■ Crime
Arrest in Japanese thefts
Police reported yesterday that they had arrested a man connected with a ring allegedly involved in stealing heavy-duty motorcycles from Japan. Hsieh Wen-hung (謝文宏), 26, was arrested at his shop in Pingtung where he reportedly sold the motorcycles. The police also impounded 22 motorcycles in a raid on June 18. Tokyo police confirmed yesterday that seven of the 22 motorcycles had been reported stolen from their city. Criminal Investigation Bureau agents said that they had received a tip from Interpol that Hsieh and some accomplices were involved in the motorcycle thefts. According to Interpol, the motorcycles were disassembled after being stolen and then exported to Taiwan under the guise of scrap metal.
■ Entertainment
Saisiat tale now a cartoon
The Disney Channel will be airing a five-minute cartoon based on local indigenous folklore on Saturday and Sunday at 8:55pm. The cartoon, The Lightening Spirit's Daughter: A Tale from Taiwan, is based on a Saisiat legend describing how the Saisiat people, who live in Miaoli and Hsinchu counties, became farmers. According to the legend, the Saisiat were hunters. The lightening god, saddened by the land being left to waste, sent his daughter to the Earth where she married a Saisiat man and taught the people how to farm. Although she eventually returned to the heavens, the Saisiat honor her memory by holding ceremonies each year. Disney is showing the cartoon as part of its cartoon series Legends of the Ring of Fire,which details myths from Southeast and Northeast Asia.
■ Travel
Tourist farms to be promoted
In a bid to achieve the Cabinet's aim of doubling the number of foreign tourist arrivals by 2008, government agencies will include tourist farms in their promotional plans, Council of Agriculture officials said yesterday. According to the officials, the council and the Tourism Bureau have decided to join forces in promoting tourist farms to overseas Chinese living in Southeast Asia, focusing on Hong Kong in particular this year. After a series of promotional activities in Hong Kong early last month, the first group of tourists is slated to arrive on July 25, where they will be accommodated at local tourist farms to experience the nation's natural landscape, rustic foods and environment, the officials said.
■ Women's Affairs
YWCA forum set for August
The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Taiwan, the Taipei YWCA and the World YWCA will co-host a global forum on young women's issues between Aug. 26 and Aug. 30 in Taipei. The forum, called "Young women leading global change," will be held at the Grand Hotel and will feature local and international speakers and panelists talking about young women and their roles in the workplace, in advocacy work and how they can use technology to further change. Keynote speakers will include Anamah Tan, president of the International Council of Women; Susan Packard Orr, of the YWCA's USA Campaign steering committee; Joanna Lei (雷倩), ETTV's executive director ; and Lin Fang-mei (林芳玫), member of the Coordination Commission of North American Affairs and former head of the National Youth Commission. To learn more about the event, go to www.ymca.org.tw/2004ywgf.
■ Drugs
Heroin shipment found
Law enforcement officers yesterday seized a large amount of heroin hidden in hollowed-out logs shipped from Thailand to Kaohsiung. The 130-plus heroin bricks, weighing about 56kg, were shipped to Taiwan in a 20-ft container declared as containing wood carvings. The seized drugs had an estimated street value of NT$2 billion. The team also managed to arrest two brothers surnamed Lung, believed to have thought up the smuggling operation. Prosecutor Yang Ta-chih (楊大智), from the Taitung Prosecutor's Office in eastern Taiwan, said his team had been monitoring the Lungs for more than a month. "Through wiretapping, the team discovered that the Lungs maintained constant contacts with two Thai citizens of Chinese descent in Bangkok and had used code numbers in their conversations. After an extensive analysis of their coded messages, we came to learn that they would smuggle contraband drugs into Taiwan via container," Yang said.
■ Entertainment
African cultures on show
An exhibition featuring the cultures of 40 African countries and a circus including various animals from Africa is scheduled to kick off at the Nankang Software Park in the Taipei City suburb of Nankang July 3. Artifacts, cultural and art performances representing the African countries will be on display and staged in a run of 57 days until Aug. 29. Admission is NT$100 per person, said the sponsors. Paralleling the exhibition and performances will be an African circus, which is a two-hour program featuring animal shows and other acts. Admission is NT$350 per person.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
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