CRIME
Cop punished over gun
A Taipei police officer has been punished for allowing some tourists to handle his firearm last week, a senior police officer said yesterday. The officer, surnamed Luo (羅), who works at the Zhongshan Police Station, received demerits for breaking firearm regulations, the station’s deputy director said. Although the policeman said he had allowed the Japanese visitors to handle his pistol as a friendly, diplomatic gesture, this kind of situation cannot be forgiven, the deputy director said. His immediate supervisor was also reprimanded. Luo, who has worked as a police officer for 18 years, allowed a group of foreign visitors to play with his gun on Feb. 4, while he was working at an intersection near the Martyrs’ Shrine, a popular Taipei tourist site. In a video posted online, Luo was also seen loading and unloading the cartridge in front of the curious tourists. The policeman said he only handed the gun to them after he removed the cartridge. Officials from the National Police Agency ordered an investigation into the issue after viewing the video post.
HEALTH
Spider lives in lady’s ear
A resident of Greater Taichung was surprised to find that a small spider had set up home in her ear and had even spun a web there, the doctor who helped her get rid of the arachnid said yesterday. The 49-year-old woman first consulted the doctor last month at the city’s Cheng Ching General Hospital after suffering itchiness and stinging in her left ear for several days. The 3mm spider was then found hiding in the woman’s ear canal, said Liu Po-jen (劉博仁), director of the hospital’s ear-nose-throat department. “The tiny web was spread out in the ear. It looked quite amazing,” said the doctor, who first used droplets to kill the spider before snatching it and clearing out the web. The woman was quoted as saying that she guessed the spider probably got into her ear after she “disturbed” it while cleaning her house. The doctor added that despite having seen various unusual items in people’s ears, from insects, seeds and stones to children’s toys, he had never seen an actual spider web in a person’s ear. He reminded people not to try picking their ears if they suspect tiny creatures are in there because they might crawl deeper inside. Instead, he suggested dropping some oil into the ear to kill the invader and then visiting a doctor.
CRIME
Former trader convicted
The Taitung District Court convicted Yu Huai-yin (游淮銀), a former legislator and a big-name stock trader, of bank “tunneling” and sentenced him to six years and six months in prison. Yu, who served as a legislator for Changhua County from 1993 to 1999 and as a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-at-large from 1999 to 2002, was involved in tunneling into Taitung Business Bank when he served as board chairman from 1995 to 1996. He was accused of using his account and ordering his relatives, friends and the bank’s supervisor, Liu Yu-ju (劉育汝), to use their accounts to take out huge loans that lost the bank nearly NT$2.6 billion (US$88 million). Some of the money was diverted into the Full Long Group, which was established by Yu. The fraud was exposed when Central Deposit Insurance Corp (CDIC) took over the bank in the wake of a bank run. CDIC reported the crime in 2003. Yu was prosecuted for breach of trust and for violating the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法).
‘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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