WEATHER
Heavy rain expected
Rain is forecast for northern and eastern Taiwan due to the proximity of Tropical Storm Trami, which was near the Philippines, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Heavy rain or extremely heavy rain is forecast in northern Taiwan, and Yilan and Hualien counties from early this morning through tomorrow with Trami predicted to cross Luzon Island and move toward the Indochinese Peninsula, CWA forecaster Liu Yu-chi (劉宇其) said. The storm, which was 800km from Taiwan’s southeastern coast, would not directly affect Taiwan, and the chances of storm warnings for Taiwan are low, Liu said. However, its outer ring would extend into the Bashi Channel between the Philippines’ Batan Island and Taitung County’s Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), he said. Warm southeasterly winds introduced by Trami are expected to converge with cold northeasterly winds over Taiwan, creating an “accompanied effect” that would deliver rain, he said. Downpours are expected from today to early tomorrow, mainly in mountainous areas in Yilan and Hualien counties, before the storm gradually moves away from Taiwan on Saturday, Liu said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Jay Chou tickets sell out
Tickets for pop star Jay Chou’s (周杰倫) four concerts at the Taipei Dome in December sold out within five minutes yesterday afternoon. The pop star is holding concerts for his Carnival World Tour at the new arena from Dec. 5 to 8, the first time he is to perform in Taiwan in years. Tickets went on sale at noon on the tixCraft Web site for the concerts, set to be the largest indoor solo concerts ever in Taiwan. The Web site recorded 890,583 concurrent visits, with 150,000 tickets purchased, JVR Music said. All of the tickets were snapped up within five minutes, the company said. The box office value of the tickets was more than NT$657 million (US$20.47 million). On Tuesday, an online tool that allowed people to practice buying tickets was accessed millions of times. A Threads account on Monday shared the tool, which recreated the tixCraft Web site, including options to choose the day, seat, number of tickets and verification method — promising people who wanted tickets a way to practice quickly placing their order once the actual sales went live. As of 9:40am yesterday, the practice site had crashed several times while logging 20 million visits.
SOCIETY
Tax refunds due next week
The second batch of income tax refunds are due to be credited on Thursday next week, totaling nearly NT$1.61 billion. There are 94,104 tax refunds in the second batch totaling about NT$1.61 billion, Ministry of Finance data showed. The refunds would be transferred to the bank accounts specified when filing. For those who did not designate where to deposit the funds, the National Taxation Bureau would issue refund vouchers, which can be redeemed at a designated financial institution until Dec. 31, the ministry said. It warned people to be wary of scam calls and other forms of fraud. The ministry said it would not notify people to redeem refunds at ATMs. The tax settlement process ended on May 31, with the three batches of refunds scheduled for July 31, Thursday next week and Jan. 20 next year. This round of refunds is mostly for taxpayers who used a barcode or filed manually, such as those who wrote in their declarations. There are also 1,666 cases of taxpayers needing to make additional payments, totaling NT$409.7 million.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
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