■ CRIME
Chiayi politician indicted
Chiayi County Council Speaker Yu Cheng-tah (余政達) was indicted yesterday on charges of corruption, and prosecutors called for a 22-year sentence. Chiayi prosecutors allege that Yu accepted at least NT$3 million (US$90,909) in bribes from businessmen in January when the county government was organizing a lantern festival. Yu, an independent, was indicted on charges of receiving bribes and extortion. Seven others, including two of Yu's aides and two Chiayi County Government officials, were indicted for corruption, while three businessmen were indicted on charges of bribery. Prosecutors said Yu's aides passed the bribes onto him.
■ WEATHER
Typhoon Krosa moves closer
Typhoon Krosa, which was upgraded from a tropical storm yesterday morning, is expected to affect Taiwan from Saturday, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) reported yesterday. At 2pm yesterday, Krosa was located at approximately 1,100km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), moving northwesterly toward Taiwan at a speed of 10kph, meteorologists said. Packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph, Krosa -- the 15th storm reported in the West Pacific region this year -- had a radius of 200km as of 2pm, the meteorologists said, adding that the radius was expected to increase as the typhoon moves toward Taiwan. Krosa is expected to bring sporadic showers to northern and eastern Taiwan over the next two days, while cloudy skies are forecast for central and southern Taiwan, and temperatures are expected to be high for the western part of the island, the forecasters said.
■ SOCIETY
Scared husband gets divorce
A district court granted a divorce to a man because his wife, suspecting him of infidelity, had threatened to cut off his penis, a newspaper said yesterday. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), told the Taoyuan District Court that he and his wife, surnamed Huang (黃), had been married for 10 years, the United Daily News reported. Three years ago, Tseng became a truck driver, which required him to work occasional night shifts. The following year, Huang began to suspect Tseng of seeing other women. When Tseng slept, Huang would sometimes wake him up to interrogate him and threaten to cut off his penis. To show Tseng that she was serious, Huang placed a knife beside the bed and would sometimes sharpen it at night. After living in fear for two years, Tseng asked the court in May to grant him a divorce. The Taoyuan District Court granted the motion on Tuesday on the grounds that his wife's jealousy had made it impossible for them to continue living together.
■ PUBLISHING
Taiwan at Frankfurt fair
Some 64 local publishers are taking part in this year's Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, which opened yesterday. The Taiwanese are presenting 677 books in 10 categories to showcase the nation's publishing industry and seek copyright agreements. Taipei Book Fair Foundation chairman Lin Tzai-chuei (林載爵) said his group organized the national booth with the theme "Taiwan -- the Paradise of Chinese-language Publishing." The variety of books exhibited demonstrates that Taiwan is a favorable environment for writers and publishers, he said. A special section at the booth will display Chinese-language literary works banned in other countries, including the writings of exiled Chinese writers Gao Xingjian (高行健), Kang Zhengguo (康正果) and Jing Fuzi (京夫子), Lin said.
■ EVENTS
Double Ten fireworks at sea
A fireworks show organized by the central government to celebrate this year's Double Ten National Day will be held in the Taiwan Strait 400m off the coast of Dapeng Bay in Pingtung County, organizers said yesterday. They will be the first National Day fireworks display at sea, Pingtung County officials said, adding that the annual show on Oct. 10 would draw an estimated 100,000 visitors to the county. The fireworks show is scheduled to take place between 7pm and 8pm, the county government said, adding it has planned several other activities, including street art performances and a community fair. Last year's Double Ten National Day fireworks were held in Kaohsiung County.
■ CROSS-STRAIT TIES
DPP duo slam Beijing
Two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers on Tuesday blamed their failure to attend the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai on obstruction from the Chinese government. DPP Legislator Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) said that China should have allowed her to attend the ceremony, as she is a consultant for the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee. Legislator Lan Mei-ching (藍美津), who also acts in that capacity, was also denied a visa to attend the games. Lan said that sports should transcend political boundaries and that she had hoped to support Taiwanese athletes competing in the Special Olympics. Two other DPP legislators, Hsu Jung-shu (許榮淑) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮章), were granted visas to attend the opening ceremony.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS