Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (
Social critic Cheng Tsun-chi (
Taipei District Prosecutors' Office Spokesman Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) yesterday said that Cheng and Hung, during the course of a television talk show hosted by Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) chairman Jaw Shao-kong (趙少康) and broadcast last September, defamed Yu by calling him a dog.
On the TV talk show Cheng said "You [Yu] are ungrateful. I call you a dog because I want [President] Chen Shui-bian (
Hung then said that Yu was the most loyal dog she had ever seen.
Hung responded to yesterday's indictment by saying that she respected the prosecutors' decision.
A number of legislators across party lines and TV talk show political commentators have faced slander lawsuits recently for their acrimonious comments on a number of TV talk shows.
Former Chinese Unity Promotion Party chairman Lin Cheng-chieh (林正杰) -- a democracy activist-turned pro-unification commentator -- was sentenced to fifty days in jail last December by the Taipei District Court for slapping and kicking Contemporary Monthly magazine editor Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒) during a TV debate last August on whether the president should resign over corruption allegations.
On Thursday, Taipei judges also fined President Chen Shui-bian (
The president accused Soong of secretly meeting with Chinese officials in the US, but provided no evidence to support the claim.
Judges fined Chen NT$3 million (US$90,900), and required him to print advertisements apoligizing to Soong in three major Chinese-language dailies. Soong had originally asked for NT$50 million in compensation.
Slander and libel lawsuits are a regular feature of the nation's politics.
Most major politicians have at one time been involved in such suits, either as the victim or the defendant.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
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