■ Politics
DPP expels Cheng
The DPP's Taipei City Branch Office yesterday decided to expel Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文). Party officials agreed to expel Cheng because she had insulted the Department of Health's acting head, Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), in several call-in programs after Twu was accused of being involved in an ear-licking scandal earlier this month. The party's Membership Evaluation Committee said that Cheng first publicly insulted Twu by making false accusations and then refused to apologize after she was proven wrong. It said her behavior had damaged both Twu's and the party's reputation.
■ Diplomacy
Italians back Taiwan
A group of pro-Taiwan Italian parliamentary members on Thursday demanded that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ask Beijing to remove the missiles it has aimed at Taiwan. The lawmakers issued a statement urging Berlusconi to use all effective channels to ask Beijing to dismantle the roughly 400 missiles targeting Taiwan in order to ease tensions across the Taiwan Strait, allow the two sides to reopen dialogue and to foster peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region. In the statement Taiwan is described as a full-fledged democracy that fully respects human rights and protects religious and political freedom.
■ Relationships
Abusive boyfriend rejected
A Taiwan car dealer, who beat his girlfriend because she didn't answer his telephone call, was rejected after spending NT$100,000 (US$2,900) on a billboard begging forgiveness, a report said yesterday. "I am sorry, please forgive me. Please give me one last chance to make up. I love you forever," said 34-year-old Yang Chih-hsiu (楊季修) on the billboard near the home of his ex-girlfriend. Yang had beaten his girlfriend so severely she needed to be hospitalized, a local Chinese-language newspaper reported. "I don't feel touched at all, and I have no plan to go back to him," the unidentified woman said.
■ Aboriginies
Tao council to be formed
The preparation committee of the Autonomous Council of the Tao Tribe yesterday announced that the council will be formally established on Nov. 15. According to the information given by the committee, the council would be made up of 41 elite tribal members. The mission of the council, said Himala Os, a member of the committee, is to push for autonomy for the Aborigines and respect for the Aboriginal ownership of ancestral land. Os said that the council would set up a negotiation task force to communicate with local, government and relevant agencies to push for the implementation of Tao autonomy.
■ Legal
Nagoya crash suit settled
China Airlines agreed to a settlement with relatives of scores of Japanese killed in a 1994 crash at Nagoya airport, a court spokesman said yesterday. In yesterday's agreement, 106 relatives of 38 crash victims -- who had demanded a total of ?4.1 billion (US$33 million) in damages -- accepted an undisclosed payment, the court spokesman said on condition of anonymity. Kyodo News quoted the plaintiffs' lawyers as saying the relatives accepted the airline's original compensation offer of roughly ?6.40 million (US$132,000) for each victim, plus an undisclosed amount. China Airlines spokesman Roger Han in Taipei confirmed the settlement.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Nearly 800 Indian tourists are to arrive this week on an incentive tour organized by Indian company Asian Painted Ltd, making it the largest tour group from the South Asian nation to visit since the COVID-19 pandemic. The travelers are scheduled to arrive in six batches from Sunday to Feb. 25 for five-day tours, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The tour would take the travelers, most of whom are visiting Taiwan for the first time, to several tourist sites in Taipei and Yilan County, including tea houses in Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Ximending (西門町) areas. They would also visit