■ SOCIETY
Lofty name nixed
A household registration office has rejected a women's application to change her name to "Hung Occult God of Wealth President," on the grounds that one's name cannot contain "president." The Nantou County woman recently applied to the Tsaotun (草屯) Household Registration Office to change her name. "She was in her 30s. She did not tell us why she wanted to change her name," an official from Tsaotun Household Registration Office told reporters. "We rejected her application because it contains the word `president.' We told her that the name is not suitable but she can appeal our rejection," the official said. Under the law, a citizen's name must use Chinese characters listed in standard dictionaries. A citizen can change his or her name twice in a lifetime.
■ CRIME
Poet arrested for threats
Writer and poet Huang Jen-ho (黃人和), who publishes his work under the pseudonym Tu Shi-san (杜十三), was apprehended by the Taipei Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office yesterday afternoon for threatening Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) in a drunken telephone call on Nov. 1. After being interrogated for three hours yesterday evening, Huang, 55, confessed to making the call in which he identified himself as a member of the Taiwan Liberation Alliance (台灣解放聯盟) and threatened to kill every member of Hsieh's family. He also said he regretted his actions and apologized to Hsieh. Hsieh in turn said he felt sorry for Huang and would not file a lawsuit against him. Hsieh said Taiwanese society has been polarized by political disputes and hatred. He urged people not to mimic such anti-social behavior and to solve problems through discussion.
■ POLITICS
Officials deny media report
The Presidential Office yesterday refuted a report by local Chinese-language media, which claimed that more than 400 staff working at the Presidential Office have been investigated because of alleged illegal conduct by former deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男). According to the Presidential Office's Department of Public Affairs, an Accounting Department official, Kao Shen-shen (高慎慎), is the only staff member to have been questioned. A probe into possible illegal conduct by Chen will be completed by Friday, and the results will be released then. It aims to determine whether any staff lent their personal bank accounts to Chen for his personal use.
■ DEFENSE
Legislators cut arms budget
Opposition lawmakers yesterday cut a proposed NT$272.62 million (US$8.1 million) outlay in preparation for a major arms procurement package from the Ministry of National Defense's (MND's) budget plan for next year, saying it is not necessary since the package is not yet certain. A joint meeting of the National Defense Committee and the Budget Committee of the Legislative Yuan was reviewing the budget when opposition legislators nixed the complementary spending for the arms package. The package proposes buying three Patriot missile batteries, eight diesel-electric submarines and 12 P-3C Orion aircraft. The legislators proposed cuts to the budget for Patriot missiles but will leave the matter to the next joint meeting. The items require preparatory spending on things such as administrative fees.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
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