■ CRIME
Police smash extortion ring
Police have nabbed the alleged ringleader of a group of Philippine officials and naval officers who have been extorting money from seized Taiwanese fishing trawlers, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) reported yesterday. Hsu Chih-yi (許志宜), a Taiwanese, was arrested upon arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Thursday. In April last year, several tuna boats were intercepted by two Philippine warships in the waters between Taiwan and the Philippines. Their captains were taken into custody and accused of trespassing in Philippine waters. The captains paid thousands of dollars to have their vessels released. Through telephone taps, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation learned that Hsu and several Philippine officials and navy officers had masterminded the seizure of the ships. Hsu, who lives in southern Taiwan, used his connections to a Philippine naval officer to "assist" the captains by telling them how to deposit cash to an account in the Philippines to secure the release of their boats.
■ TRANSPORTATION
THSRC adds more trains
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) increased the number of southbound and northbound daily train runs yesterday from 31 to 37. Officials also said that ticket sales would be extended by a half-hour, until 10:30pm, to accommodate passengers on the last train of the day, while ticket vending machines at the Taipei station would remain open until 11pm. This is the third increase in train runs in less than four months.
■ EDUCATION
System to add another year
Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) said yesterday that the ministry was planning to extend the nine-year compulsory education system by one year to include kindergarten. Speaking during a visit to Tung Ho Elementary School, Tu said that with myriad issues needing to be tackled before the compulsory education system is formally extended, the ministry has decided that the first step will be to offer subsidies to low-income families to help them cover the costs of sending their children to kindergarten. Providing a year of free kindergarten is expected to cost the government around NT$25 billion (US$762 million) per year, Tu said. He said more qualified teachers will have to be recruited and the quality of private kindergartens upgraded as part of the ministry's reform plans. The subsidy program may be implemented as early as this September, he said.
■ SCIENCE
Cloned pigs give birth
Three female cloned pigs raised at the Animal Technology Institute Taiwan (ATIT) in Miaoli have given birth to 19 piglets in recent months, indicating a breakthrough in cloning technology, institute researchers reported on Thursday. The researchers cloned five "spotty mini pigs" from a female Lanyu small-ear pig last year, they said. Three of the five became pregnant early this year through natural insemination and one gave birth to six piglets in late May, while the others delivered six and seven youngsters earlier this month. Six of the piglets died because of insufficient milk, but the rest are doing well. The researchers said ATIT produced its first generation of cloned pigs in 2002, although those pigs could not reproduce. The fact that some of the second-generation clones have given birth to piglets with no genetic abnormalities was evidence of the improvement in the institute's cloning technology, the researchers said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard