CRIME
Arrest in strangulation case
Police yesterday arrested a man suspected of strangling his girlfriend to death, dismembering the body and throwing it into a field in Tainan. The man surnamed Wu (吳), 30, told police that he had strangled the woman surnamed Chang (張), 42, during an argument over their relationship on Jan. 8, the Tainan City Police Department’s First Precinct said. The suspect told them that he cut the body into six pieces, which he stuffed into plastic bags and tossed into a field of tall grass in eastern Tainan, police said. On Thursday last week, Chang’s son reported her missing. Police said they found the woman’s remains in the field on Friday. Wu has been arrested and is to be handed over to the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, pending an autopsy, police said.
ENTERTAINMENT
German orchestra on tour
The youth symphony orchestra from Georg Friedrich Handel Gymnasium, a high school in Berlin, is to tour Taiwan for the first time from Tuesday to Saturday next week. The orchestra and Taiwanese-German flutist Liu Shih-cheng (劉士誠) are to perform in Tainan, Hsinchu, Taipei and New Taipei City, the school said. The orchestra is to play works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Wilhelm Richard Wagner and Edward William Elgar. Orchestra director Knut Andreas said the members are excited about the tour and look forward to interacting with Taiwanese audiences.
AIRLINES
Pilots agree to CAL strike
Taoyuan Union of Pilots members have voted in favor of a strike, possibly during the Lunar New Year holiday, unless China Airlines (CAL) agrees to a compromise over pilots’ working conditions, the union said on Friday. Any strike would target CAL, after a motion to that effect was approved by members during a union meeting, union leader Chen Pei-pei (陳蓓蓓) said. The pilots are demanding better pay, additional rest hours and greater pilot autonomy. Negotiations between unions and airlines last year ended in a partial consensus, after a proposed strike was approved, but other issues were left to be addressed by further talks. Since then, CAL has repeatedly demanded that pilots sign documents that would effectively nullify the strike decision, the union said in a statement. CAL accused the union of sabotaging negotiations, and called on pilots to put the rights of passengers first and engage in talks with management based on realistic demands.
DIPLOMACY
Ko planning US trip
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is slated to visit the US in March as part of ongoing efforts to promote city-to-city exchanges and boost interactions with Taiwanese expatriates. Ko plans to visit New York on March 16, where he is to hold a “casual” seminar to exchange views with Taiwanese students on March 17 or 18, city government deputy spokesman Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) said on Friday. On March 19 or 20, Ko is to give a speech in Washington, with the venue yet to be decided, before heading to Atlanta on March 21 to mark the 40th anniversary of the city’s sisterhood ties with Taipei, Chen said. On March 22, Ko is to proceed to Boston, where he plans to meet representatives from the biotechnology industry and attend a banquet with Taiwanese expatriates, he said. Ko’s visit is to conclude on March 23 and he is to leave from New York, arriving in Taiwan the following day, Chen said.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe