■ Justice
US rejects sex-slave case
A US appellate court said on Tuesday that 15 Asian women forced into sexual slavery during World War II cannot use US courts to sue Japan. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the issue involved international relations and the courts were not authorized to hear the claims. The women from Taiwan, China, South Korea and the Philippines sued Japan in 2000, contending they were among 20,000 used as "comfort women" for Japanese soldiers during the war. The appellate court initially ruled that Japan had absolute immunity from a lawsuit under federal law, but the Supreme Court overturned the ruling and instructed the appellate court to reconsider the case. In its opinion on Tuesday, the appellate court said it was extremely "clear the Allied Powers intended that all war-related claims against Japan be resolved through government-to-government negotiations rather than through private tort suits."
■ Society
New rules for `veteran' status
Cabinet Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday that the requirements for being classified a "military veteran" will be revised. Cho made the announcement at a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning. He said that the new definition will help reduce financial problems in the health-insurance system. Those who have served in the military for more than three years are currently classified as veterans. In the future, military service of more than 10 years will be required to qualify for veterans' benefits. According to current regulations, veterans are fully reimbursed for medical expenses, while regular citizens are only entitled to partial health-insurance coverage. As the military tries to phase out conscription, Cho said that the new definition of "veterans" would benefit the health-insurance system, because the number of people eligible for full coverage would grow too quickly if the definition does not change.
■ Education
Hsieh promises financial aid
Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday promised to improve financial assistance to college students in response to growing complaints from the public that college tuition fees are becoming unreasonable. Urging college students to focus on their lessons, Hsieh said that more money will be made available for those who really need help. He also asked the Ministry of Education to extend the college-tuition financing period. The ministry announced that it has set aside a total of NT$17.4 billion (US$550.5 million) for college and graduate students as scholarships. The ministry is also considering a proposal that students who received ministry loans to cover their college tuition fees would not have to pay back the money if their annual income is lower than NT$240,000 after graduation.
■ Society
Singer's brother not dead
China's Taiwan Affairs Office yesterday denied reports that the adopted brother of the Taiwanese singer Yu Tien (余天) had been executed. Officials said the case against Yu Fu-hsing (余福星) was still pending in the Fujian Supreme Court. Chinese-language media in Hong Kong and Taiwan last week reported that Yu Fu-hsing had been executed on Sunday for smuggling heroin to China. The reports claimed that Yu Fu-hsing had smuggled heroin from Thailand to Xiamen last March. Yu was arrested late last year, and Chinese authorities have sentenced him to death.
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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