MILITARY
Mirage 2000 search continues
The military yesterday said it would continue to search for a Mirage 2000 fighter piloted by Captain Ho Tzu-yu (何子雨) that went missing during a training flight in November last year. Air Force Deputy Commander Lieutenant General Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) said the military would not give up hope of finding Ho, who lost contact with a control tower on Nov. 7 at 6:43pm about 60 nautical miles (111km) north of Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼). Ho is part of the Hsinchu-based 499th Tactical Fighter Wing and went missing during a regular nighttime training exercise. The military has only been able to identify where the jet lost contact, but has found neither Ho nor his aircraft. The military is to help Ho’s family hold ceremonies to wish him good luck, Chang said, in response to Ho’s wife two days ago writing on her Facebook page that it has been six months since her husband went missing. Regardless, she remains hopeful, as nothing has been found yet, she wrote.
WORKFORCE
Fewer rules for foreign artists
A new rule that no longer requires foreign entertainers to get formal approval from venues where they intend to perform took effect on Friday, the Ministry of Labor said. Amendments to the qualifications and criteria for foreign nationals undertaking jobs specified under Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) included removing restrictions on foreign nationals hired to engage in the arts and performing arts in Taiwan, making it easier for them to put on a show. Employers previously had to obtain documents from the public agency with jurisdiction over the performance venue where the foreign national wanted to perform, which gave the entertainer approval to perform at the venue, the Workforce Development Agency said.
WEATHER
Quake jolts eastern Taiwan
A magnitude 4.7 earthquake yesterday jolted eastern Taiwan at 12:17pm, the Central Weather Bureau said. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. The epicenter of the earthquake was at sea about 19.3km southeast of Hualien County Hall at a depth of 43.7km, the bureau’s Seismology Center said. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Hualien’s coastal Jici (磯崎) area, where it measured 3 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The earthquake could also be felt in other parts of Taiwan, with intensity levels of 1 and 2.
CRIME
Taiwanese detained in Sydney
Two Taiwanese were earlier this week arrested in Australia in connection with a haul of 200kg of crystal methamphetamine, which has a street value of more than US$130 million, Australian media reported. The shipment of the illegal drug, commonly known as “ice,” is believed to have arrived in Sydney from Malaysia on a container ship on April 21 disguised as tea and concealed inside metal machinery, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The two men, aged 22 and 29, were on Wednesday arrested along with a 22-year-old Chinese near a warehouse in southwest Sydney, when they were trying to dismantle the apparatus, the newspaper said. All three men, believed to have traveled to Australia for the sole purpose of receiving and distributing the drug shipment, have been charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported border-controlled drugs, it said.
‘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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