NATURE
Goshawks hordes migrate
More than 12,000 Chinese goshawks flew past Kenting, Pingtung County, on Saturday, the highest number in a single day this year, as they migrate south for the winter. The number of Chinese goshawks passing Kenting peaked between 6am and 7am, with more than 5,000 birds recorded flying overhead. The number went up to 12,000 by day’s end, breaking this year’s previous record of 9,000 birds in one day. So far, 49,000 Chinese goshawks have passed Kenting, according to the latest statistics released by Kenting National Park Headquarters. Tsai I-jung, a technical specialist at the park, said that still more Chinese goshawks are expected, though they are believed to have been delayed by Typhoon Sanba, which stopped the southbound migration.
CRIME
Taiwan wants detainees
The government wants the Philippines to immediately deport nearly 300 Taiwanese who were arrested by Manila police in a massive anti-fraud crackdown after one died and some began falling ill inside crowded detention centers. Philippine authorities arrested 380 suspected members of an online fraud syndicate, including 291 Taiwanese, 86 Chinese and one New Zealander, in simultaneous raids last month in houses in metropolitan Manila and nearby Rizal province. It was the most arrests made a single day in a Philippine anti-crime operation in years. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Manila, said yesterday it wanted the Taiwanese to be deported “as soon as possible.”
CULTURE
Matsu joins in lake swim
A wooden boat carrying a statuette of Matsu, the Goddess of the Sea, joined a record number of swimmers in crossing the nation’s largest fresh water lake yesterday in an annual mass swimming event. The boat was escorted and pushed forward by 66 swimmers from Chiayi County on the 3,000m swim across the approximately 800 hectare Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County. The Nantou County Government and the Masters Swimming Association of Taiwan said at first they had declined to accept the registration of the Singang Fengtian Temple in Chiayi out of concern for the presence of a religious group in the event. However, they relented after the temple administration showed said the deity’s participation would bless the event. The number of total swimmers in this year’s event rose to 28,390, from 27,138 last year, organizers said.
SOCIETY
Working holidays on the rise
Taiwan was the fifth--largest country of origin for people visiting Australia for working holidays last year, behind Britain, South Korea, Ireland and Germany, Australian authorities said. About 130,000 people were in Australia on working holiday visas at the end of last year, up 14.4 percent from the end of 2010. The number of Taiwanese in the program was the nationality that saw the biggest growth, up 46.3 percent from 2010, according to Australian immigration department figures. Australia gave 9,112 Taiwanese permits to join the program last year, 51.7 percent more than a year earlier, the department said. Taiwan reached a reciprocal working holiday agreement with Australia in April 2004. It is the only country among Taiwan’s working holiday partners that does not cap the number of Taiwanese who can participate in the program in any given year.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
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