CRIME
Couple held on child’s death
The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered police to detain and hold incommunicado a married couple pending further investigation into the death of their seven-month-old daughter. The court said the Indonesian man and Taiwanese woman might collude to destroy evidence after the court found that their statements did not match. The Taoyuan Police Department’s Yangmei Precinct said that the 24-year-old father confessed that he on Sunday last week beat the girl to death because she was crying. The couple kept the body in their refrigerator until Wednesday, when they buried her on a beach, police said. The girl’s aunt contacted police on Thursday after learning of the incident, police said. Investigators yesterday said they had not yet completed a forensic examination of the body.
ASTRONOMY
Solar eclipse starts today
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) forecast cloudy to sunny skies across the nation today, making it ideal to watch the rare annular solar eclipse. The anticipated event would be visible in parts of Chiayi, Hualien, Kinmen, Nantou, Penghu, Taitung and Yunlin counties, and Kaohsiung and Tainan, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The eclipse would be visible from about 2:44pm to 5:26pm, starting in Kinmen County and ending in Taitung County, the CWB said. The complete “ring of fire” is expected to occur at about 4:10pm to 4:15pm for less than a minute, it added. A partial solar eclipse would be visible in other areas, the museum said.
FISHERIES
Agency investigates assault
The Fisheries Agency on Thursday said it is investigating reports that a Taiwanese fishing boat captain allegedly assaulted an Indonesian crew member while in Sri Lankan waters. Several Indonesian news outlets reported the incident and that after the ship reached port, a group of crew members assaulted the captain. Alleged video recordings of the second incident show a man being dragged out of a ship’s cabin and punched repeatedly by a group of about 10 people, while several appear to try to stop the attack. Voices can be heard shouting in Indonesian: “Just because we are at sea doesn’t mean you can call us pigs and dogs,” and “We can earn money anywhere, but we will do it with dignity.” Fisheries Agency Deputy Director General Lin Kuo-ping (林國平) said that if the captain is Taiwanese or the ship is registered in Taiwan and the incident is proven, the captain could be turned over to prosecutors and charged under the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法).
TRAVEL
CAL requires online check-in
China Airlines (CAL) on Friday said that from tomorrow it would require all passengers to board its flights through online check-in services, to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. Passengers can use CAL’s Web site or mobile app to check in online from 48 hours to 80 minutes before their flight departs, it said, adding that it would suspend all kiosk check-in services at airports in Taiwan. Although CAL ground staff would still help with boarding, there would only be a few people present, the carrier said. Passengers who have completed online check-in can check-in their luggage at the airport or Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT line’s Taipei Main Station, CAL said. Those who have only carry-on luggage can proceed to the waiting area 40 minutes before departure, it said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai