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.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
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