The attorney for the president's embattled son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming (
The seven `men in black' raised eyebrows on Thursday when they abruptly appeared and acted as Chao's bodyguards during the hearing, and the local media has been rife with speculation about their identities.
Chao's attorney Ku Li-hsiung (
Ku made the remarks yesterday on the sidelines of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) national convention.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) yesterday quoted an anonymous source at a Taipei City police branch station as saying that Lo had asked a volunteer surnamed Cheng (鄭) at the Taipei police's Sungshan Precinct headquarters to hire the men as bodyguards for Chao.
The men were hired to prevent Chao from being jostled when appearing in court, the report said.
Local media, including the TV stations TVBS and FTV, yesterday reported that the men worked as nightclub bouncers.
Ku yesterday said his client had asked for Lo's help because Chao no longer has a personal driver and bodyguards.
Given the public uproar and suspicion stirred up by the mysterious identity of the "men in black," Ku said that he would advise Chao to keep a lower profile.
He would also advise Chao to be more careful when seeking assistance from friends, Ku added.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said