CRIME
Fraud ring suspects charged
More than a dozen suspects were on Monday indicted on organized crime and fraud charges for allegedly defrauding Chinese women on dating sites, the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said. The 13 suspects were allegedly part of a group based in Taichung that targeted Chinese nationals, the office said in a statement. They were allegedly led by a 23-year-old Taiwanese man surnamed Yang (楊), who began hiring locals in 2017 to join China-based dating Web sites to target women. Once they got to know their potential victims, they persuaded the women to make wire transfers for purported investments, prosecutors said. The ring’s members allegedly defrauded six Chinese victims of about NT$2.39 million (US$77,509), the office said. They were arrested at their operational bases in Taichung’s Xitun (西屯) and Nantun (南屯) districts in raids carried out by local police.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Firefighter eligibility to grow
The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday last week approved revised regulations to allow foreign nationals residing in Taiwan to volunteer as firefighters. The new regulations would be officially promulgated and become effective after internal procedures are completed, the ministry said in a statement. The revisions make provisions for foreign nationals, including people from China, Macau and Hong Kong, who are willing to undergo the necessary training at local fire departments to qualify as volunteer firefighters, it said. They could make positive contributions to firefighting and fire prevention efforts, as Taiwan has limited human resources in that area, it added. The new rules would apply to legal foreign residents who have a clean police record, the ministry said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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
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
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