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.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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