HEALTH
Snake sightings rise
There were 13 reports of snake sightings in Taipei on Wednesday and Thursday last week, and in nine instances the snakes were caught, the Taipei City Fire Department said on Sunday. The department said it received 10 reports on Wednesday and three the following day. Following up on the reports, the fire department said, it caught nine snakes, including a 2m-long big-eyed rat snake in Tianmu (天母) and Taiwan habu vipers, turtle-designed snakes and red-banded snakes in Nangang (南港) and Beitou (北投) districts. Snakes that have been in hibernation regain energy and look for food during spring and summer, the department said. They will attack people only if they feel threatened, it said. Anyone who spots a snake should contact the fire department immediately.
SOCIETY
Car falls into sea, kills three
It was a night of tragedy for a family of four when their car went off the road and fell into the sea in Anping Harbor (安平港), Greater Tainan, on Sunday, killing three passengers and leaving the other seriously injured. The 37-year-old driver, surnamed Wu (吳), was cruising the harbor with his wife and two sons, aged eight and 10, when the car veered off the road and fell into the sea, a witness said. The witness reported the crash to firefighters who pulled the four from the water and sent them to three different hospitals. Wu and his two sons were pronounced dead, while his wife, surnamed Huang (黃), was still in a coma in an intensive care unit as of noon on Sunday, hospital staff said. Wu’s mother said she believed he was exhausted from late-night driving and that had caused the accident. Prosecutors will investigate the cause of the crash, the Tainan coast guard said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS