■ Crime
US fugitive goes home
American murder suspect William Kimmick was escorted back to the US by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents yesterday. Agents from Guam and Kimmick took a late night Continental Airlines flight yesterday and will directly return to Vermont to close the case. Kimmick, an electronic technician and a Vermont native, fled to Taiwan on Jan. 25. The Vermont State Court announced that he was wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of his wife at his residence on Jan. 20. Accompanied by an American friend who is living in Taiwan, Kimmick turned himself in to the Hengchun Police Precinct on Feb. 8.
■ Health
Taipei lifts SARS measures
Taipei City Government's Health Bureau yesterday lifted the temperature-taking measure and mask requirements for entering municipal hospitals and organizations belonging to the city government. Since the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced it was reducing the SARS warning to zero, SARS prevention measures could be lifted according to the CDC's regulations, bureau official Chiu Chan-hsien (邱展賢) said. But Chiu suggested that people who have fever should still wear a mask when seeing a doctor because it is flu season. However, Chiu said that although the vigilance level against SARS is lower, the public must remain on guard against avian influenza. Chiu said that the bureau was happy that the flu outbreak expected after the Lunar New Year failed to materialize, but added that because of the threat of avian flu, it will continue to ask those who work in schools, hospices and hospitals to monitor their temperatures daily.
■ Crime
Police catch dognappers
Eleven dogs of popular breeds were "kidnapped" yesterday while their owner was forced to pay a ransom of NT$271,000, but the police successfully rescued the dogs and arrested the suspects. According to the police, the victim, Kuo Chi-chiang (郭志強), owned a dog kennel in Taoyuan. A 37-year-old suspect, Lu Hung-yi (呂泓毅), and a 44-year-old suspect, Chien Hsin-yi (簡新億), realized that Kuo had several expensive breeds, so they decided to extort money from him. Lu called Kuo and said that he was working for SET-TV and would like to invite him and his dogs to a TV show. However, he needed Kuo to show him his dogs first. Lu arranged to meet Kuo at a restaurant in Taoyuan. Kuo left a golden retriever, a schnauzer and nine dachshunds in his car while he went to meet Lu at the restaurant. However, Chien stole his car, along with the 11 dogs while Kuo was away. To get his dogs back, Kuo ended up paying Lu and Chien NT$271,000 but he didn't get his dogs back until the police arrested the suspects and rescued his dogs yesterday.
■ Crime
Officials seize drugs
Customs officers reported yesterday that a large amount of contraband Chinese medicine had been seized a day earlier at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport's cargo terminal. The contraband included balms, anti-impotence pills, powdered heart-disease medicine and herbal extracts, packed in 11 boxes. Customs officers said that although the medicine could be obtained easily in China, they were banned from entering Taiwan because none of it had passed Department of Health tests. Much of the haul is expensive on the Chinese market, the customs officers said, adding that the total seizures were worth an estimated NT$10 million.
‘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
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
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
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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