TECHNOLOGY
Drone firms in Germany
Fifteen companies from a Taiwanese drone industry delegation are in Germany to participate in a European drone industry trade fair, the delegation’s organizer, the Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance (TEDIBOA) said on Tuesday. A total of 184 companies from 33 countries are attending the Xponential Europe trade fair, which is being held in Dusseldorf, Germany, from Tuesday to today. The event bills itself as “the leading trade fair for uncrewed systems and robotics across all domains of autonomous technology.” Aerospace Industrial Development Corp chairman Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏), who heads the TEDIBOA, said that the event marked the first international trip the alliance has organized to help its members seek out new business opportunities.
CRIME
Court upholds life sentence
The High Court yesterday upheld a life sentence for a man who stabbed a convenience store clerk to death after being asked to wear a mask. Chiang Chia-kai (蔣嘉凱), a Taoyuan paper sculptor, was originally given the death penalty for the November 2021 murder, which occurred during Taiwan’s strict COVID-19 pandemic mask mandate. The Taoyuan District Court’s December 2022 sentence was reduced when the case was automatically sent for appeal to the High Court. However, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial in April last year, on the grounds that the High Court had failed to explain why it had accepted a psychological evaluation favorable to Chiang while disregarding an unfavorable one. In yesterday’s retrial, the High Court ruled that Chiang still qualified for a reduced sentence as he voluntarily surrendered, a factor not considered sufficiently in the original death penalty ruling.
CRIME
Five fraud victims return
Five of the seven Taiwanese nationals freed from Myanmar fraud rings cleared checks by Thai authorities and landed in Taiwan yesterday morning, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said. Upon arrival, police interviewed the five and took statements. They are to be sent to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office for further questioning to confirm whether they willingly went to Myanmar knowing they would be working for a fraud ring, or were victims of human trafficking, the bureau said. The remaining two are still under investigation and would not be able to leave until all legal proceedings are complete, unnamed sources familiar with the matter said. According to an English-language statement by Thailand’s military on Wednesday last week, 260 foreigners from 20 countries were released by a Burmese rebel group — the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army — and taken to Thailand that day.
CRIME
Taiwan aids Thai drug bust
After police in Taiwan shared information on a drug shipment bound for Taiwan, Thai police raided a drug warehouse in Thailand, seizing 426kg of drugs with an estimated street value of NT$730 million (US$22.3 million), Taiwanese prosecutors said yesterday. According to a statement from the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office, Thai authorities raided a warehouse in Samut Prakan Province on Jan. 9, arresting five Burmese nationals who were packing the drugs at the scene. The seized drugs included 201kg of methamphetamine disguised as Tieguanyin tea and 225kg of high-concentration cannabis paste, the office said. The drugs were sourced from a mountainous border area between Thailand and Myanmar, the office said.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
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