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.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique