■ Crime
Bomb found in Ta-an Park
A home-made bomb and a note urging the government to ban rice imports were discovered yesterday morning at Ta-an Forest Park in Taipei. Police said the bomb, which was powerful enough to kill a person, was in a box and beside the box was a note, saying "Do not import rice. The government should take care of the people." The police said the box and the note were placed in a public toilet. On the box was another note, saying: "This is a bomb. Do not touch the button." The police said they have collected fingerprints and other clues.
■ Cross-strait ties
China hurt our feelings: MAC
The Mainland Affairs Council has warned China that its strong criticism of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) recent US visit was "mistaken behavior" that hurts the feelings of the Taiwanese people. Speaking to reporters in Beijing, Li Weiyi (李維一), a spokesman for the Chinese Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Chen's brief visits to New York and Alaska this month were part of the his plan to ``split China, to sabotage Sino-US relations.'' Li warned that if Chen "continues, he will bring disaster to our Taiwanese compatriots." The council said in a statement late Wednesday that it "strongly regretted" Li's comments. "Communist China is aggravating the feelings on the two sides and hurting the Taiwanese people's feelings," the statement said. It "urged Communist China to immediately stop this mistaken behavior."
■ Judicial Yuan
Legislators reject budget
Legislators yesterday rejected the next year's budget for the Judicial Yuan, saying the spending plan was illegal. The opposition-controlled Judiciary Committee voted to send back the budget because the lawmakers said the outlays were based upon the restructuring outlined in the proposed revision of the Organic Law of the Judicial Yuan (司法院組織法). That revision has not been passed by the legislature. The committee ruled that the Judicial Yuan must remake its spending plan according to the existing judiciary structure -- even though Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers' protested the move. The DPP legislators accused the committee convener, People First Party Legislator Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠), of dereliction of duty. "The convener failed to fulfill her duty. She ignored the request for a second vote from DPP lawmakers and instead adjourned the meeting without handling the vote request. The resolution should be invalid," said DPP Legislator Lai Ching-te (賴清德).
■ Veterans affairs
Call for end to subsidies
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Kuo-chung (鄭國忠) said yesterday that he will propose a revision of the law to ban veterans who settle overseas to claim support subsidies. Cheng said that there are 5,670 veterans currently living in China who are claiming the support subsidy, which has resulted in the government remitting more than NT$900 million (US$26.47 million) a year to China. Cheng said that there are around 540,000 veterans in Taiwan, and that 105,000 of them are eligible to claim support subsidies according to the statistics of the Veterans Affairs Commission. After the Statute Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area(台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) was revised in 1997, veterans who had traveled to China to live could claim the support subsidies from overseas.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
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