■ Diplomacy
Volunteers begin work
A volunteer group organized by the Taiwan Roots Medical Peace Corps has kicked off a 10-day tour providing free medical service in Gambia, a spokesman for the Taipei-based charity said yesterday. The 21-member group, headed by corps president Liu Chi-chun (劉啟群), arrived in Banjul, Gambia's capital, early yesterday, the spokes-man said, adding that the volunteers will begin pro-viding free medical service after meeting with Gambian Health Minister Yankuba Kassama later in the day. Gambia is a malaria-stricken area and has limited medical facilities and professional health care staff. During its 10-day tour, the volunteers will offer free medical services in townships near Banjul as well as remote villages.
■ Agriculture
Visiting farmers see south
A group of farmers from the Asian Rural Manpower Development Organization visited the Kaohsiung County Government yester-day to see how the govern-ment is helping farmers cushion the impact after Taiwan joined the WTO. The farmers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Nepal and Cambodia met with Kaohsiung Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsin (楊秋興). Yang said that there are 250,000 farmers in the county and that the govern-ment has taken steps to help farmers grow such high-value fruits as bananas, pineapples, wax apples, mangoes and litchis for export. The government also helps farmers develop their domestic and foreign markets.
■ Education
Li Yuan-zu speaks in Seoul
Former vice president Li Yuan-zu (李元簇) yesterday expressed hope that a meeting of academics from Taiwan and South Korea can help strengthen substantial ties and mutual under-standing between the two countries. Li, who is now senior adviser to the presi-dent and adviser of the Taiwan-South Korean Culture Foundation, made the remarks in a speech delivered at the annual academic convention, which is being held in Seoul. This year's meeting focuses on education, problems in being admitted to universities, the cultivation of teachers and education on environmental protection.
■ Cross-strait ties
Chorus visits Xiamen
The Kinmen Children's Chorus headed for Xiamen yesterday aboard a ferry boat to participate in a children's music camp, the Kinmen Education Bureau said. The chorus' visit marked the first cross-strait cultural exchange via the "three small links" since the containment of SARS, bureau Director Lu Chih-huei (盧志輝) said. The chorus, which took part in a music contest in Xiamen last August, will participate in a children's music summer camp in Quanzhou until Friday, Lu said. The county government also plans to invite elementary and junior-high basketball teams from Xiamen to a competition later this year, Lu said.
■ Crime
Suspected smuggler nabbed
A 24-year-old Taiwanese woman was arrested at CKS International Airport for trying to smuggle in 2.32kg of heroin from Thailand. Aviation police said that X-rays revealed suspicious cans of hair rinse in her luggage. The woman said that she had been asked by a friend to travel to Thailand for a holiday and bring back the hair rinse. She was turned over to the Taoyuan Prosecutors' Office after she was arraigned.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
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