DEFENSE
US eyes missile delivery
The Pentagon is “working very urgently and expeditiously” to ensure that Taiwan has the capabilities needed for self-defense, a US Department of Defense nominee said on Tuesday, adding that the Pentagon is working urgently to expedite the delivery of 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems. During a US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Austin Dahmer, nominee for assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and forces, was asked about the progress of the Harpoon missile systems sale approved during US President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2020. US Senator Ted Budd said that only a few of the 100 systems approved have been delivered so far and asked how the Pentagon plans to ensure timely completion of the deal. Dahmer said he had visited the Harpoon production line in Missouri to understand the broader challenges facing the US defense industrial base.
Photo: screen grab from US Department of Defense Web site
DIPLOMACY
Tsai to speak in Berlin
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit Berlin and address a conference next week, her office said yesterday. Tsai, who left office last year, is to leave for Berlin on Saturday and speak on Monday at the Berlin Freedom Conference, the office said. “Former President Tsai hopes this trip will help deepen cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan and Germany, as well as with like-minded democratic countries in Europe,” it said in a statement. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tsai’s trip. Tsai has already visited Europe since stepping down, including the UK and France.
SOCIETY
Man reunited with gold bars
A 67-year-old man has been reunited with seven gold bars worth an estimated NT$5 million (US$161,530) found in a park in Miaoli City yesterday morning. The Miaoli City Office said it received a report of a pile of valuables left in a flowerbed near the Martyrs’ Shrine Plaza in Maolishan Park. Staff dispatched to the site discovered seven gold bars, along with NT$60,000 in NT$1,000 bills and more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,403), the office said. An insurance certificate found at the scene led police to a jewelry store, which confirmed that the man, a Miaoli resident living alone, had purchased the gold bars in August, it said. After being contacted at a phone number provided by the jewelry store, the man told police that he had spent the previous night sleeping in the park and had forgotten to take his valuables with him when he left in the morning. The man said he carried the gold and cash with him because he feared they might be stolen if left at home, local police said. Miaoli County Social Affairs Department Director Chang Kuo-dong (張國棟) said social workers would visit the man to offer assistance and advise him on safer ways to store his assets.
SPACE
Satellite to launch next week
Taiwan’s first Formosat-8 satellite is expected to lift off on Tuesday next week at 2:18am Taiwan time, the Taiwan Space Agency announced on Tuesday. The agency said the satellite would be carried by a rocket on the Transporter-15 mission, after a month of preparations by staff who have gone to the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Named the “Chi Po-lin Satellite” (齊柏林衛星) after the late Taiwanese documentary director known for recording Taiwan through aerial imagery, it would be the first of eight satellites to make up the first Taiwan-made satellite constellation, the agency said.
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
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
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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