FISHERIES
Fishing crew free on bail
A Taiwanese fishing boat and its five crewmen that were detained by Japanese authorities on Thursday for sailing into Japan’s territorial waters have been released after bail was arranged, the Suao Fishermen’s Association said yesterday. The Suao-registered longline fishing boat, the Sheng Fu Chin No. 26, was seized by a boat belonging to Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries about 28 nautical miles (52km) northwest of Ishigaki Island. The five-person crew consisting of Tawainese skipper Wu Wan-cai (伍萬彩) and four Indonesians, were arrested for illegal cross-border fishing, the association said. The boat and the crew were released after the ship’s owner put up bail of ¥4 million (US$39,000), it said, adding that it was not sure when the ship would return to Taiwan. Wu told Japanese authorities that he was heading toward Japanese waters to retrieve fishing gear drifting in that direction when the boat suffered a mechanical failure and crossed into Japanese territory accidentally.
DIPLOMACY
Vietnam’s PM thanks Taiwan
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Thursday praised Taiwan’s contribution to his nation’s economic development and expressed deep regret for the damage suffered by Taiwanese businesses during last month’s anti-China riots. Dung made the remarks while meeting a delegation led by Council of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Vietnam chairwoman Liu Mei-te (劉美德), according to Vietnamese VTV9’s Web site. “Taiwan is one of Vietnam’s successful investment partners, and Taiwanese businesspeople serve as the bridge to link the close ties between the two sides,” Dung was quoted as saying. Liu expressed gratitude for the Vietnamese government’s support, and called for tax reductions to help the businesses that have suffered return to normal operation. Liu said that despite the riots, Taiwan’s businesses will still continue expanding their investments in Vietnam. The riots erupted on May 13 after Vietnamese crowds took to the streets to protest against a Chinese oil-drilling venture in an area of the South China Sea that is also claimed by Hanoi.
ENTERTAINMENT
Golden Melody ad released
A 30-second TV commercial for the 25th Golden Melody Awards was released yesterday to promote the annual event, which is to be held late this month. Featuring some of the nation’s biggest music stars, including Jay Chou (周杰倫), Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹, A-mei) and Jody Chiang (江惠), the commercial was directed by award-winning music video director Bill Chia (賈弘源). Chou, known as the king of Mandarin pop, Chiang, the diva of Taiwanese-language music, and “Pride of Taiwan” A-mei have racked up 132 nominations and 29 Golden Melody awards between them. The 25th Golden Melody Awards ceremony will be held at Taipei Arena on June 28, and the Taiwan Television Enterprise, which is hosting the awards show, is to broadcast the red carpet event and the ceremony live beginning at 5pm.
SOCIETY
Chinese identity poll released
A recent survey showed that less than 50 percent of Taiwan’s people recognized themselves as Chinese in the second quarter of this year. This was the first time the figure has dropped below 50 percent since the first quarter of last year, Hsieh Ming-hui (謝明輝), executive director of the Taiwan Competitiveness Forum (TCF), said on Thursday.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to