A group of pranksters handed out more than 1.2 million fake New York Times newspapers mainly in New York City and Los Angeles on Wednesday with a front page story declaring “Iraq War Ends” and another on the indictment of US President George W. Bush on treason charges
The elaborate 14-page spoof, dated July 4, next year, had stories on a raft of other US liberal fantasies: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologizes that the fuss about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction was invented and Americans are finally getting national health insurance. Its front-page motto read: “All the news we hope to print” — a play on the Times’ famous “All the news that’s fit to print.”
There was also a full page fake ad on page three from Exxon Mobil saying the firm applauded the end of the Iraq war and that peace was “an idea the world can profit from.”
PHOTO: AP
“It is fake and we are looking into it,” Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said.
There is also an equally realistic looking New York Times Web site (www.nytimes-se.com), including fake ads for De Beers and GM.
A statement sent from the fake edition’s Web site said creating the newspaper took six months and that it was printed at six different presses and then given to thousands of volunteers to distribute.
Web site www.gawker.com has identified the pranksters behind the stunt as The Yes Men, a liberal group famous for practical jokes. Gawker.com said The Yes Men also sent e-mails to spread the word.
The Yes Men have pulled off pranks including posing as Exxon Mobil and National Petroleum Council representatives to deliver a speech at a Canadian oil conference and masquerading as WTO officials announcing they were disbanding the body.
They have also posed as federal housing officials at a New Orleans event with the city’s mayor and the governor of Louisiana. Their exploits are detailed on the group’s Web site (www.theyesmen.org).
TAIPEI CONNECTION)
Some examples of The Yes Men’s work are now on display at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum as part of the 2008 Taipei Biennial. One video installation shows how BBC World was duped in an interview by a member of the group posing as a Dow Chemical Co representative apologizing for the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India.
Another video shows “The SurvivaBall” supposedly made by Halliburton as a response to the problems posed by “global warning.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS