■ POLITICS
Former treasurer released
Former presidential treasurer Chen Chen-hui (陳鎮慧), who has been detained since Sept. 25 in connection with the “state affairs fund” case, was released yesterday afternoon after being questioned by the Supreme Prosecutor Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP). SIP Spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said the reason to detain Chen Chen-hui no longer existed, so prosecutors decided to release her. Chen Yun-nan did not elaborate. Chen Chen-hui was the first detainee in the prosectuors’ investigation into former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) suspected role in a case of alleged embezzlement and money-laundering. She was never indicted.
■ FISHERIES
NZ looking for 29 fishermen
The New Zealand Air Force began searching yesterday for 29 fishermen whose burned-out boat was found floating near the Phoenix Islands in Kiribati earlier this month. An initial search for the Taiwanese vessel failed to find any sign of the fishermen after New Zealand Orion aircraft covered about 30 percent of the 54,000km² search area, rescue officials said. The search is scheduled to resume today after the aircraft refuels in Samoa, Rescue Coordination Center spokesman Ross Henderson said. The burned-out fishing boat, the Ta Ching 21, was found deserted but still afloat by a South Korean fishing vessel on Nov. 9. A search of the boat revealed three life rafts and a rescue boat were missing, raising hopes the crew had been able to safely abandon the vessel, Henderson said. The last radio transmission from the fishing boat — crewed by Taiwanese, Chinese, Filipinos and Indonesians — was on Oct. 28 and there was no indication of problems. Air Commodore Gavin Howse said the air force was advised of the missing men on Monday.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
RSS