WEATHER
Cool, cloudy New Year’s
The weather is expected to become cooler today as a northeasterly wind system intensifies, with temperatures predicted to dip as low as 14°C to 15°C in the north and northeast, and 16°C to 18°C in other regions, the Central Weather Administration said. On New Year’s Eve, brief showers are expected in the greater Taipei area, while intermittent rain is forecast for some areas in the northeast and coastal areas near Keelung from today through tomorrow. People in areas south of Hsinchu and the outlying Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang Counties might have a better chance of seeing the first ray of sunlight on New Year’s Day. Areas north of Taoyuan and in the eastern half of Taiwan are expected to be cloudier, the administration said. Meanwhile, snowfall was spotted on the northern peak of Yushan (玉山) yesterday morning. The snowfall started at 7:55am and lasted until 9:20am, before rain began falling at 9:40am, data from the administration’s Yushan weather station showed. Temperatures on the mountain dipped as low as minus-1.6°C, it added.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
SOCIETY
Crane crashes into bus
A construction crane hit a bus on a Taipei street yesterday morning, with no injuries reported, police said. Police said they received a report at 10:58am regarding the incident at the intersection of Zhongshan N Road and Minquan E Road, near the Minquan W Road MRT station. Initial investigations suggested the bus had been waiting at the intersection when the crane hit it and shattered a window. The construction truck operating the crane was finishing work on an office building. The driver, surnamed Chang (張), said that he was about to retract the crane, with police saying he was suspected of having hit the bus following a moment of negligence. The bus driver said there were more than 10 passengers on board at the time, but nobody was injured. All were transferred to other buses. The Taipei Department of Labor said it had sent staff to investigate the incident.
SOCIETY
Taoyuan MRT advances
The Taoyuan Metro Brown Line project, aimed at connecting northern Taoyuan and the greater Taipei area, came one step closer to reality after the Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved its proposed route on Friday, local transportation officials said. The comprehensive planning of the line between the Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) Taoyuan Station and the Taipei Metro’s Huilong Station would be passed to the Executive Yuan for final review, and would be completed within eight years once approved, the Taoyuan Department of Rapid Transit Systems said. The seven-stop line would reduce travel time between the two terminals to 18 minutes from 40 minutes by bus, making commuting between Sinjhuang District (新莊) in New Taipei City and Taoyuan County’s Taoyuan (桃源) and Gueishan (龜山) districts more convenient, it said. At Taoyuan Station, the first stop of the 11.38km line, passengers would be able to transfer to the TRA system and the Taoyuan Metro’s Green Line, currently under construction, officials said. The final stop of the Brown Line would be Huilong Station on the Taipei Metro’s Jhonghe-Xinlu Line, as well as the Wanda-Zhonghe-Shulin Line, which is under construction. The NT$20 billion (US$650.72 million) Brown Line project, the planning of which was initiated in 2018, is part of the city’s six-line rail network vision.
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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