The Ministry of National Defense said yesterday that 17 personnel from Reserve Forces Command Headquarters’ 907 Brigade had been punished after a ribald video was distributed on the Internet.
The announcement came after a cable news channel aired a video earlier this month showing two soldiers wearing camouflage apparently engaging in oral sex while about 40 servicemen looked on and laughed.
“Our investigation revealed that this incident took place in Kuantien Township, Tainan County, three years ago during a recess period,” Chang Shan-tung (張善東), director of the Military Discipline and Internal Affairs Department, told a press conference at ministry headquarters yesterday morning.
Chang said the military began its investigation after the video was made public by local media on July 15. One of the individuals involved confessed to an investigator, he said.
Chang said the incident happened around noon on May 17, 2006, while a group of soldiers from Brigade 907, who were being trained to be squad chiefs, were taking a rest during a training course.
A total of 17 individuals, including the four main characters in the video, the former brigadier, his deputy and other officials at the center have received demerits.
Military prosecutors also launched an investigation agaionst a lieutenant who allegedly let them use his cellphone to shoot the video before posting it on the Internet.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai
RSS