■ TOURISM
Tourists injured in Taroko
Two Chinese tourists got hit by falling rocks during a tour of the Taroko National Park yesterday afternoon, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday. Bureau Deputy Director-General Steven Kuo Su (郭蘇燦洋) said the two injured tourists were 56-year-old Shi Jinhong (施金訇) and 57-year-old Si Yuying (蘇玉英). Si suffered a slight injury to the face, but Shi was heavily wounded and was being operated on at press time. Both were being treated at Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualien. The accident happened when the tour group from Fujian Province was on their way to Jiuqiu Dong (九曲洞), one of the scenic sights at Taroko.
■ HORTICULTURE
Taiwan orchids win at expo
Taiwan-grown butterfly and Oncidium orchids presented by the Taipei City Government took first place in the Judges' Prize at an international flower exhibition in South Korea, a city official said yesterday. Taipei City is one of 121 exhibitors from 21 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas, which competed for the prize in the Korea Floritopia 2009, said Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文), head of the Department of Economic Development. The city has a 36m² booth displaying a wide array of flower species endemic to Taiwan, including the butterfly orchid, Oncidium orchid, flamingo flower, peace lily and pleomele. The city said the exhibition in South Chungcheong Province could serve as a warm-up to its 2010 Taipei International Gardening and Horticulture Exposition, Chen said.
■ POLITICS
Tsai Chi-fang summoned
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Tsai Chi-fang (蔡啟芳) yesterday said he had been summoned by the Chiayi Prosecutors' Office for questioning over allegations he had incited others to commit crime and threaten the public last month by calling on people to break into the Tucheng Detention Center on April 4 “to liberate” former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Tsai said he did not understand why prosecutors would accuse him of “threatening the public” as his remarks would at most be billed as “threatening the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). DPP Secretary-general Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), a trained lawyer, argued yesterday that since nothing happened on April 4, the charges against Tsai could not be established, adding that judges should not be wasting their time.
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