DIPLOMACY
You Si-kun to travel to US
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?) is to travel to the US tomorrow to speak at a summit on religious freedom and attend the US National Prayer Breakfast. A person with knowledge of the speaker’s itinerary said he would deliver a speech on Wednesday at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington. He is also to attend Thursday’s prayer breakfast — an annual gathering of political and religious leaders in Washington. Early on Friday he would fly back from New York, the source said on condition of anonymity. He was originally supposed to stay in the US for nine days, but the speaker’s schedule was condensed, as he is to attend the swearing in of new Cabinet members and the legislature’s review of a proposal to distribute last year’s surplus tax revenue to the public. The Legislative Yuan’s new session is to begin on Wednesday.
CRIME
Bullets found in man’s bag
An American transiting at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport en route to the Philippines was arrested on Thursday after customs officials found 50 undeclared .22 caliber bullets in his checked baggage. Police said an X-ray scanner detected the bullets. The suspect, 75, had been referred to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office, as he might have contravened the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例), they said. The man, who was traveling from San Francisco to Cebu to visit his son, said he unintentionally left the bullets in his backpack after a hunting trip. The Aviation Police Bureau said prosecutors would investigate the case, but they were unlikely to press charges if the man’s story turns out to be true.
CULTURE
Latern fest to open in Taipei
The Taiwan Lantern Festival is to be held at four sites in Taipei from Sunday to Feb. 19. The Taipei City Government, which jointly organizes the event with the Tourism Bureau, said shuttle bus services would connect the four sites: Xinyi District (信義), Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Taipei City Hall plaza. Bus tickets would cost NT$5 per journey, it said. The buses would connect Taipei’s MRT metropolitan railway system’s Red Line to the Blue and Green lines. Extra MRT services would be offered on the Red and Blue lines from Wednesday, as roadside parking would not be allowed near the venues, it said. The hourly rate at public parking lots near the venues would be increased to NT$60, the city government said.
CULTURE
Ting Chiang dies aged 86
Award winning TV and movie actor Ting Chiang (丁強) died on Friday at the age of 86. Ting had been recovering at home from a minor stroke, his agent said. However, he fell at home before the Lunar New Year holiday and was admitted to hospital, where his condition deteriorated quickly, the agent said, adding that Ting’s widow, veteran actress Li Hsuan (李璇), consented to a do-not-resuscitate order. As actors, Ting and Li last shared the screen in 2021 in the award-winning television drama Tears on Fire (火神的眼淚), in which they played husband and wife. Ting was nominated for the Golden Bell Award for Best Leading Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film in 2001, 2007 and 2010, winning the prize in 2001 for the miniseries Remember, Forget (記住忘了).
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
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