TRANSPORTATION
Cow collision stops train
Rail travel in part of eastern Taiwan was temporarily suspended after a train hit a herd of cattle that wandered onto the tracks, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said yesterday. A northbound train to Hualien departed Taitung at 9am. About 10 minues later, as the train approached Luye Station (鹿野), the engineer saw several cows on the tracks and pulled the emergency brake. However, the train was unable to stop in time, hitting six and killing them. The front carriage was badly damaged and was unable to continue the journey. The 12 passengers on the train were not hurt, but arrangements were made to transfer them to another train at Luye Station, resulting in a delay of 88 minutes to their trip. It was not the first time that a TRA train has hit livestock in Taitung County, but it was the most animals killed in a single incident.
WEATHER
Holiday to see cold weather
The Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend that starts on Saturday will see temperatures drop by 9?C due to a continental cold air mass, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Due to the weakening of a cold air mass that arrived last weekend, temperatures climbed yesterday, reaching 22 to 23?C in north and eastern Taiwan, and 23?C to 27?C in central and southern areas, the bureau said. A cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Friday, pushing temperatures down across the nation at night, it said. Daytime temperatures the following day are forecast to reach a high of 16?C in the north and about 20?C to 22?C in other areas, the bureau said. Nighttime temperatures are forecast to dip to a low of about 13?C in the north, and 16?C to 18?C in other areas.
INTERNET
‘NYT’ amends poll
The New York Times (NYT) Web site recently corrected a drop-down menu of nations to include Taiwan after a reader’s complaint. According to a reader in Taiwan, a recent travel article on the Web site was followed by a reader’s poll. One question in the survey had a drop-down menu listing more than 100 nations, but not Taiwan. The reader contacted the writer, who in turn wrote his editors, saying: “I’ve been getting some rather angry comments about the reader poll that runs at the bottom of online articles on your Web site. There is no Taiwan or Hong Kong in the drop-down menu, forcing international readers in both Taiwan and Hong Kong to click ‘China.’ Besides creating unnecessary irritation [to put it mildly] among international readers, it seems we would want to know who is in Taiwan and Hong Kong as they are distinct markets.” The issue was fixed three days later and Taiwan and Hong Kong are now listed on the menu.
DIPLOMACY
China complains to Japan
Beijing yesterday said it has complained to Tokyo after a Japanese minister visited Taipei on Saturday over the weekend, saying that this could hurt relations between the two nations. Japanese Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Jiro Akama visited Taipei on Saturday to attend a tourism promotion event in his official capacity, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Communications said. Japanese media said Akama was the highest-level government official to visit Taiwan since Tokyo broke diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1972. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said the visit ran contrary to Japan’s promise to have only non-governmental and local-level exchanges with Taiwan.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
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