■DEFENSE
Ma consoles Ting family
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) traveled to Hualien yesterday to pay his respects to fighter pilot Major Ting Shih-pao (丁世寶), who disappeared during a routine training flight in waters off the coast of the eastern county in early March. Ting’s body and the F-16A Fighting Falcon jet he was flying were never recovered despite an extensive search by the Coast Guard and the Ministry of National Defense, which dispatched several helicopters, aircraft, patrol ships and naval vessels to comb the area for days. Ma consoled Ting’s family members and presented a medal of honor for the lost pilot. Ma also promoted Ting to the rank of lieutenant colonel posthumously. Officials believe that the 34-year-old Ting, who had a total of more than 1,200 hours of flight time, lost his bearings during the training flight and crashed into the sea.
■CRIME
Police hunt for naked rider
Tainan police were looking for a man who rode his motorbike naked through the city’s main streets for one hour on Monday, local TV reports said yesterday. The man, aged between 30 and 40, wore only a helmet as he drove around in a light drizzle caused by Typhoon Jangmi, local cable TV stations TVBS and ETTV reported. Although most people stayed home because of the typhoon, many still saw the naked motorist and took photos with their phone cameras, the TV reports said, broadcasting a video clip that showed the man riding a motorbike and sometimes honking his horn. Police suspect the man is an exhibitionist and plan to charge him with public indecency, the TV reports said.
■CRIME
MOFA warns on Somalia
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday cautioned Taiwanese fishermen to stay away from the waters around Somalia after an Ukranian boat was seized by pirates in the region recently. The ministry said that despite the high security risk, many Taiwanese fishermen were attracted to Somalia and its surrounding region because of its fertile tuna hunting ground. A Taiwanese vessel was hijacked by Somalian pirates in November and was held for six months, ending with the payment of a high ransom. One Taiwanese crew member was killed during the ordeal.
■CRIME
Former envoy charged
The Control Yuan yesterday charged George Liu (劉寬平), the nation’s former representative to Switzerland, with dereliction of duty for delaying the delivery of a letter on an alleged money-laundering case involving the former first family. Control Yuan member Chao Jung-yao (趙榮耀) said that Liu’s office held the letter, in which the Federal Department of Justice and Police of the Swiss Confederation requested assistance from Taiwan in July to check the bank accounts of the son and daughter-in-law of former president Chen Shu-bian (陳水扁), for more than one week before sending it to Taipei via ordinary mail rather than sending an urgent telegram. The Swiss authorities were alerted by Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) earlier this year when the bank suspected Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and his wife Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) of money laundering. “Liu had served as a legislator for three years before taking up the position in Switzerland ... He should have been very sensitive in this case,” Chao said. “His handlings were very inappropriate as it was not about the former president, but also the reputation of the Republic of China.”
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
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