Former lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) yesterday purchased half-page newspaper ads in which he apologized to PFP Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) for assaulting the woman in the legislature last year.
"I apologize to Legislator Lee, her family and society for my mistaken behavior," Lo said in the ad, which was published in the United Daily News and the China Times yesterday.
The gangster-politician assaulted Lee during a meeting of the legislature's Education and Culture Committee on March 28 last year.
Lo was filmed on closed circuit television slapping Lee in the face.
Lee had intimated that Lo had attempted to interfere in the selection process of board members for the Jin Wen Institute of Technology, whose former chairman Chang Wan-li (
Lo pulled Lee by the hair during the meeting after Lee suggested that he was a gangster.
The former lawmaker has been detained on fraud, breach of trust and usury charges since April 10.
KMT Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (
Lee, who had filed a lawsuit against Lo over the attack, said yesterday that she would drop the case. "I feel comforted by receiving an apology such as this," Lee said.
According to Lee, Lo's sons have recently been talking to her attorney, Lee Fu-tien (李復甸), in order to settle the matter. The two parties reached a consensus Monday.
In the Taipei District Court's second hearing on the suit on March 8, attorneys for both parties agreed to seek a private, out-of-court settlement.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were