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.
‘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
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
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
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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