A worldwide campaign to track down terrorists was picking up pace yesterday, one day after US officials sought increased powers to combat terror at home.
But even as the massive investigation spread, fresh fears emerged in the US that the terrorists could have been planning to use crop duster aircraft to attack the country with chemical or biological weapons.
French police yesterday detained four suspected Muslim militants in the Paris region on orders of anti-terrorist judges.
The detentions were linked to a Europewide crackdown on Muslim extremists following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US, that have left an estimated 7,000 people feared dead.
It was not clear whether there was a direct link between the latest arrests and the US attacks, but seven people detained in France in similar raids last week had been under surveillance for their alleged links to bin Laden.
In the US state of Virginia, prosecutors said they had Monday charged a man with fraudulently helping to obtain valid state identity cards for some of the suspected hijackers who executed the US hijack attacks.
The identity cards helped the suspects obtain credit cards and tickets for the four passenger flights they hijacked.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft told a congressional hearing Monday that the FBI and immigration authorities had detained or arrested 352 people, and were seeking to question an additional 392 -- a number far higher than originally acknowledged. None of the detainees has however been charged with a crime related to the Sept. 11 attack, with most held on immigration or other charges.
Investigators are trying to piece together clues left by the terrorists to find trails leading to other potential terrorists -- and to the masterminds of the strikes.
But despite the biggest investigation in US history, none of those picked up in US have been charged with a crime directly related to the terror attacks
"Thus far we cannot connect any of those people that we're looking at to any of those 19 hijackers," an official was quoted as saying by the New York Times yesterday.
Ashcroft also told Congress that the FBI "has confirmed that Mohammed Atta, one of the suspected hijackers, was acquiring knowledge of crop dusting aircraft prior to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11."
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) met in Beijing yesterday, where they vowed to bring people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait closer to facilitate the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” The meeting was held in the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People, a venue typically reserved for meetings between Xi and foreign heads of state. In public remarks prior to a closed-door meeting, Xi, in his role as head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), said that Taiwan is historically part of China, and remains an “inalienable” and
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