TRANSPORTATION
Debris shuts ferry services
Ferry services from Taitung County’s Fugang Fishing Port (富岡漁港) to Green Island (綠島) were canceled yesterday after the port was overrun by driftwood that flowed in after Severe Tropical Storm Bailu battered southern and eastern Taiwan on Saturday. A 1 hectare “wood ocean” formed in waters around the port on Sunday and the debris began moving into the port early yesterday due to a prevailing air current, making it impossible for ferries to navigate the port, the Eastern Maritime Affairs Center said. The debris would likely be cleared within two to three days at the latest, Taitung County Agriculture Department Director Hsu Rui-kuei (許瑞貴) said. The wood has no economic value and would be discarded as waste after being collected, the Taitung Forest District Office said.
EARTHQUAKE
Quake jolts eastern Taiwan
A magnitude 3.7 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan at 4:41am yesterday, with no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the Central Weather Bureau said. The quake’s epicenter was 5.6km west of Hualien County Hall, in Jian Township (吉安), at a depth of 12.7km, the bureau’s Seismology Center said. The earthquake’s intensity, which measures the strength of shaking produced by a quake, was highest in Tongmen Village (銅門) in Hualien, where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale. The earthquake also produced an intensity of 2 in Nantou County and an intensity of 1 in Yilan County and Taichung, the bureau said.
CRIME
Police seize NT$4m of drugs
Police on Monday last week seized 10,655 packets of drugs disguised as instant coffee with an estimated street value of NT$4 million (US$127,182), the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The CIB said it earlier this month launched a joint investigation after receiving a tip-off that narcotics were being disguised as instant coffee at a residence in northern Taiwan for distribution. After monitoring the residence for several days, police raided the rental apartment in Keelung, where a 34-year-old suspect surnamed Tu (杜) was believed to be running a drug operation, the agency said. Police seized 40g of ketamine, 10,655 packets of drugs weighing 110kg, two mobile phones, zipper bags and an electronic scale, it said. Tu, who has a prior conviction for a drug-related offense, was arrested. The drug packets mainly contained emerging drug mephedrone, also known as “meow meow,” and nimetazepam, marketed under the brand names Erimin and Lavol, the CIB said.
SPORTS
Archer wins gold in Spain
Tai Yu-hsuan (戴宇軒) on Sunday won Taiwan’s first gold medal at the World Archery Youth Championships in Madrid after he beat Caleb Javier Urbina Zapata of Mexico in the recurve cadet men’s final. It was the last day of the tournament. The 16-year-old archer was down 3-1 in the match after losing the first set 28-27 to Urbina Zapata and tying the second set at 26. However, Tai, a junior at Mingder High School in New Taipei City, tied the match by winning the third set 28-26 and then finished with two near perfect sets, which he won 29-28 and 29-28 to take gold. Earlier in the day, Tai and his two teammates, Su Yu-yang (蘇于洋) and Liu Tai-yen (劉泰言), won a silver medal in the recurve cadet men’s team event after losing the final to a South Korean team.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
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