NATIONAL DEFENSE
Conscription rule tightened
The Ministry of the Interior yesterday said that men who are obliged to serve in the military can no longer delay their service by claiming to be studying after the age of 28. The Regulation on Exemption, Banned and Postponed Enlistment (免役禁役緩徵實施辦法) has been revised to tackle the issue of men, especially some well-known entertainers, who postpone their military service by frequently transferring to different schools. The ministry decided to add the provision that those who study in institutions below college level should not be older than 28 when they ask for a delay of conscription. However, this rule will not apply to those who study in regular schools and graduate institutions, the ministry said. The issue became a topic of debate earlier this year when actor Matthew Lin (明道), 31, registered at his fifth college in 11 years to delay military service, which many male entertainers consider a “career killer.”
EDUCATION
Relationship rule clarified
The Ministry of Education on Wednesday clarified again that it did not officially ban amorous relationships between teachers and students. The clarification came after media reports that the ministry officially demanded educational institutions of all levels to make it clear that teacher-student relationships were banned whenever they revised contracts with teachers. Concern over the ministry’s alleged decision was voiced in editorials and by academics, who argued that personal relationships are private and a person’s free will should not be impinged upon by the authorities.
CRIME
Reporter freed on bail
Tao Huan-chang (陶煥昌), a reporter with the Chinese-language United Evening News, was released on NT$300,000 bail yesterday morning after being questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of insider trading activities that had allegedly netted NT$800 million (US$26.5 million) in illicit profits. The court also granted the prosecutors’ request to detain Tao’s brother in the case. The Taipei District Prosecutors Office said Tao Huan-chang was suspected of violating the Securities Exchange Act (證券交易法) by forming an insider trading ring that included actor-turned--restaurateur Shao Hsin (邵昕), former Chinese Television System anchor Chen Hsin-hung (陳信宏) and Tao’s two brothers. Tao used his own bank accounts and dummy accounts to engage in illegal trading of stocks, which brought in about NT$800 million in profits, prosecutors said. Tao and his elder brother reported to the prosecutors on Wednesday evening for questioning. The Taos said they had been used and did not know the details of the alleged scam.
CULTURE
Aboriginal exhibition opens
The Taiwan Centennial Indigenous Industry opens today in Taipei and runs through Monday, Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Sun Ta-chuan (孫大川) said yesterday. The event will feature 180 booths run by members of the nation’s 14 Aboriginal tribes selling traditional specialties, handicrafts and other creative items, Sun said. There will also be 18 performances. The expo was designed to help Aborigines find a way to develop a culture--oriented economy, “so that we would know what we could pass on to our children and grandchildren in the next 50 or 100 years,” Sun said. For details about the expo, visit www.tciie.tw.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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