A court in southern China has awarded 51,000 yuan (US$6,700) in damages to a prison inmate who was tortured by guards, leaving him with erectile dysfunction, state media reported yesterday.
The man, identified only by his surname Zhong, was jailed for three years in 2002 for impersonating a state employee, the Beijing News said.
In 2004 he ran afoul of prison staff in the city of Pingshi in Guangdong Province for altering a card detailing his prison work record, beating other prisoners and arguing with guards, the report said.
Guards decided to "educate" Zhong, torturing him one day in November 2004 with electric shocks to his hands, feet, back, armpits and neck, and ordering fellow inmates to participate in the abuse.
The ordeal left Zhong with erectile dysfunction, the paper said, citing an investigation by a provincial high court.
The court ordered the Pingshi prison to pay Zhong's past and future medical expenses stemming from the torture, totalling about 51,000 yuan.
A sea warning for Typhoon Champi could be issued as early as Wednesday night, possibly followed by a land warning on Thursday night or Friday, as the storm approaches Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The typhoon is expected to have its greatest impact on Taiwan on Friday and Saturday, bringing heavy rain to central and northern Taiwan and to Yilan and Hualien counties in the east, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. As of 2pm yesterday, Champi was about 2,470km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving westnorthwest at 20kph. It had maximum sustained winds of 191kph and a
EAST OF GUAM: Tropical Storm Champi is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon, but its effect on Taiwan is uncertain due to the presence of a high-pressure system Tropical Storm Champi formed yesterday and has the potential to increase in strength, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Forecasters are closely monitoring a Pacific high-pressure system that would dictate whether the storm turns north or moves toward Taiwan next week, the CWA said. The most likely scenario is that it turns northward after passing the Ryukyu Islands, CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said. As of 8pm yesterday, Champi was east of Guam moving west-northwest at 20kph, CWA data showed. It had maximum sustained winds near the center of 72kph and gusts of up to 101kph, the data showed. If the Pacific high-pressure system
ORIGINS: A Taiwanese doctor practicing in Japan said he no longer needed to cover the nationality label on his license with a sticker, as it used to confuse his patients Starting this month, Taiwanese professionals working in Japan can list “Taiwan” as their place of origin following Tokyo’s easing of rules on “nationality” in official licensing documents. The change was announced yesterday by the Japan-Taiwan Friendship Parliamentarians’ League in Tokyo. The license revision covers 322 professions, including doctors and nurses. Previously, Taiwanese had to list “China” as their nationality on professional certifications and licenses, but the new rules updated the “nationality” to “nationality and region” or “nationality, etc,” allowing Taiwanese to use the name “Taiwan.” The league held a meeting about the revision at the House of Representatives Members’ Office Building in Tokyo
US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks are to participate in a major military exercise for the second time, when the Lien Yung exercise (聯勇操演) begin next month, a military source said yesterday. The army’s 584th Armored Brigade, which operates the US-built tanks, has already transported them to the Joint Operations Training Base in Pingtung County for the drills from late next month to December, the source said. During the month-long joint military exercise in southern Taiwan, the tanks’ crew would test their combat coordination, said the source, who asked not to be named. The M1A2T Abrams tanks were included in a major Taiwanese military exercise