POLITICS
Ma Ying-jeou visiting the US
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) departed to the US on Sunday, where he plans to deliver a speech at New York University, meet with academics from two Washington-based think tanks and attend a banquet hosted by Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Ma’s office said in a news release. Ma is also to lead a delegation of Taiwanese students from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation’s Dajiu Academy to visit the nonpartisan, nonprofit National Committee on US-China Relations in New York. During the trip, they are to meet with Brookings Institution and Heritage Foundation academics at forums in Washington and members of the Committee of 100, a nonprofit US leadership organization composed of US citizens of Chinese descent. They are also to visit the New York headquarters of the World Journal, the largest Chinese-language newspaper in the US. Hsiao is to hold a dinner banquet in Ma’s honor at Twin Oaks in Washington.
WEATHER
Cooler weather forecast
Seasonal northeasterly winds are to affect Taiwan’s weather twice this week, bringing precipitation and lower temperatures, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Sunday. The first northeasterly wind system is likely to arrive today, while the second is to affect Taiwan from Friday to Sunday, CWA forecaster Chen I-hsiu (陳伊秀) said. The first system is to bring mild showers to the eastern half of Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula. With pressure increasing over the Pacific tomorrow and on Thursday, most of Taiwan would have cloudy skies with a chance of sun, but eastern Taiwan and mountainous areas would experience afternoon showers, Chen said. Northeasterly winds arriving on Friday would bring atmospheric precipitation, leading to periodic rain north of Taoyuan and in mountainous areas in the north and east, she said. This week, temperatures in the north and east would hit highs of 25°C to 27°C, while lows would range from 21°C to 24°C. Central and southern Taiwan would have highs of 29°C to 31°C and lows of 22°C to 25°C, she said.
AGRICULTURE
Official talks dairy concerns
Changhua County Commissioner Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) on Sunday praised her county’s dairy industry, but called on the central government to improve its management of dairy imports at the source. Changhua producers are not worried about competition from foreign countries, but they hope the government would require the place of origin to be clearly marked on imported milk, Wang said. Wang made the appeal as tariffs on dairy products from New Zealand are to be reduced to zero by Jan. 1, 2025, under the Taiwan-New Zealand Economic Cooperation Agreement. She did not elaborate on why she had the concerns.
HEALTHCARE
NHI expands cancer coverage
From next month, people with two types of cancer would be eligible to receive chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatment under the National Health Insurance (NHI) system, the National Health Insurance Administration said on Sunday. The treatment, which takes immune T-cells and modifies them with CARs so that they can recognize and destroy cancer cells, would be available to people with acute lymphoblastic leukemia or relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that meet certain criteria, the agency said. Although the exact criteria have yet to be finalized, it is estimated that about 110 people would benefit, it said.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
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