■ Crime
Jail term for nude pictures
A 21-year-old Taipei man was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail for making public -- via the Internet -- nude pictures that he had taken of himself. The man, surnamed Hsiao, was convicted of obscene behavior. Hsiao, an employee at a high-tech company, had posted full-body pictures on a Web site, giving the general public easy access to the photos. According to the police, Hsiao posted the photos in an effort to attract homosexual admirers. He will be able to avoid jail time, however, by paying a NT$162,000 fine.
■ Missing foreigner
Chen asks public's help
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged people to assist in the search for a US citizen who went missing in Taiwan in May last year. Chen made the call in the latest issue of the A-bian Electronic Paper, an Internet newsletter named after Chen's nickname "A-bian." Chen said that Barbara Klita sent him a second letter recently asking for his assistance in the search for her missing son, Fryderyk Mieszko Frontier. In addition to directing government agencies to step up their search efforts, Chen said he hopes ordinary citizens can also assist in the campaign. "Those who have leads about Frontier's whereabouts are welcome to contact relevant government authorities or inform Mrs Klita, " Chen said in the newsletter. Klita sent her first letter to Chen late last year. Chen published that letter along with Frontier's photo and Klita's e-mail address -- barbaraklita@collegeclub.com -- in the Dec. 18 issue of the newsletter.
■ Avian flu
Experts aid Vietnam
The government will send an expert to Vietnam to assist in its campaign against avian flu outbreaks, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Speaking at a regular news conference, Lin Sung-huan (林松煥), director of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Department, said the Council of Agriculture has already sent a delegation of animal disease and quarantine experts to Vietnam to investigate its avian flu situation. In addition, Lin said, Tsai Hsiang-jung (蔡向榮), an associate professor in National Taiwan University's department of veterinary medicine, will leave for Vietnam next Monday to help with bird flu containment efforts. Meanwhile, Lin said, the Department of Health has donated medical supplies to Vietnam, including protective clothing, caps, surgical gloves and N95 surgical masks. The medical goods were delivered on Wednesday. Tsai will donate the goods to Vietnam on behalf of the government in a ceremony to be held in Hanoi next week, Lin said, adding that the Vietnamese government has expressed its gratitude for Taiwan's generous assistance.
■ Weather
Cold front arriving
Whether campaign activities on the last weekend ahead the presidential election will go smoothly depends on the weather. And the word from the Central Weather Bureau is that this weekend will be cold and rainy. A cold front will arrive today and bring rains to the north and the east over the weekend, the bureau said yesterday. Forecasters said temperatures will drop dramatically, with the highest temperature tomorrow being 19 degrees Celsius in the north. They said the weather in the center and south will remain pleasant. Low temperatures in the center over the weekend would be about 23 degrees Celsius and 26 degrees Celsius in the south.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
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