■ DEFENSE
Pentagon urges new contract
The Pentagon on Wednesday announced a possible contract with Taiwan to continue training Taiwanese F-16 fighter pilots in Arizona and provide air-to-air missiles for live fire drills. The notification to the US Congress said the contract was valued at as high as US$280 million. It includes 10 AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles and five AIM-7M Sparrow missiles for live fire exercises at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, the Pentagon said. The contract also provides for the continuation of a program to train Taiwanese pilots at Luke Air Force Base and logistics support for F-16 fighter aircraft, it said. "It is vital to the US national interests to assist the recipient in developing and maintaining a strong and ready self-defense capability, which will contribute to an acceptable military balance in the area," the Defense Security and Cooperation Agency said in a statement. It said the sale was consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act.
■ DIPLOMACY
Japan releases fishermen
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday confirmed that a Taiwanese fishing boat, chased and caught by a Japanese coast guard ship for illegal fishing near Miyako Island, was released after paying millions of NT dollars in fines. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) yesterday said the fishing boat was from Ilan County. He said the fishing boat and its crew had been escorted to Yokohama and later returned to Taiwan after paying a fine of ?4.08 million (US$35,228). A Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday that the Taiwanese fishing boat had defied a Japanese coast guard order to leave the area and was chased by the Japanese cruiser from early Tuesday morning until Wednesday night.
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
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
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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