■ POLITICS
DPP mulls boycott ban
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday failed to decide whether to ban party members from boycotting the inauguration of president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on May 20. Ma is planning to take the oath of office in Taipei and hold his inauguration dinner in Kao-hsiung. Pro-independence radio stations in the south have called on supporters to boycott the inauguration dinner. DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday said that it was inappropriate to disturb the inauguration activities and such irrational behavior would do the party more harm than good. The DPP lost the presidential election but it was a clean campaign and they conceded defeat gracefully, he said.
■ SOCIETY
No consensus on flood lines
A meeting yesterday between government representatives and residents of four Taipei County Aboriginal communities facing forced relocation because of flood projects failed to yield any results. The talks were organized by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Aboriginal Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟). Siaobitan (小碧潭), Sijhou (溪洲), Sanying (三鶯) and Beierhgao (北二高) Aboriginal communities located on the banks of the Sindian (新店溪) and Dahan (大漢溪) rivers are facing forced relocation because they were partially or completely within flood boundaries. Representatives from the four communities argued from a human rights point of view, insisting on their “right of on-site living,” but officials in charge spoke purely from an engineering point of view, saying that the flood line was drawn by a team of professionals using careful calculations.
■ SOCIETY
Inheritors bill assessed
Outgoing Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday asked Minister without Portfolio Hsu Chih-hsiung (許志雄) to assess the possibility of revising the recently passed amendment to the Civil Code. A set of revisions to the inheritance regulations under creditors rights in the Civic Code (民法債權編) passed in the legislature on Tuesday, allowing all adult inheritors to repay inherited debts by using only the assets they inherit. The Judicial Yuan, the Ministry of Justice and Financial Supervisory Commission have expressed disapproval at the amendment, Chang said, adding that the Cabinet may request reconsideration of the bill or draft amendments to the passed articles. Democratic Progressive Party legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) disagreed. He said that the problem should be dealt with by the incoming government.
■ CRIME
Drug-related crime up 8%
A total of 1,670 drug-related criminal cases were documented in Taipei City in the first quarter of this year, marking an increase of 7.95 percent compared with the same period last year, a report released yesterday by the Taipei City Government showed. A total of 1,792 suspects were arrested, with 10.5kg of illicit drugs seized, said the report compiled by the city’s Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. For the whole of last year, the number of drug-related criminal cases recorded in the city rose 18.39 percent over the previous year to 5,660, with 6,194 suspects arrested and 253.5kg of illicit drugs seized. Of the suspects, 5,304, or 85.63 percent, were men. More than 71 percent of those arrested were taken into custody for using illicit drugs, while 15.79 were suspected of drug possession and another 8.78 percent were suspected of selling drugs.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
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