■ Crime
Criminals repatriated
Four criminals wanted in Taiwan -- including a gang leader -- who had fled to China have been repatriated back to Taiwan via Macau, Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) officials said yesterday. The CIB officials said that with the assistance of the Macau police they were able to trace the four, identified as Oung Chi-ching (翁之靖), 52, Wei Yung-tien (魏永田), 47, Wang Shao-hung (王紹鴻), 40, and Chang Cheng-chun (張正春), 39. All four were expelled by the Chinese authorities to Macau. Taiwan police, working with their Macau counterparts, then brought the four suspects back to Taiwan. Police said the repatriation is a positive result of a crackdown on crime and sends a message that criminals who flee to China will no longer find a safe haven there.
■ Water
Reservoir level drops
The water level in the Feitsui Reservoir in northern Taipei County had fallen below 150m as of late Thursday, the lowest level since the beginning of this year and a record February low since the reservoir's opening 15 years ago. The water level is 10m lower than the average for this month and about 4.5m lower than the level recorded for the corresponding month last year. The water level Thursday evening was just 52.52 percent of capacity. Despite precipitation over the past week, the reservoir has received only a limited amount of additional water. Although Taipei Water Department Director Kuo Juei-hua (郭瑞華) said it remains too early to talk about water rationing, he urged the public not to waste the resource and added that his department has asked public establishments and schools to be equipped with water-conservation equipment starting next month.
■ Environment
EPA denies pricing policy
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday it has not yet set any timetable for an across-the-board implementation of a unit-based garbage collection pricing system. The Cabinet-level agency was responding to media reports that the EPA will begin to collect per-bag garbage disposal fees countrywide by the end of this year. "The report is not true," said Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文), an EPA department chief in charge of solid-waste disposal. At present, only the Taipei City Government implements a per-bag policy for garbage collection. "The success of the Taipei experience might not necessarily be suitable for enforcement in other cities and counties at the moment," Chen said, adding that the EPA will evaluate manpower resources, relevant facilities and environmental education in various areas before setting a timetable for implementing such a pricing system.
■ Japan
Student arrested for forgery
A Taiwanese student studying at a private college in Japan has been arrested in connection to a credit-card forgery ring, police said yesterday. Police also seized around 800 forged and genuine credit cards, as well as equipment used to produce counterfeit credit cards. Police said that Chen Kuo-wen (陳國文), 33, who lives in Tokyo, was involved in producing 10 fake credit cards in mid-November based on cards issued to foreign customers by 10 operators in France, Britain and Sweden. Police said that four people, including Taiwanese and Japanese, used the forged cards to shop for electrical appliances in Tokyo at the end of last year, and then resold them for at least ?70 million (around US$580,000).
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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