■ Crime
Marshalls man convicted
A Marshall Islands man was convicted yesterday of attempting to murder a Taiwanese volunteer teacher in May and sentenced to seven years in jail. Chief Justice Carl Ingram said the sentence showed that serious assault was not acceptable in the Marshall Islands. Andy Jeillan, 20, changed his original plea from not guilty to guilty of one count of attempting to commit first-degree murder. His unprovoked attack on Yeh Chao-min, 30, at her apartment in the capital Majuro with a metal pipe late last month left her with a fractured cheekbone and other facial injuries. She was flown home for surgery. The assault prompted an outcry from government leaders, Taiwanese embassy officials and the media.
■ Crime
Yu Fu-hsing may be alive
Hong Kong newspapers yesterday reported that famous Taiwanese singer Yu Tien's (余天)'s adopted younger brother, Yu Fu-hsing (余福星), may not have been executed in China as previously reported. On Sunday, Hong Kong newspapers reported that Yu Fu-hsing had been executed after being caught trying to smuggle heroin into Xiamen. But newspapers yesterday said Yu was still in prison, and that his execution might not take place for another six months. Yu Tien yesterday said he has not been officially informed about whether his younger brother was executed. Newspapers said Yu Fu-hsing smuggled heroin from Thailand to Xiamen last March. He initially planned to transport it to Taiwan directly by boat, but because of Taiwan's tightened security at the time, he decided to transport the drugs to Xiamen and wait before bringing it across the Taiwan Strait. Yu was arrested late last year, and Chinese authorities have sentenced him to death.
■ Military
China report expected soon
The US Department of Defense is expected to release a report on China's military buildup around the July 4 US Independence Day, the Republic of China's top representative to the US said in Los Angeles Sunday. David Lee (李大維), who is currently on a brief visit in the southern California city, made the remarks while meeting with a group of Chinese-language media correspondents. In line with the principles of a Taiwan-US mutual trust mechanism, Lee said, US authorities will brief the Taiwan representative office in Washington, D.C. before the report on China's military power is released. The report is expected to include an in-depth assessment of China's military power and strategy and a detailed analysis of its missile and naval force buildup across the Taiwan Strait, China affairs experts said, adding that the report is expected to raise concerns over China's ever growing military threat to Taiwan.
■ Politics
DPP publishes rally DVDs
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday published DVDs recording the massive rally held on March 26 in Taipei to protest China's passage of its "Anti-Secession" Law. In addition to the Chinese-language version, English and Japanese versions are also available. According to DPP secretary-general Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), the massive rally united the Taiwanese people and made Taiwan's rejection of China's claim over the country heard by the world. The recording was made to raise awareness of the event and commemorate it. Lee said that the DVD will be available to Taiwanese emigrants and students overseas.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
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
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
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