Different political leanings brought a gangster couple further fame yesterday after police investigated an alleged assault by one partner but the victim refused to press charges.
According to the Taipei police's Chunghsiao West Rd. station, former Bamboo Union (竹聯幫) Tiger Division (虎堂) head Chu Chia-hsun (朱家訓) and his girlfriend Kao Mei-fang (高美芳), former head of the Tiger Division's Phoenix Corps (虎鳳隊), called them around 1am yesterday because Chu allegedly beat Kao and Kao had bruises around her right eye.
The pregnant Kao told police that Chu beat her up because she mocked him while she was asking him whether he would lead protesters to join the presidential inauguration.
"You chicken! You are not patriotic," Kao was quoted as saying in response to her live-in boyfriend's disinclination to participate in a May 19 protest.
The police said that Chu beat Kao in their car on their way home. Kao was rushed to a hospital when officers discovered she was injured.
But Kao did not file a complaint, and the police let them leave.
"I now have a NT$300,000 debt, so I really can't afford to protest any more," Chu said. "But I did apologize to her. I should not have done what I did to her."
Chu and Kao have been involved in the pan-blue camp's rallies following the presidential election on March 20. They reportedly led gang members in these rallies and offered free food to protesters.
Since then, the pair have had heavy media coverage and have been invited onto TV talk shows.
Kao yesterday was quoted by local newspapers as saying that Chu was very jealous because she had been the focus of media attention.
Chu and Kao were rumored to have been involved in rioting during the protests, but the police found insufficient evidence to take further action on the matter.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS