TRAVEL
Bus catches fire
A bus carrying 32 people to a soccer game in Taoyuan caught fire on a freeway yesterday, the National Highway Police Bureau said, adding that no one was injured. The bus was at the 179.8km mark on National Freeway No. 3, traveling north from Tainan, when the driver pulled over at noon after noticing a problem, the bureau said. The 32 passengers also got off immediately, the bureau said, adding that they were students and teachers from Tainan Municipal Houjia Junior High School. Shortly after, a blaze broke out on the bus and the fire brigade was called, the bureau said, adding that the fire was put out by 12:10pm. While the incident caused a traffic jam for about 1km on the northbound freeway, there were no injuries, it said.
CRIME
Father to donate safety tools
The father of a 17-year-old boy who was one of the victims of a knife attack on a Taichung Mass Rapid Transit (TMRT) train earlier this week plans to donate safety equipment to the metro company. The man, identified by his name, Lu (呂), said on Friday that he is planning to raise NT$2 million (US$62,091) to purchase shields and batons to donate to the TMRT. His son sustained cuts to the chest, shoulder and arm after allegedly being attacked by a 20-year-old knife-wielding man who went on a rampage on a TMRT train at Taichung City Hall Station on Tuesday morning. Lu said his son’s condition has stabilized, but he would not be able to play basketball, which he loves, for the next three to six months. The father said he hopes the donation would help provide passengers with a means of self-defense if needed. On Friday, the TMRT said that all metro stations are equipped with shields, batons and pepper spray, while security guards carry whistles and batons.
CRIME
Suspected trafficker arrested
The Customs Administration confirmed that a woman entering Taiwan from Thailand was arrested on suspicion of wildlife trafficking, but declined to comment on media reports that she was caught with as many as 87 live animals taped to her body. Taipei Customs said the 64-year-old suspect arrived in Taiwan on a flight from Thailand with a friend on May 19. As the woman had a previous record of live animal smuggling, she was searched at customs, where live animals were found, the office said. Local media reports said the woman was arrested with 87 live animals, including protected species and four types of monkeys, taped to her body. The species confiscated by authorities included a Sunda slow loris, common marmoset, Senegal bushbaby, Asian barred owlet, green iguana, Nile monitor, Indian star tortoise, Mekong snail-eating turtle and an elongated tortoise, the reports said.
TRADE
US cherries rejected
Three shipments of red cherries imported from the US have been rejected at Taiwan’s border for containing the banned substance mefentrifluconazole, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said. The three batches of US red cherries, totaling 2.34 tonnes, were seized after being found to contain mefentrifluconazole — a conazole fungicide permitted for use in pears and apples, but not cherries — at a rate ranging from 0.05ppm to 0.17ppm, the FDA said. FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said it is the first case this year of substandard cherries from the US being identified. The FDA is to begin conducting shipment-by-shipment inspections on all cherries imported by the three companies.
‘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
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
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
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