ASTRONOMY
Bright comet on Saturday
Comet C/2023 A3, the brightest this year, is anticipated to reach its peak luminosity on Saturday, as it reaches its closest point to Earth, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The window of time to view the comet — discovered in January last year by the Tsuchinshan Observatory in China — is to last until the end of this month, it said. Stargazers should look out to the western horizon after sunset if they want to catch a glimpse, it said. While the comet is visible to the naked eye, using binoculars or a small telescope can improve a person’s viewing experience, it said. The comet could post an apparent magnitude of minus-2, equivalent to Mercury, it said. Since the comet has an orbital period of several tens of thousands of years, its upcoming appearance makes it a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity, the museum said, citing data from NASA. Astronomical buffs can also look forward to the year’s largest full moon on Thursday next week, the museum said. The supermoon would be at its fullest at 7:26pm, when it would be about 357,000km from Earth, it said.
FOOD
One more dies of poisoning
A food poisoning incident in Taitung County has left one more person dead, bringing the death toll to four, the Taitung Mackay Memorial Hospital confirmed on Saturday. The victim was a 59-year-old woman surnamed Yang (楊), who fell into a coma on Sept. 18, the hospital said. Before her death, she had been treated with tracheal intubation to keep her alive. However, Yang’s family had a meeting with doctors on Friday and decided to take her off life support as she had not shown signs of improvement, the hospital said. The food poisoning incident was traced back to the death of an 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾), who died on Sept. 17 after eating glutinous millet dumplings that she had made. That evening, several relatives and friends, including Yang, who came to her wake, and ate leftover dumplings and other items in Tseng’s kitchen later exhibited symptoms such as vomiting and convulsions. Three more people subsequently died, while nearly a dozen people were hospitalized for treatment. The dumplings were later discovered to contain a high level of terbufos — a hazardous chemical compound found in some pesticides. Only Yang’s younger sister, 53, remains hospitalized for treatment, the hospital said. Taitung prosecutors on Saturday said they were still investigating the case, without disclosing any further details.
ENTERTAINMENT
Ariel Lin wins in Busan
Taiwanese actress Ariel Lin (林依晨) on Sunday won best actress in a leading role at this year’s Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards in Busan, South Korea. Lin won the award for her performance in the Taiwanese television drama Imperfect Us (不夠善良的我們). Lin gave a teary speech in Korean, saying the award was “a great motivation for both me and the work.” She added in English that: “I truly believe that a good script can let people feel understood, it can be very inspirational, and it can show people what truly important things” are. The theme song for the series, Learn to Live Again (善良的我們), composed by Singaporean singer Tanya Chua (蔡健雅), won best original song. Having won the award with her first composition for a drama series, Chua said the award “means so much to me.” Imperfect Us had been nominated for five awards — the most for this year’s event, including best Asian contents, best male supporting actor and best writer. The awards, now in its sixth year, is organized by the Busan International Film Festival and South Korea’s National IT Industry Promotion Agency, according to its official Web site. The event aims to “increase audience engagement and showcase a diverse range of audiovisual content,” it says.
‘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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