TRAVEL
Passport ranked 69th
Taiwanese can enter 100 countries and territories without a visa, putting the nation’s passport 69th on the VisaGuide Passport Index for this month. Taiwan has had the same ranking in the monthly index since January, the VisaGuide.World Web site showed. Singapore topped the latest index, with holders of its passport having visa-free access to 159 countries. The country has been ranked first since March. Japan was 13th in the latest index, the best-performing Asian country after Singapore. Holders of Japanese passports can visit 143 destinations without a visa. Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea was ranked 31st, Hong Kong 46th, Macau 58th and China 117th. Following Singapore, the top 10 was rounded out by Italy, Spain, France, Hungary, Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. The index evaluates and ranks the passports of 199 countries and territories. The index uses the Destination Significance Score mechanism as part of its ranking method, the Web site showed. Factors including GDP, as well as indices for “power,” “tourism” and “human development” are taken into account.
CRIME
Fraud suspects arrested
Sixteen people who are alleged members of a fraud ring that impersonated local investment expert Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河) and made profits of more than NT$140 million (US$4.33 million) were arrested on Wednesday, the New Taipei City Police Department said on Friday. Police said that the ring, which had advertised nationwide since last year using the name of Hsieh, chairman of Investment Media, to falsely endorse investment schemes, was raided in a hotel in Taipei. The suspects lured 12 jobseekers with online advertisements and allegedly held them captive in hotel rooms in Taipei and New Taipei City. They demanded their ATM cards and bank account details, police said. The information was used to create proxy accounts to defraud 32 other people, with the “hostages” released only after their accounts were red-flagged by the authorities for money laundering and rendered useless, police said. The case has been transferred to the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office, police said.
EDUCATION
NCKU ranked No. 25
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) was ranked 25th in the world in the latest Times Higher Education Impact Rankings released on Wednesday, the highest ranking of listed Taiwanese universities. The impact rankings assess universities around the globe against the UN Sustainable Development Goals. There were 51 Taiwanese universities on the latest list, four more than last year. Four Taiwanese universities were in the top 100: NCKU, sharing 25th with the University of Strathclyde and Michigan State University; National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (50th); National Taiwan University, which shared 55th with Cardiff University; and Tunghai University in 100th. National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, and Taipei Medical University were in the group ranked No. 101 to 200. National Chung Hsing University, National Sun Yat-sen University, National Tsing Hua University and Tamkang University were in the 201-300 group. The top five institutions were Western Sydney University at No. 1, followed by the University of Manchester and the University of Tasmania in a tie for second, Aalborg University in Denmark in fourth and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in fifth.
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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