■ WEATHER
More rain on the way
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) predicted another week of wet weather for the nation starting yesterday, with heavy rain warnings for residents in most parts of Taiwan from Thursday through Saturday. CWB meteorologists said the wet weather is a result of a cold front that has remained stagnant since moving across the nation over the weekend. They said the front is expected to move between the north and the south over the next week, bringing heavy rain to different parts of the nation. Residents should guard against heavy rain between Friday and Saturday, the forecast said. Temperatures across the nation will drop considerably from the highs of last week to between 21˚C and 30˚C in northern and central regions, 24˚C and 30˚C in the south, 17˚C and 28˚C in Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, the forecast said.
■ TRANSPORTATION
Kaohsiung MRT adds trains
Two late-night trains will be added to the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System’s north-sound Red Line schedule on a trial basis from tomorrow, the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) said yesterday. The two trains will leave simultaneously at 11:35pm from the Xiaogang (小港) Station — the last stop on the southern part of the Red Line — and from the Chiaotou (橋頭) Station in Kaohsiung County — the northernmost stop on the route. The system currently ends its daily operations at 11pm. The trains will stop at every station on the Red Line, the company said, adding that the trains will operate for one month. The late-night trains are expected to satisfy the needs of employees who are on night shift at nearby companies, such as the China Steel Corp (中鋼) and the Nanzih (楠梓) Processing Zone, the KRTC said. The KRTC said it may consider amending its Red Line schedule if the late-night train operation receives positive feedback from Kaohsiung residents.
■ POLITICS
Last Cabinet posts named
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Kao Su-po (高思博) will be appointed Minister of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, sources said last night. Former KMT legislator Wu Ying-yih (吳英毅) will be named minister of the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission, while minister without portfolio-designate Tsai Hsun-hsiung (蔡勳雄) will also hold the post of governor of Taiwan Province. Secretary-general elect of the Executive Yuan Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川) will also serve concurrently as governor of Fujian Province (Kinmen and Lienchiang counties).
■ RESCUE
Search continues for diver
Coast guard forces continued their search yesterday for a diver who went missing in waters off Ilan County the day before. Huang Hsin-fa (黃信發) was diving with five other divers in waters about 6.5km east of Suao Port when he went missing. After Huang failed to resurface following the one-hour dive, the captain of the dive team tried in vain to locate him underwater. The captain of the Taiping, which the divers took on their expedition, then radioed coast guard forces stationed in Suao for assistance. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) dispatched three rescue vessels and a helicopter after receiving the emergency call, but were unable to locate Huang. Yesterday morning, the CGA asked the Ministry of the Interior’s National Airborne Service Corps to assist in the search.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
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