Celebrity Suzanne Hsiao (蕭淑慎) appeared in court yesterday to defend herself against allegations of drug use, saying she had tested positive for drugs because she was taking anti-depressants.
Hsiao arrived at the Shilin District Court in the company of her lawyer. Prior to the hearing, she told reporters that she did not take drugs and therefore had no plans of pleading guilty to charges of drug use and drug trafficking.
Hsiao said she had proof and would show the judge that she did not use prohibited drugs.
“I will let the results of scientific tests speak for themselves,” Hsiao said.
Hsiao, who is on probation after being convicted of using prohibited drugs, underwent three urine sample tests in May, June and July last year. All the results tested positive for amphetamines.
She attributed the positive test results to her use of the anti-depressant Ritalin. She said that from April to August last year, she took one or two Ritalin pills a day.
Shilin District prosecutors have charged her with using prohibited drugs and asked the court to revoke her probation and hand down a prison sentence.
In 2006, after testing positive for cocaine, Hsiao was found guilty of using drugs and sentenced to one year and seven months in jail and four years’ probation.
During the probation period, Hsiao is required to undergo regular drug tests to ensure she stayed clean.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
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