Thu, Oct 24, 2024 page3

• Taiwan News Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  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.
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