Sixty college students and a couple were indicted by Taipei prosecutors yesterday for allegedly forging official stamps of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and immigration documents.
Taipei District Prosecutors' Office Spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達) said the students were all "overseas Taiwanese students" from various countries.
Officials said Lo Tung-bin (
Officials said the 60 students were originally customers of the couple but later joined their business because they could earn a lot of money quickly and easily by forging official stamps and documents.
Prosecutors did not recommend sentences for any of the suspects in the indictment.
In order to qualify as an "over seas Taiwanese student" a student's father must be a citizen of the Republic of China who immigrated to another country and the student must have lived in another country for more than eight years.
Overseas Taiwanese students enjoy many prerogatives, such as a lower standard for passing college entrance exams and assured dormitory spots. In addition, local students are kicked out of the school if they fail half of a semester's credits but an overseas Taiwanese student doesn't have to worry as long as he or she does not fail more than two-thirds of his or her credits.
An overseas Taiwanese student can also apply for "alternative admission upon application," which means that he or she does not have to sit the entrance exam if his or her application is accepted and granted by any of the nation's embassies or representative offices.
The law mandates that an oversea Taiwanese student return home right after graduation.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai