A321neo aircraft with 188 seats is to operate the daily round-trip flights, the airline said. The flight from Taoyuan would depart at 2:40pm and arrive in Nagoya at 6:15pm, while the return flight would take off from Nagoya at 7:15pm and land at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 9:50pm, the airline 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
RSS