WEATHER
Cool, cloudy New Year’s
The weather is expected to become cooler today as a northeasterly wind system intensifies, with temperatures predicted to dip as low as 14°C to 15°C in the north and northeast, and 16°C to 18°C in other regions, the Central Weather Administration said. On New Year’s Eve, brief showers are expected in the greater Taipei area, while intermittent rain is forecast for some areas in the northeast and coastal areas near Keelung from today through tomorrow. People in areas south of Hsinchu and the outlying Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang Counties might have a better chance of seeing the first ray of sunlight on New Year’s Day. Areas north of Taoyuan and in the eastern half of Taiwan are expected to be cloudier, the administration said. Meanwhile, snowfall was spotted on the northern peak of Yushan (玉山) yesterday morning. The snowfall started at 7:55am and lasted until 9:20am, before rain began falling at 9:40am, data from the administration’s Yushan weather station showed. Temperatures on the mountain dipped as low as minus-1.6°C, it added.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
SOCIETY
Crane crashes into bus
A construction crane hit a bus on a Taipei street yesterday morning, with no injuries reported, police said. Police said they received a report at 10:58am regarding the incident at the intersection of Zhongshan N Road and Minquan E Road, near the Minquan W Road MRT station. Initial investigations suggested the bus had been waiting at the intersection when the crane hit it and shattered a window. The construction truck operating the crane was finishing work on an office building. The driver, surnamed Chang (張), said that he was about to retract the crane, with police saying he was suspected of having hit the bus following a moment of negligence. The bus driver said there were more than 10 passengers on board at the time, but nobody was injured. All were transferred to other buses. The Taipei Department of Labor said it had sent staff to investigate the incident.
SOCIETY
Taoyuan MRT advances
The Taoyuan Metro Brown Line project, aimed at connecting northern Taoyuan and the greater Taipei area, came one step closer to reality after the Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved its proposed route on Friday, local transportation officials said. The comprehensive planning of the line between the Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) Taoyuan Station and the Taipei Metro’s Huilong Station would be passed to the Executive Yuan for final review, and would be completed within eight years once approved, the Taoyuan Department of Rapid Transit Systems said. The seven-stop line would reduce travel time between the two terminals to 18 minutes from 40 minutes by bus, making commuting between Sinjhuang District (新莊) in New Taipei City and Taoyuan County’s Taoyuan (桃源) and Gueishan (龜山) districts more convenient, it said. At Taoyuan Station, the first stop of the 11.38km line, passengers would be able to transfer to the TRA system and the Taoyuan Metro’s Green Line, currently under construction, officials said. The final stop of the Brown Line would be Huilong Station on the Taipei Metro’s Jhonghe-Xinlu Line, as well as the Wanda-Zhonghe-Shulin Line, which is under construction. The NT$20 billion (US$650.72 million) Brown Line project, the planning of which was initiated in 2018, is part of the city’s six-line rail network vision.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
RSS