SPACE
Chinese rocket no threat
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that a Chinese space rocket detected passing “near” Taiwan’s air defense identification zone did not pose a threat to national security. The ministry said in a press release that it had detected the launch of a Chinese-built Long March-2D carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province early yesterday morning. Although the rocket’s trajectory passed “near” the southwestern part of the zone, it did not pose a threat to national security due to having already left the atmosphere, the ministry said, without providing further information. It closely watched the whole launch process with its joint intelligence systems, it said. Xinhua reported that the Long March-2D rocket, which was carrying a Yaogan-39 satellite, took off from Sichuan at 8:24am. The Yaogan series are optical remote-sensing satellites that are likely also used for military reconnaissance.
SPORTS
Emilio Vargas fired
Emilio Vargas has been fired by the CTBC Brothers baseball team after testing positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive substance found in cannabis. In a public announcement, the CPBL said that the player from the US in August failed a random drug test jointly conducted by the league and a drug laboratory run by Cheng Shiu University’s Super Micro Mass Research and Technology Center. All of the results from tests Vargas submitted to passed standards set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), except his THC levels, the CPBL said in a report submitted to WADA on Sept. 4. On Thursday last week, tests were run on Vargas’ second sample by China Medical University Hospital in Taipei in accordance with WADA regulations, which also came back positive for THC, the CPBL said on Wednesday, after receiving the result a day earlier. The Brothers in a statement said that based on the league’s anti-drug regulations and punishments for players who test positive for drugs conducted by a local or foreign-certified lab, Vargas is barred for life from playing in the CPBL. Use of a Category 2 narcotic is punishable with a maximum three-year prison sentence and prosecutors are investigating the case.
SOCIETY
‘Croc’ pic draws fine
A Kaohsiung resident has been fined NT$3,000 for disturbing public order after falsely claiming on Facebook to have photographed a crocodile at the city’s Aozihdi Forest Park (凹仔底森林公園). In a verdict issued on Wednesday, the Kaohsiung District Court said that the man, surnamed Liu (劉), staged a photo on July 29 of a crocodile sitting on a rock with its mouth open using a small toy crocodile he had purchased. He later posted the photo to “Street Observation Academy,” a Facebook group with more than 1 million members, with the caption: “This is Aozihdi Park. I can’t believe it, but I don’t dare get any closer to see if this is or isn’t” real. The post, which had garnered 567 reactions, also attracted attention from the media, prompting the city’s Animal Protection Office to send personnel to search the 10-hectare park, the court said. After the search failed to turn up any sign of a crocodile, police summoned Liu, who told them that he had staged the photo and uploaded it as a practical joke, the verdict said. The court fined Liu NT$3,000 for contravening the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法). The verdict can be appealed.
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
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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