■ Crime
PFP legislators indicted
Four People First Party legislators were indicted by Taipei prosecutors yesterday for allegedly leading the unruly crowd that gathered outside the Central Election Commission on March 26. According to the indictment, the four legislators -- Chiu Yi (邱毅), Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國), Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) and Lin Hui-kuan (林惠官) -- led a group of protesters that smashed the commission building's glass doors and attempted to stop commission employees from posting the official results of the March 20 presidential election on its bulletin board. The police attempted to disperse the crowd because the protest was not legal. According to witnesses' and police officers' testimony, the four legislators ignored the police's orders. Chiu is alleged to have shouted through a loudspeaker: "Beat [President] Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)! Beat the commission!" The four legislators told prosecutors that they were not aware of the police's efforts to disperse the protesters -- an argument the prosecutors rejected because the protests were illegal in the first place. Chiu, Feng, Lee and Lin were indicted on charges of violating the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法). Prosecutors did not recommend a sentence for the legislators.
■ Diplomacy
Close S Korea ties praised
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday he looks forward to seeing relations between Taiwan and South Korea grow. Chen made the remarks while meeting with a delegation of academics and business executives from South Korea, headed by South Korean National Assemblyman Lew Jyun-sung. Noting that Taiwan is now South Korea's fifth-largest trading partner, Chen said there is still ample room for growth in bilateral trade and economic cooperation. South Korea is Taiwan's fourth-largest source of imports and sixth-largest export market. Chen said he hopes that bilateral trade and investment will continue expanding in the years ahead. Despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties, Chen said Taiwan and South Korea have enjoyed longstanding friendship.
■ Weather
Typhoon strengthens
Typhoon Dianmu -- the sixth typhoon reported in the Pacific this year -- had gained strength and been upgraded to a strong typhoon, although it was not expected to directly affect the country, the Central Weather Bureau reported yesterday. Dianmu was centered some 1,800km southeast of Taiwan at 8am yesterday, moving in a north-northwesterly direction at a speed of 17km per hour, meteorologists said. With a radius of 180km and packing maximum sustained winds of up to 130km per hour, Dianmu was not expected to directly affect this country because it was expected to shift to a northwesterly course and eventually sweep toward Japan, the bureau reported.
■ Society
Wheelchair pageant planned
The Eden Social Welfare Foundation opened registration for their first annual Wheelchair Beauty Competition yesterday. Registration will close on June 30. Women around the nation between 18 and 40 are invited to enter the contest -- but only if they suffer from a handicap. "The contest is meant to encourage a breaking of beauty stereotypes," said organizer Carol Lu (呂惠萱). "Confidence, kindness and personality should also be criteria for a `beautiful woman.'"
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
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