Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Huang Cheng-che (黃政哲) had his party membership suspended yesterday following his indictment on charges of breach of trust and fraud last Wednesday.
The TSU Central Executive Committee's decision will be referred to the party's Central Review Committee and if the latter approves the decision, Huang's legislative seat will be taken by Lin Chih-chia (
Huang was charged with paying bribes, as well as committing fraud and breach of trust in an investigation into suspected irregularities involved in an engineering project that is part of an access road to a station on the high-speed railway in Tainan County.
Some committee members said that the decision should have been delayed until after the Dec. 9 Taipei and Kaohsiung elections, while others believe Huang is innocent until proven guilty, Lin added.
TSU sources said Huang was allowed to defend himself during the meeting. He claimed his indictment was an "election ploy" and that some statements in the indictment were wrong.
Ho Min-hao (
Meanwhile, Lin stressed that the TSU's candidate for Kaohsiung mayor, Lo Chih-ming (羅志明), was still in the race and would campaign until the last minute.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon