■Crime
Police raid VCD factory
Police yesterday arrested four men in a raid of an illegal video disc factory, one day after the justice minister pledged an all-out war against the nation's counterfeiters. Police said they seized 16,000 bogus VCDs in their predawn bust of a factory in central Taichung county. The raid followed a challenge issued by a counterfeiter to Justice Minister Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) in a pirated copy of the newly-released James Bond film Die Another Day. The pirated disc, available on Taiwan's streets and in night markets for around NT$100 opened with the message: "Chen Ding-nan come and get me!" The public challenge irked Chen, known as Mr. Clean, who vowed to wipe out rampant counterfeiters. Local media reported illegal VCD copies of Hero, directed by famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou, were also available for as little as NT$80.
■ Chinese brides
CLA eases restrictions
Chinese brides will now have greater access to work in Taiwan, as the government has eased restrictions on low-income cross-Taiwan Strait families after repeated petitions from Chinese spouses and social groups. The Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) announced Monday that Chinese brides married to low-income Taiwanese men -- or those who are older than 65, mentally or physically disabled to a medium degree, or those who are seriously injured or suffer major diseases -- will be able to work in Taiwan, even though they have yet to receive residence permits. As to the so-called low-income families as defined by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, the CLA said the average monthly per-capita income must be lower than NT$14,607. In compliance with the employment law, Chinese spouses should be entitled to work in Taiwan after receiving a residence permit.
■ Crime
Life sentence upheld
Taiwan's High Court yesterday upheld the life sentence for a woman who had her husband killed in 1999 after five unsuccessful attempts. No change was made in the punishment meted out by the court to hired killer Liao Shih-chung (廖世忠), convicted in March 2001 of murdering Lin Jung-lou (林榮樓) in December 1999, the verdict said. Liao Je-hung (廖日紅), 44, offered NT$1 million to the 29-year-old to kill her husband, who had already survived five botched attempts on his life. Police said the woman had grown increasingly weary of her husband, who became emotionally unstable after a car accident. She was also believed to have conducted an affair while plotting her husband's murder. Court documents showed that Liao Shih-chung had spent an evening drinking with Lin. He rendered the older man unconscious and then burned him alive in a riverbed in northern Hsinchu County.
■ China flights
CAL organizes pilots
China Airlines has decided to dispatch two teams of pilots and co-pilots to operate a historic indirect chartered flight between Taipei and Shanghai Jan. 26, the chief delegate of Taiwan's largest carrier said in Beijing yesterday. Wang Hua-yu (王華宇) said the two teams comprise two male and two female pilots. "Among them is Chen Pei-pei (陳蓓蓓), a Boeing 747 pilot," said Wang. Chen, 36, was originally a CAL stewardess who later attended pilot training school. She has flown Boeing 747s for 12 years and has logged more than 5,900 flying hours.
Staff, with agencies
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