A Nicaraguan baseball player was taken into custody yesterday for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman, a prosecutor said.
Huembes Gustavo Lopez, 28, who is in Taiwan to play in the 17th Intercontinental Cup baseball -tournament in Taichung, was detained after he failed to pay NT$200,000 bail, the prosecutor said.
Lopez was taken to the Taichung District Prosecutors Office for further questioning after being questioned by police.
Prosecutors declined to release details of the case pending further investigation, while -Chinese--language media said he was accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in a hotel.
He allegedly met the woman outside a convenience store late on Tuesday and took her to his -hotel room to chat. The woman called a friend the next morning claiming she was assaulted, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported.
Taichung police said the victim called a friend for help from the hotel room. By the time the friend arrived at the hotel, the woman had disappeared. She was subsequently found by police and taken to -hospital where she was examined.
The Nicaragua team coach, Edgard Matamoros, apologized on Wednesday on his player’s behalf and said he would respect the decision of the Taiwanese authorities.
Nicaraguan Ambassador William Tapia was considering traveling to Taichung yesterday, his office said. For the time being, the Nicaragua team will continue to play in the tournament.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it