■ Crime
Mother asks Ma for help
The mother of Fryderyk Frontier, a US citizen who went missing in Taiwan in late May, called on Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday help in the search for her son. Barbara Klita, who sold her house to pay for airplane tickets, has made several trips to Taiwan since June. This time she appealed to the mayor for help. Ma told Klita that his heart goes out to her for her missing son, who arrived in Taiwan in May to take up an English-teaching job in Taipei. Ma promised Klita to do what he could to find Frontier. Ma then picked up the phone and called Hualien government officials. The eastern Taiwan county was where Frontier was reportedly last seen. Deputy Hualien County Chief Chu Ching-peng (朱景鵬) promised Ma that he will see to it that county police step up efforts in the search for Frontier and that Chu himself will meet with Klita shortly to gain a better understanding of the incident. Over the past several months, Klita has walked busy streets and railway and MRT stations in Taipei City, wearing a sandwich-board showing Frontier's name and photograph and asking pedestrians in broken Chinese "Have you seen him?"
■ Legal Battle
Deadline for Iruan's return
The Kaohsiung District Court in southern Taiwan has set a deadline for the return of a Taiwanese-Brazilian boy to his legal guardian in Brazil, judicial sources said yesterday. The court served notice to the Taiwanese family of Iruan Ergui Wu (吳憶樺) on Dec. 25 demanding it hand over the 8-year-old boy to his grandmother's representative in Taiwan within 20 days. Iruan's Brazilian grand-mother, Rosa Leocadia Silva Ergui, has authorized Paulo Pinto, Brazil's de facto ambassador to Taiwan, to take the boy back to Brazil on her behalf. Iruan's Taiwanese family said they will file an application with the court today to secure more time to prepare for Iruan's return to Brazil.
■ Mad Cow Disease
Taiwan bans US meat
The Council of Agriculture said yesterday Taiwan would join other countries in banning the import of US beef and related products. The council said the import of the meat of cattle, sheep and goats, whether fresh, frozen or otherwise, from the US is prohibited. Taiwan temporarily suspended US beef imports last week, hours after US agricultural authorities said a cow had tested positive for the disease in the northwestern state of Washington. The discovery of mad cow disease in the US has prompted some Taiwanese to give up eating beef, and has forced some restaurants and supermarkets to remove US beef from their menu or shelves.
■ Charity
Relief group arrives in Iran
A 19-member group from the Tzu Chi Buddhist Compassionate Relief Foundation (慈濟功德會), Taiwan's largest charity organization, arrived in Tehran at around 2am yesterday to help with relief work for Iranian earthquake victims. The members of the Tzu Chi relief group brought the foundation's first batch of supplies, including 100 medical supply kits, 11,000 blankets, as well as food supplies and bottled water, to those injured or made homeless by the earthquake. Meanwhile, a 60-member Taiwanese rescue team left for Iran Saturday evening to join search and rescue operations in the ancient Iranian city of Bam. A relief group from World Vision Taiwan is scheduled to arrive in Tehran this morning, bringing its first batch of relief supplies. The supplies are worth about US$25,000.
‘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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