■ Crime
Jail term for nude pictures
A 21-year-old Taipei man was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail for making public -- via the Internet -- nude pictures that he had taken of himself. The man, surnamed Hsiao, was convicted of obscene behavior. Hsiao, an employee at a high-tech company, had posted full-body pictures on a Web site, giving the general public easy access to the photos. According to the police, Hsiao posted the photos in an effort to attract homosexual admirers. He will be able to avoid jail time, however, by paying a NT$162,000 fine.
■ Missing foreigner
Chen asks public's help
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged people to assist in the search for a US citizen who went missing in Taiwan in May last year. Chen made the call in the latest issue of the A-bian Electronic Paper, an Internet newsletter named after Chen's nickname "A-bian." Chen said that Barbara Klita sent him a second letter recently asking for his assistance in the search for her missing son, Fryderyk Mieszko Frontier. In addition to directing government agencies to step up their search efforts, Chen said he hopes ordinary citizens can also assist in the campaign. "Those who have leads about Frontier's whereabouts are welcome to contact relevant government authorities or inform Mrs Klita, " Chen said in the newsletter. Klita sent her first letter to Chen late last year. Chen published that letter along with Frontier's photo and Klita's e-mail address -- barbaraklita@collegeclub.com -- in the Dec. 18 issue of the newsletter.
■ Avian flu
Experts aid Vietnam
The government will send an expert to Vietnam to assist in its campaign against avian flu outbreaks, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Speaking at a regular news conference, Lin Sung-huan (林松煥), director of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Department, said the Council of Agriculture has already sent a delegation of animal disease and quarantine experts to Vietnam to investigate its avian flu situation. In addition, Lin said, Tsai Hsiang-jung (蔡向榮), an associate professor in National Taiwan University's department of veterinary medicine, will leave for Vietnam next Monday to help with bird flu containment efforts. Meanwhile, Lin said, the Department of Health has donated medical supplies to Vietnam, including protective clothing, caps, surgical gloves and N95 surgical masks. The medical goods were delivered on Wednesday. Tsai will donate the goods to Vietnam on behalf of the government in a ceremony to be held in Hanoi next week, Lin said, adding that the Vietnamese government has expressed its gratitude for Taiwan's generous assistance.
■ Weather
Cold front arriving
Whether campaign activities on the last weekend ahead the presidential election will go smoothly depends on the weather. And the word from the Central Weather Bureau is that this weekend will be cold and rainy. A cold front will arrive today and bring rains to the north and the east over the weekend, the bureau said yesterday. Forecasters said temperatures will drop dramatically, with the highest temperature tomorrow being 19 degrees Celsius in the north. They said the weather in the center and south will remain pleasant. Low temperatures in the center over the weekend would be about 23 degrees Celsius and 26 degrees Celsius in the south.
‘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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