CRIME
Customs seizes cigarettes
Kaohsiung Customs yesterday seized 1.35 million packs of cigarettes worth an estimated NT$60 million (US$2.03 million) that were being smuggled into the nation. Customs officials tracked three containers that arrived from Vietnam and were to be re-exported to the Philippines, Kaohsiung Customs Director Chen Shan-ju (陳善助) said. After locating them in the port, officials inspected the containers and found the cigarettes, he said, adding that they arrived with documents identifying their contents as textiles. The cigarettes have been seized in accordance with the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act (菸酒管理法) and the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act (海關緝私條例), Chen said, adding that police are investigating the people involved.
WEATHER
Temperatures to fall again
Temperatures across the nation continued to rise yesterday with the weakening of a continental cold air mass, the Central Weather Bureau said. Continuing Monday’s trend, daytime temperatures yesterday rose to between 22°C and 24°C in the north, between 25°C and 26°C in central and southern Taiwan, and 20°C and 23°C in the east, bureau forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. Meanwhile, a tropical depression near the Philippines could develop into this year’s first tropical storm as early as last night, he said. Although the potential storm, named Bolaven, should not directly affect Taiwan as it moves toward the South China Sea, it could bring moisture to the nation tomorrow, the bureau said. Northeasterly winds tomorrow are also expected to bring wet, chilly weather to the nation, with lows of 16°C expected in northern Taiwan.
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
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
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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