Sat, Dec 02, 2017 page4

• Taiwan News Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  ASTRONOMY

  Moon approaching Earth

  The full moon will be at its largest this year on Dec. 3, when it passes nearest to the Earth, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The celestial event will take place at 11:47pm that day, when the moon will be about 350,000km from Earth, the museum said, adding that it will appear about 14 percent bigger than the smallest full moon this year on June 9, when it passed the apogee — the point in its orbit at which it is furthest from the Earth. The difference resembles that between the size of a NT$50 coin and a NT$10 coin, the museum said. The museum said it will set up a high-power telescope at the Tianmu Baseball Stadium between 7pm and 9pm and the public is invited to come observe the phenomenon.

  CRIME

  Smuggled fish intercepted

  A big shipment of yellow croakers was on Wednesday seized in Tainan, in the first case of fish smuggling discovered in southern Taiwan in four years, the Coast Guard Administration said yesterday. During a security check onboard a Taiwanese fishing boat at the Port of Anping, coast guards noticed that the captain was very nervous and decided to conduct a search, which uncovered 7.8 tonnes of yellow croakers, the coast guard said in a statement. The fish was packed on ice in plastic boxes on the boat, which had just returned to port after two days at sea, carrying eight crew members and fishing equipment that appeared unused, the coast guard said. During the search, the boat captain confessed that he had smuggled the fish into Taiwan after making a deal at sea with Chinese fishermen, the coast guard said, adding that the fish was seized and the case was turned over to the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office for further investigation.

  CRIME

  Logging suspects rounded up

  Alleged members of an illegal logging ring made up of Taiwanese and foreigners were arrested by law enforcement officers on suspicions that they were poaching red cypress in mountainous areas of Nantou County, the Nantou Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Local police arrested four Taiwanese men and four unaccounted for Vietnamese workers in Renai Township (仁愛) for their alleged involvement in illegal logging during a series of raids conducted between Monday and Thursday. Along with the eight suspects, two pieces of red cypress, weighing 166kg, logging equipment and a jeep were also seized, the office said. The Taiwanese men, surnamed Chen (陳), Kao (高), Tseng (曾) and Fan (范), hired the Vietnamese nationals, paying them NT$20,000 per trip to cut down trees, particularly red cypress, on the township’s Mapu Mountain and transport them, an initial investigation found. The Taiwanese suspects were each released on bail of NT$20,000, while the four Vietnamese were kept in custody because they are considered a flight risk, prosecutors said.

  SOCIETY

  Thai worker’s death probed

  Prosecutors in Taoyuan are investigating the death of a Thai migrant worker who was found dead in his apartment on Wednesday morning with knife wounds on his neck. Accompanied by forensic experts, prosecutors went to the scene of the death in the city’s Gueishan District (龜山) on Wednesday afternoon. They found a fruit knife near the body of the 32-year-old man, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said. The initial investigation found no evidence of foul play, the office said, adding that prosecutors and police are not ruling out suicide.
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