■ Crime
Threat-maker to surrender
Taoyuan businessman Lai Chu-hsing (賴注醒), who said on Wednesday that he would try to assassinate President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), said yesterday that he would turn himself in to police tomorrow. Lai made his assassination threat via fax to the Legislative Yuan. Lai said in his fax that Chen and Lee would be assassinated if Chen "dares to take the oath on May 20." The fax also said that if Lai were arrested or otherwise could not carry out the assassinations in person, he would hire assassins. However, when interviewed by TV reporters yesterday, Lai said that he knew his statements had broken the law and that he would turn himself in to the police tomorrow. Taoyuan police visited his place of business yesterday but Lai's employees said that he seldom appears at the office.
■ Espionage
No comment on Ukraine
The Military Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense declined to comment yesterday on a media report that intelligence agents from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have engaged in a fierce intelligence war in Ukraine. The report out of Hong Kong said that Taiwan has sent military intelligence agents to Ukraine to gather intelligence about the highly advanced Su-27SK jet fighter, as China has purchased scores of this type of warplane from Russia. According to the report, Taiwan's air force has sent pilots to test-fly the Su-27SK jet fighter. The Air Force General Headquarters said it has no knowledge of the reported event and would not make any comment.
■ Diplomacy
Lee speaks on links
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday said the government should not fully open direct links with China before farmers' and fishermen's competitiveness is safeguarded. Lee addressed the importance of agricultural development to the country's economy. He said that the national interest should be given priority in terms of cross-strait economic exchanges and that the government should take into account the interests of farmers and fishermen instead of certain other interest groups when considering direct links.
■ Immigration
Kinmen detention center set
A new detention center for illegal Chinese immigrants is scheduled to open in Kinmen this month, Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said yesterday. Under constant pressure from an ever-increasing number of Chinese illegally sneaking into Taiwan and the Chinese authorities' slow pace in accepting repatriation of their citizens, the government decided last year to increase Taiwan's detention and accommodation capacities for such illegal immigrants.
■ Communications
WLAN service announced
The Taipei City Government announced yesterday that Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) service is slated to be provided at 22 outdoor locations in the Hsinyi Planning District, enabling people to surf the Internet for free at any time. People who have an account on the Taipei City Government Web site, a HiNet account and a Chunghwa Telecom mobile phone number will be able to use the Internet service near 22 "hot spots." The service will be free in the first year. For further information, go to http://wlan.taipei-elife.net.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
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