CRIME
Suspect released on bail
A suspect in two Tainan shooting incidents was yesterday released on NT$700,000 (US$22,985) bail, after his arrest and detention on March 24. The suspect, Wang Wen-tsung (王文宗), was ordered to stay within his home and is restricted from leaving the country for eight months. Prosecutors have appealed the decision. A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and Tainan’s Cihji Temple (慈濟宮) chairman, Wang is listed as a suspect in two shooting incidents during campaign events before the nine-in-one elections in November last year. Both incidents were at Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-linked sites in the city’s Syuejia District (學甲). Wang faces charges related to harboring criminals, possessing illegal firearms and other offenses related to the shootings, prosecutors said.
Aviation
New Japan route launched
StarLux, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, yesterday launched a new route between Taoyuan and Sendai, its sixth destination in Japan. Passengers taking the maiden fight departing from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were given free commemorative tote bags and Sendai’s signature edamame smoothies, the airline said. The Airbus A321neo flights would operate daily, departing from Taoyuan at 11:40am and arriving in Sendai at 4pm local time, with return services departing at 5:20pm local time and landing at 8:10pm. StarLux flies to Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Sapporo and Okinawa in Japan, as well as 10 other Asian destinations in Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. On April 26, the carrier is expected to launch direct flights to Los Angeles, its first destination outside of Asia.
Weather
Sun expected over holiday
Sunny to partly cloudy weather is expected across Taiwan today through Wednesday, during most of the Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend, the Central Weather Bureau said. A weakening weather front, which moved in from southern China on Thursday, brought rain to most areas of Taiwan yesterday, the first day of the five-day weekend, which marks Children’s Day on Tuesday and Tomb Sweeping Day on Wednesday. Daytime temperatures today would range from 17oC to 21oC in northern Taiwan and 23oC to 25oC in central and southern areas, the bureau said. Mostly sunny weather, with some cloudy skies is expected, and brief rain showers could fall in mountainous areas, it said. Another weather front is forecast to arrive late on Wednesday, bringing showers to northern and eastern regions and the mountainous areas of central Taiwan, it said.
Telecoms
One undersea cable fixed
One of two severed undersea Internet cables connecting Taiwan proper with the Matsu Islands has been restored, Chunghwa Telecom Co said on Friday. The two undersea cables managed by Chunghwa, the largest integrated telecom service provider in Taiwan, were cut by passing vessels on Feb. 2 and Feb. 8 respectively. One of the cables was restored at 4:50pm on Friday, the company said. The restoration enabled the resumption of Internet services in Matsu, it added. Efforts are being made to restore the other severed cable as soon as possible, it said. In the meantime, the company would do its utmost to increase the capacity of a backup microwave transmission system to boost the resilience of telecom services in Matsu, it added.
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
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
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
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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