■ Crime
PFP legislators indicted
Four People First Party legislators were indicted by Taipei prosecutors yesterday for allegedly leading the unruly crowd that gathered outside the Central Election Commission on March 26. According to the indictment, the four legislators -- Chiu Yi (邱毅), Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國), Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) and Lin Hui-kuan (林惠官) -- led a group of protesters that smashed the commission building's glass doors and attempted to stop commission employees from posting the official results of the March 20 presidential election on its bulletin board. The police attempted to disperse the crowd because the protest was not legal. According to witnesses' and police officers' testimony, the four legislators ignored the police's orders. Chiu is alleged to have shouted through a loudspeaker: "Beat [President] Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)! Beat the commission!" The four legislators told prosecutors that they were not aware of the police's efforts to disperse the protesters -- an argument the prosecutors rejected because the protests were illegal in the first place. Chiu, Feng, Lee and Lin were indicted on charges of violating the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法). Prosecutors did not recommend a sentence for the legislators.
■ Diplomacy
Close S Korea ties praised
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday he looks forward to seeing relations between Taiwan and South Korea grow. Chen made the remarks while meeting with a delegation of academics and business executives from South Korea, headed by South Korean National Assemblyman Lew Jyun-sung. Noting that Taiwan is now South Korea's fifth-largest trading partner, Chen said there is still ample room for growth in bilateral trade and economic cooperation. South Korea is Taiwan's fourth-largest source of imports and sixth-largest export market. Chen said he hopes that bilateral trade and investment will continue expanding in the years ahead. Despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties, Chen said Taiwan and South Korea have enjoyed longstanding friendship.
■ Weather
Typhoon strengthens
Typhoon Dianmu -- the sixth typhoon reported in the Pacific this year -- had gained strength and been upgraded to a strong typhoon, although it was not expected to directly affect the country, the Central Weather Bureau reported yesterday. Dianmu was centered some 1,800km southeast of Taiwan at 8am yesterday, moving in a north-northwesterly direction at a speed of 17km per hour, meteorologists said. With a radius of 180km and packing maximum sustained winds of up to 130km per hour, Dianmu was not expected to directly affect this country because it was expected to shift to a northwesterly course and eventually sweep toward Japan, the bureau reported.
■ Society
Wheelchair pageant planned
The Eden Social Welfare Foundation opened registration for their first annual Wheelchair Beauty Competition yesterday. Registration will close on June 30. Women around the nation between 18 and 40 are invited to enter the contest -- but only if they suffer from a handicap. "The contest is meant to encourage a breaking of beauty stereotypes," said organizer Carol Lu (呂惠萱). "Confidence, kindness and personality should also be criteria for a `beautiful woman.'"
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
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