■ENVIRONMENT
Biodiversity classes offered
People who wish to get involved in the conservation wildlife are encouraged to join classes focusing on Taiwan’s endemic species. To encourage public participation, the Council of Agriculture’s Endemic Species Research Institute will host 13 “biodiversity investigators training classes” from next Monday through Sept. 11 in Nantou County. The classes will cover 10 different categories of life, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, butterflies, snails and plants, and will include both technical knowledge as well as field studies. Those who complete the course will have the opportunity to help work on Taiwan’s endemic species database, the institute said. More information is available on www.tesri.gov.tw/ngis2009/ or call 02-2731-0290, ext. 25.
■DIPLOMACY
MOFA rebuts report
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebutted a report in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) that former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) was planning to come to Taiwan for a personal visit in November. Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) said the ministry had made no such arrangement and that he had heard nothing of such a plan until he saw it in the paper. The Liberty Times report said an invitation was made by a figure in Taiwan’s cultural arena who is close to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Lee served as Singapore’s prime minister from 1959 to 1990. He visited in 1994 under the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and again in 2004 when invited by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
■TRANSPORTATION
Taipower fines KRTC
Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) was fined NT$860,000 by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) for excessive use of electricity on May 20 during a concert ahead of the World Games. KRTC public relations manager Marian Chiang (江惠頌) said on Sunday the company had received a bill from Taipower in May that included a penalty. The concert drew about 30,000 passengers on the Kaohsiung MRT, leading the company to increase train services as well as personnel to facilitate services. The company now fears a similar penalty could appear in the next bill, as the opening of the World Games on Thursday drew even more passengers than during the concert. “We hope [Taipower] will not cause us to lose our profit,” Chiang said.
■ASTRONOMY
‘Apollo 11’ exhibit opens
An exhibition to mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing opened yesterday in Taipei, featuring posters, film screenings, books and lectures to showcase one of the most important moments in human history. The exhibition, called New Era of Discovery, was organized by the American Institute in Taiwan in collaboration with the National Central Library and will run though Aug. 2 to showcase NASA’s manned space missions. Launched on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the moon, making mission commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin Jr the first humans to walk on the moon while command module pilot Michael Collins orbited above. Former US astronaut Marsha Ivins made a speech at the ceremony yesterday titled “My Journey with NASA Missions,” in which she shared her adventures and those of other astronauts. A veteran of five space flights from 1990 to 2001, Ivins has logged more than 1,318 hours in space.
‘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
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
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
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