■Foreign Affairs
Swaziland official set to visit
Swaziland Senate President Muntu Mswane will arrive in Taiwan tomorrow at the head of a six-member delegation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) officials said yesterday. During the visit, the delegation will congratulate President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Taiwan's National Day, which falls on Thursday. The delegation will also call on Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), MOFA and the Government Information Office before attending a National Day rally and banquet that night and touring various cultural and economic facilities during their six-day visit.
■ Crime
Car-theft operation busted
Taiwan and Japanese police have cooperated in uncovering an international car-theft operation, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) under the National Police Administration announced yesterday. With information provided by Japanese police, CIB investigators raided an automobile repair and remodeling "chop shop" in Jenteh Village, Tainan County Wednesday and arrested two men suspected of involvement in the international criminal ring. Also seized in the raid were five stolen Japanese cars, two chopped sports cars and 21 Japanese-made engines, CIB officials said.
■ Education
Businessman linked to scam
Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has punished a former minister for helping a Taiwanese businessman set up a bogus international university in Hanoi, state media said yesterday. Khai signed an order on Wednesday withdrawing the state pension of Vu Ngoc Hai, who retired from his post as deputy minister of education and training last year. He also reprimanded the current deputy minister, Tran Van Nhung, over his handling of the Asia International University scandal, the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported. The university was established in June 1995 as a joint venture between the Hanoi University for Foreign Languages and a social organization set up in Taiwan by entrepreneur Wang An-young, who also holds a US passport. Despite not meeting the conditions required under Vietnamese law to open an international university, Wang was eventually given the green light by the ministry with the help of Hai. The deputy minister had spent five days in Taiwan with his wife as a guest of Wang before approval was given, according to state media.
■ Military
Tank crushes army private
An army private was killed in a traffic accident at an armored vehicle maintenance compound at the Houli military base in central Taiwan yesterday, according to an Army General Headquarters press release. Wu Tzu-hang (吳慈航), 20, was crushed by a tank while he was working on an M60A3 armored vehicle at the base, the press statement said. He was rushed to a hospital in nearby Fengyuan City for emergency treatment, where he died about an hour later. Doctors said Wu's chest and abdomen had been run over by the tank. Yin Chang-ching (尹長清), head of the political warfare department of the Tenth Army Corps, said the driver of the tank, Private Hu Chun-wei (胡俊偉) of the 586 armored infantry brigade, did not see Wu. Army Commander-in-Chief General Huoh Shoou-yeh (霍守業) expressed his deepest regret over the accident and said the army will provide financial aid to Wu's family and will assist in handling his funeral.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
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