■ Crime
Assassination plotter nabbed
Lai Chu-hsing (賴注醒) was arrested by prosecutors yesterday for allegedly planning to assassinate President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Police said Lai had recently distributed flyers calling for the establishment of a revolutionary party to assassinate Chen. Lai was invited on several TV programs to talk about his assassination plan. Lai was arrested yesterday afternoon as he was on his way to a TV station to participate in a talk show. Lai told reporters that the best time to assassinate Chen would be during the May 20 inauguration ceremony. The 40-year old Lai is reportedly an entrepreneur who sells water.
■ Society
Four missing at sea
Four people were reported missing yesterday after a ferry boat overturned off Hsiaoliuchiu island, officials said. The boat shuttling between the fishing harbor of Tungkang in Pingtung County and the island capsized at 6:15am as it approached the island, the National Rescue Command Center said. "Airborne and maritime search has been underway," an official said. He said one sailor had been rescued from the vessel after he managed to grab hold of a log and stay afloat for at least an hour before being plucked to safety by another boat. Missing are the skipper, another sailor and two passengers. Hundreds of racing pigeons being transported on the ferry died.
■ Expatriates
Heritage activities in LA
The annual Taiwanese-American Heritage Week kicked off in the greater Los Angeles area on Saturday, with hundreds of members of major Taiwanese associations joining a riverbed clean-up campaign with other Asian-Pacific ethnic groups as part of the celebrations of Asia-Pacific Heritage Month. Huang Wen-ku, president of the Taiwanese-American Citizens Association, that a series of cultural, sports and culinary activities will be staged during Taiwanese-American Heritage Week to promote multicultural exchanges, encourage Taiwanese-Americans to take part in mainstream US social activities and promote traditional Taiwanese folk arts, crafts and festivities.
■ Politics
Soong mahjong jibe denied
The People First Party (PFP) yesterday denied that its chairman, James Soong (宋楚瑜), left a demonstration on April 10 to play mahjong. Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) last week suggested that the PFP chairman left the protesters -- who were calling for a recount and an investigation into an assassination attempt on the president -- to play mahjong before the demonstration became violent. PFP spokesman Hsieh Kong-ping (謝公秉) yesterday detailed Soong's activities on April 10 and said the party would not rule out filing a defamation suit against Lee.
■ Diplomacy
Equipment donated
Taiwan has donated a batch of information-technology equipment worth US$20,000 to the Paraguayan government in a bid to help upgrade its administrative efficiency, an official from the Republic of China embassy said on Saturday. Ambassador Bing Yen (顏秉璠) delivered the materials, including 16 computers, digital cameras, fax machines and printers, to the Paraguayan government at a dinner party hosted by President Nicanor Duarte Furtos on April 26. Duarte expressed his heartfelt gratitude for Taiwan's generous donation.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
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