WEATHER
Torrential rain forecast
A strong weather front accompanied by increasing southwesterly winds could bring the nation its heaviest precipitation next week since the plum rain season began in May, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Torrential rain with hourly precipitation of over 200mm is likely in western and northeastern Taiwan from Tuesday to Thursday, when the frontal system passes over Taiwan, the bureau said. With the strength of seasonal winds from the southwest also expected to reach a peak at the same time, the bureau said, the unstable weather conditions could cause substantial flooding. However, the rain could help bring down temperatures across the nation to below 30°C, the bureau added.
CRIME
Fraudsters to be deported
Forty-five Taiwanese nationals suspected of taking part in two Philippines-based telephone fraud rings were deported from the country and sent back to Taiwan yesterday after being caught in mid-April. The suspects, who were arrested immediately after arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, will be subject to a criminal investigation. The 45 were among 72 Taiwanese nationals and 6 Chinese suspects who were arrested in Davao on April 18 after Taiwanese and Philippines police raided three of their suspected operating bases. An initial investigation showed that members of the rings, led by two Taiwanese, posed as judicial personnel, local officials or call center employees to coax or intimidate victims into wiring money into the swindlers’ accounts. The remaining 27 Taiwanese nationals are expected to be deported at a later date after raising enough money to cover their travel expenses.
CHARITY
Rummage sale at TAS
The Taipei American School (TAS) Orphanage Club will be hosting its annual end-of-school-year rummage sale today from 10am to 5pm. Club members have collected a huge variety of new and used clothing, shoes, stuffed animals, games, furniture, electronic items and other miscellaneous items. The sale will be held in the school’s forecourt and lobby, come rain or shine. All of the proceeds go to the club’s funds for needy children and orphans in Taiwan and its outlying islands, as well as AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania. TAS is located at 800 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 6 in Tianmu (天母).
ECONOMY
Zongzi prices to be probed
Vice Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday that the government is looking into prices of zongzi (粽子) — glutinous rice dumplings — and it would publish the results next week ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival, when the popular treat is traditionally consumed. Jiang, who is also the head of a Cabinet task force on consumer price stabilization, said that convenience store chains’ catalogues of pre-sold zongzi showed price increases from last year, despite the price of some ingredients being lower. Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Chen Wen-te (陳文德) said prices of round and long-grain glutinous rice are 8.3 percent and 20.87 percent lower than last year respectively, while the price of pork — the main filling — had fallen to NT$69 (US$2.30) per kilogram from NT$72. Council of Agriculture data also showed prices of duck eggs, mushrooms and peanuts, commonly used as filling, are either the same or slightly higher than last year.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
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