AVIATION
Chinese drone delays flights
A Chinese drone was on Tuesday morning detected for the first time near Matsu Nangan Airport in Lienchiang County and disrupted two flights, airport director Weng Ting-huang (翁丁煌) said. The army’s Matsu Defense Command notified the control tower that a Chinese drone was seen 5 nautical miles (9.3km) from the airport at about 9am, Weng said. The tower immediately notified a UNI Air aircraft approaching the airport of the drone’s presence, delaying its landing. The drone hovered near the airport for about 20 minutes before it left, after which the UNI Air plane was approved for landing, 30 minutes behind schedule. A second UNI Air flight scheduled to depart later was also delayed, Weng said. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) has set up drone detection systems at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) and Kaohsiung International Airport, CAA Deputy Director-General Lin Jiunn-liang (林俊良) said. No such system has been installed at Lienchiang’s airports, but the current systems would still have difficulty detecting drones 10km away, he said.
SOCIETY
Rare snake caught for venom
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Ministry of Agriculture officials recovered a hundred-pace snake from a home in Taitung’s Yanping Township (延平), a CDC official said yesterday. The Deinagkistrodon acutus, which is listed as a threatened species, is a venomous snake found in mountainous parts of eastern and southern Taiwan. After receiving a report of the snake yesterday morning, the CDC sent officials to recover it and bring it to a lab in Taipei to produce antivenom, said snake expert Tsai Wei-yi (蔡緯毅), who caught the animal. “If you look closely, you can see that its nose has been injured. It lunged at me when I caught it, but only as a warning,” he said. “Usually a hundred-pacer will not try to bite you, unless it feels threatened.” The CDC keeps venomous snakes at its lab for up to 10 years, and they are replaced as they age, CDC official Chiang Wen-che (江玟徹) said, adding that it has four hundred-pacers in its inventory. “This species is relatively rare. It has already been seven years since I last made the trip to Taitung to retrieve” one, he said. Despite the snake’s rarity, the CDC must have antivenom on hand at all times, he said, adding that venom is taken from the snake twice a year.
JUDICIARY
Court to look at injunctions
The Constitutional Court is on Wednesday next week to hold a preparatory hearing about injunction applications seeking to pause enforcement of government oversight laws that went into effect on Wednesday last week, the Judicial Yuan said on Tuesday. The Judicial Yuan, which oversees the Constitutional Court, said that stakeholders would be summoned to the court to present their views. They include the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus, President William Lai (賴清德) and the Executive Yuan. All parties submitted injunction applications and petitioned the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the amendments last week. Representatives from the Legislative Yuan are also expected to be summoned, the Judicial Yuan said. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party, which together form a majority in the legislature, passed the amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) and the Criminal Code on May 28. The court has agreed to review the DPP caucus’ petition against the legislation, but has not yet decided on those filed by the Executive Yuan and the president.
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
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
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
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