TRAVEL
Hanoi flights to start
Taipei-based StarLux Airlines is to start flights to Hanoi on Jan. 13, as the nation and Vietnam ease border controls, it said yesterday. StarLux will fly between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and the Vietnamese capital once a day using the single-aisle Airbus A321neo, the airline said in a statement, adding that its target market would be Taiwanese businesspeople and tourists. The daily flight is to fly from Taoyuan at 9:25am and land in Hanoi at 11:40am, and then depart from Hanoi at 12:55pm and arrive in Taiwan at 4:35pm, the carrier said. The new route would make travel to Vietnam more convenient, as the airline already provides flights to Da Nang in central Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City in the south, the statement said. StarLux — which has a fleet of 11 A321neo, four A330neo and one A350-900 aircraft — is also to launch flights to the Philippine city of Cebu on Jan. 17, bringing the total number of destinations it serves to 15, all of them in Asia.
SPORTS
Howard out for two weeks
Taoyuan Leopards’ newly recruited eight-time NBA All-Star Dwight Howard is likely to be out of action for two weeks after he felt some knee discomfort during a home game on Sunday, the T1 League pro basketball club said on Monday. Howard felt his left knee act up after a teammate ran into his leg in the first half of a 103-94 home loss to the Taichung Suns at National Taiwan Sport University’s multipurpose arena in Taoyuan. After doctors examined the knee on Monday morning, they said he did not have a major injury, but suggested that Howard rest for two weeks and return to action after fully recovering, the Leopards said in a statement. Howard thanked Chang Gung Memorial Hospital for their efforts and instructions for follow-up treatment, the Leopards said. Howard also visited a traditional Chinese medicine clinic for a second opinion, the Leopards said. The former NBA all-star will probably miss the Leopards’ next two games — against the Suns on the road on Sunday and against the defending champion Kaohsiung Aquas, also on the road, on Dec. 4. If the doctors’ timetable holds, Howard would be back for his team’s following game, at home against the Tainan TSG GhostHawks on Dec. 16.
FOOD
Ginseng shipment seized
A shipment of fresh ginseng from South Korea was recently seized at the border, after being found to contain seven types of pesticides, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. The 325kg of ginseng was confiscated after sample testing on Oct. 18 detected 0.05 parts per million (ppm) of boscalid, as well as varying levels of fluopicolide, propamocarb hydrochloride, pyraclostrobin, fluazinam, penthiopyrad and tebuconazole ranging from 0.02ppm and 0.07ppm, the FDA said. The five detected levels of pesticides — boscalid, fluopicolide, propamocarb hydrochloride, pyraclostrobin and tebuconazole — all exceeded the allowable limit of 0.01ppm, FDA official Chen Ching-yu (陳慶裕) said. Fluazinam and penthiopyrad are banned for use in ginseng, Chen said. The items will either be returned to the country of origin or destroyed, said the FDA, which yesterday also published a list of nine other imported items that recently failed safety inspections. Other items rejected and destroyed or returned by customs included 780kg of fish sauce from Vietnam, 10,080kg of frozen water chestnuts from China and 20kg of cumin powder from India, the FDA reported.
‘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
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
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
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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