While authorities around the country heaved a sigh of relief after only a few Y2K glitches appeared, a different kind of problem surfaced down in Pintung County the day the new millennium began. A police officer attending a New Year's Day celebration Saturday at a Taiwan Sugar Company plant parked his patrol car, leaving the keys in the ignition. Not a smart thing to do.
An hour later, when the officer left the reception hall to return to his car ... it wasn't there!
What happened?
Turns out that a mentally-ill resident of the neighborhood decided to take the car for a joy ride, according to the Pintung police blotter.
Later in the day, the now-battered patrol car -- with two flat tires -- pulled into the parking lot of the Veteran's Hospital in Kaohsiung. A tall man brandishing a knife emerged from the car and rushed into the hospital. When police were called, they found the man sitting quietly on a seat in the emergency room, unharmed. He was then taken into custody without incident, police said.
Lunar holiday discounts
Because Taiwan's tourism industry was severely damaged by the 921 earthquake, hotel owners are trying to boost business during the Lunar New Year holidays. The quake greatly damaged several scenic spots in central Taiwan, sending the tourism industry in the area into a depression.
The Association of Tourism invited several hotel owners in major cities around the country to join a promotional program and offer discount coupons, so that people can tour the island a little cheaper. Thirty six hotels and several resorts nationwide have joined the program. Coupons issued by the association will be valid until the end of September.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
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