DIPLOMACY
St Lucia delegation arrives
Saint Lucian Minister of Commerce Emma Hippolyte is leading a delegation on a six-day trip to Taiwan starting yesterday to enhance bilateral trade and investment relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Hippolyte’s delegation also includes Saint Lucian Ministry of Commerce Permanent Secretary Sophia Alfay-Henry and Export Saint Lucia chief executive Sunita Daniel, who represents the country’s national trade export and promotion agency, the ministry said. During their stay until Friday, the delegates are to visit the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Digital Affairs and Taiwan External Trade Development Council, among other places. It is the second time Hippolyte has visited Taiwan, it added. Saint Lucia is one of the nation’s four diplomatic allies in the Caribbean, together with Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and one of 12 sovereign states that have diplomatic ties with Taipei.
DISASTER RELIEF
Nation helps Guatemala
The government on Saturday pledged to donate US$300,000 in relief supplies to Guatemala in the wake of the devastation caused by a wildfire on the slopes of the dormant Agua volcano. The Guatemalan government described the situation as urgent and has called for the international community to help with disaster relief efforts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. As a longtime friend and a diplomatic ally of Guatemala, the government immediately made arrangements to donate US$300,000 in supplies to help the Central American nation, it said. Taiwan’s technical mission in Guatemala and several Taiwanese expatriates have already donated 30 safety helmets, six sets of wireless electrical equipment and 1,000 packs of instant noodles to help with the country’s disaster relief efforts, the ministry added.
CRIME
Three arrested in Cambodia
Three Taiwanese found with 16kg of MDMA and its precursors have been arrested in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. It said it received a report of the trio’s arrest from its liaison office in Vietnam. The office said that Cambodian drug enforcement agents arrested the Taiwanese men and seized the MDMA and its precursors as well as a batch of drug packaging tools at a house in Phnom Penh on Thursday. The CIB said it would exchange information with its counterparts in Cambodia to find out the source, intended distribution and whether Taiwan was an intended destination. The three men involved are surnamed Chuang (莊), Wu (吳) and Lin (林), with the former two wanted for fraud in Taiwan. They are to stand trial in Cambodia under local laws and be deported from the country after legal procedures, the CIB said.
CULINARY
Sophomore wins gold
Wang Yu-hsiang (王宥翔), a sophomore at the Department of Culinary Arts and Hotel Management at Hungkuang University in Taichung, has won a gold and bronze medal at the IKA/Culinary Olympics in Stuttgart, Germany, held from Feb. 3 to Feb. 7. Wang clinched the gold medal in the individual classic fruit and vegetable carving category and bronze in the live carving category, department dean Wu Sung-lien (吳松濂) said. Hsu Kai-tun (許凱敦), an associate professor at the university, won silver in the culinary art category, Wu added. Wang said his pumpkin carving work featured images of popular deities from Taiwan, including the sea goddess Matsu.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS