TRAVEL
HSR ticket event starts
The government yesterday launched a six-month campaign allowing foreigners making short visits to Taiwan to buy two high-speed rail (HSR) tickets to central and southern Taiwan for the price of one. From noon yesterday to May 31, people with visa-exempt entry or tourist visas allowing maximum stays of 180 days can purchase the tickets at online travel platforms KKday and Klook, the Tourism Administration said in a press release. Holders of Taiwan’s resident certificates or a Republic of China passport are not eligible to purchase the tickets, which are aimed at encouraging foreign tourists to visit less-traveled central and southern Taiwan, it said. The limited offer, based on a first-come, first-served basis, applies to HSR journeys ending at Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan or Kaohsiung’s Zuoying stations, it said. Foreign tourists who take advantage of the promotion this month would be given a bonus package, containing free round-trip tickets on the MRT Taoyuan Airport Line and a 72-hour free pass on the Taipei Metro system. Visitors can redeem that special offer at service counters at the airport line’s A12 and A13 stations between 6am and midnight, it said.
HEALTH
Dengue fever rate eases
The nation reported fewer than 1,000 dengue fever cases in the past week, indicating that the epidemic is alleviating, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Several areas in Tainan and Yunlin County have been removed from the list of hotspot transmission areas, and the situation in Kaohsiung has also become less severe, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Tuesday. With the removal of Tainan and Yunlin’s Gukeng Township (古坑) from the list, there is no longer listed as a dengue fever transmission hotspot, indicating that the epidemic had entered its final phase, Lo said. Central Epidemic Command Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said the 759 domestic cases reported from Nov. 21 to Monday were in 14 administrative regions, mostly in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County. Four deaths and seven severe cases were recorded during that week, Lee said. So far this year, the nation has logged 25,047 local dengue fever cases and 56 deaths, marking its worst outbreak since 2015, when there were more than 43,000 cases and 228 deaths.
SOCIETY
Mother dies in tent
A mother has died and her two daughters received medical treatment after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning at a Hsinchu County campground on Sunday, local authorities said. The Hsinchu County Fire Bureau said it received a call at about 2pm about a suspected poisoning at the campground in a mountainous area of Jianshih Township (尖石). Emergency responders found a woman, a 40-year-old resident of Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭) surnamed Luo (羅), dead inside a tent. Her two daughters, aged 12, were taken by ambulance to a hospital, where they both regained consciousness, the bureau said. Hsinchu police said that initial suspicions were raised after the family failed to come out for breakfast on Sunday morning and then missed the 12pm check-out time. When the campground’s owner opened the tent to check on them, he found all three unconscious and immediately called an ambulance, police said. The bureau said the family might have taken a coal fire into their tent to keep warm as nighttime temperatures plunged. It added that it had referred the matter to police and prosecutors to investigate what exactly had happened.
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