CRIME
Police hunt for pepper sprayer
Police are still searching for a suspect who released pepper spray inside the Taipei MRT twice over the past two weeks, the Taipei Police Department said. Travelers at Taipei Main Station reported a pungent scent in the station’s underground shopping area at 8:40pm on Monday, police said in a statement. Surveillance footage showed a man spraying the chemicals behind his back, they said. The same man is believed to have released pepper spray as he walked along the Blue Line platform in the station on 8:15pm on March 17, police said, adding that they are trying to establish a motive.
TRAFFIC
Butterflies close freeway lane
The outer northbound lane of a section of Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3) was closed until 1pm yesterday to protect large swarms of purple crow butterflies heading north as part of their seasonal migration. Chen Jui-hsiang (陳瑞祥), head of the Taiwan Purple Crow Butterfly Ecological Preservation Association, said the National Freeway Bureau set up protective netting 4m high and 1,100m long along northbound lanes between the freeway’s 251km and 253km markers. It also closed the outer northbound lane along that stretch in Yunlin County’s Linnei Township (林內) at 9am yesterday, as more than 250 migrating butterflies per minute were spotted, Chen said. Later, at about 10am, as many as 1,080 butterflies per minute — the most so far this year — flew along the freeway heading north, Chen said.
SOCIETY
None hurt in factory blaze
No one was injured in a fire that broke out at a factory run by major electronics manufacturer Wistron Corp in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) late on Monday, based on information from the Hsinchu City Fire Bureau and Hsinchu Science Park Bureau. The fire bureau said it received a report about the blaze at 10:22pm, and along with the Hsinchu County Fire Bureau dispatched 23 fire trucks and 112 firefighters to the scene. The fire was put out at 2am, and none of the 464 people evacuated from the factory were hurt. Firefighters found that an outdoor air-conditioning unit on the top floor of the plant had caught fire, the city fire bureau said, without offering further details about what caused the blaze. Data monitored by the science park and the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau indicated that air pollution from the fire had quickly fallen back to normal levels by later yesterday morning.
SOCIETY
Invoice lottery announced
The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$313,519) special prize in the January-February uniform invoice lottery is 16620962, the Ministry of Finance announced on Monday. The winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 50008017, while the three numbers for the first prize of NT$200,000 are 73705743, 90315047 and 10604429. The holders of receipts whose serial numbers match the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers win NT$40,000, while those with invoices with serial numbers matching the last six digits win NT$10,000. Other prizes are NT$4,000 for receipts with the last five digits of any of the first-prize numbers, NT$1,000 for receipts with the last four digits and NT$200 for invoices with the last three digits. Those holding prize-winning receipts can claim their winnings from Saturday next week to July 5, the ministry said.
‘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
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
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
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