■ CRIME
Banned pesticides found
Authorities have uncovered a total of 80 tonnes of banned or substandard pesticides smuggled from China on sale around Taiwan, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday. The pesticides, which were being sold at 20 pesticide shops nationwide, include long-banned fentin acetate, a lethal weapon against crop-depleting apple snails, as well as 10 other categories of counterfeit pesticides such as cyromazine, acetamiprid and bismerthiazol, officials from the council’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said.
■ DIPLOMACY
New envoys appointed
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday announced the appointment of several new ambassadors to the nation’s diplomatic allies in the South Pacific, as well as representatives to two European countries. Benjamin Ho (何登煌), now deputy head of Taiwan’s representative office in Singapore, will become an ambassador to Kiribati, while Jason Wan (萬家興), currently serving in Canada, will be reassigned to lead the embassy in the Pacific island nation of Nauru. T.S. Cheng (鄭天授) and Abraham Chu (朱文祥) will head the nation’s representative offices in Finland and Sweden, the ministry said. Foreign Minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) expressed hope that, following President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) call to prioritize economic issues in diplomacy, the two new delegates to the Scandinavian countries could help Taiwanese companies seek business opportunities there.
■ IMMIGRATION
Airport system crashes again
The immigration computer system at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport experienced another breakdown yesterday morning, lasting 20 minutes. Added to the two more serious breakdowns suffered last month, yesterday’s incident marked the third system breakdown this year. National Immigration Agency Deputy Director-General Huang Pi-hsia (黃碧霞) said that yesterday’s incident happened because of a system database capacity shortage when the agency was converting files in the database. No flight delays were caused as a result of the incident and no one banned from leaving or entering the country passed immigration during the 20-minute stoppage.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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