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 Philippines before heading toward the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and Vietnam. It is unlikely to directly affect Taiwan. The northeast monsoon would today bring rain to the northern and northeastern regions, including Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Yilan County, the CWA added.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
TRAFFIC
Toys seized to pay fines
A Chiayi City man’s vast collection of action figures was repossessed and sent to be auctioned over his failure to pay more than NT$60,000 in fines for “multiple” incidents of driving without a license, the Ministry of Justice said yesterday. Following an investigation into the financial situation of the driver, surnamed Tseng (曾), the Administrative Enforcement Agency’s Chiayi branch concluded that he likely did not have the means to pay his outstanding debts, the branch said in a statement. A deeper investigation found that Tseng had a vast trove of action figures, including once-popular figurines from the Japanese manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, stored in a warehouse from his former business, it said. Enforcement officials seized the items, which are to be auctioned in the lobby of the branch at 10am on Tuesday next week, it said.
CRIME
Woman sentenced for attack
A woman was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for attacking a high-school student with a box cutter on the Taipei MRT last year, after the New Taipei City District Court found she suffered from schizophrenia, according to a judgement released yesterday. After completing her sentence, the defendant, identified as Wang Ching-ssu (王靖絲), must spend two years under court-ordered residential psychiatric supervision due to her condition, the court said in its verdict handed down on Oct. 22. On Nov. 8 last year, Wang attacked a student, surnamed Cheng (鄭), on a Bannan Line train with a box cutter, after experiencing auditory hallucinations and believing the student was a stalker, the court said. She struck Cheng in the head and neck, causing lacerations to his left cheek, neck and ear, before the student and bystanders restrained her, the court said. The ruling is subject to appeal.
TRANSPORTATION
HSR ridership hits record
Ridership on the high-speed rail reached 7.352 million passengers last month, a new monthly record amid a surge in travel demand during three consecutive long weekends, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said yesterday. Extended holidays for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ten National Day and Retrocession Day spurred significant passenger traffic. The average daily ridership last month was 237,000, up about 11 percent from last year’s full-year average of 214,000, and 7.4 percent higher than the January-to-September average of 221,000, THSRC said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
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