■ CRIME
Chiayi politician indicted
Chiayi County Council Speaker Yu Cheng-tah (余政達) was indicted yesterday on charges of corruption, and prosecutors called for a 22-year sentence. Chiayi prosecutors allege that Yu accepted at least NT$3 million (US$90,909) in bribes from businessmen in January when the county government was organizing a lantern festival. Yu, an independent, was indicted on charges of receiving bribes and extortion. Seven others, including two of Yu's aides and two Chiayi County Government officials, were indicted for corruption, while three businessmen were indicted on charges of bribery. Prosecutors said Yu's aides passed the bribes onto him.
■ WEATHER
Typhoon Krosa moves closer
Typhoon Krosa, which was upgraded from a tropical storm yesterday morning, is expected to affect Taiwan from Saturday, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) reported yesterday. At 2pm yesterday, Krosa was located at approximately 1,100km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), moving northwesterly toward Taiwan at a speed of 10kph, meteorologists said. Packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph, Krosa -- the 15th storm reported in the West Pacific region this year -- had a radius of 200km as of 2pm, the meteorologists said, adding that the radius was expected to increase as the typhoon moves toward Taiwan. Krosa is expected to bring sporadic showers to northern and eastern Taiwan over the next two days, while cloudy skies are forecast for central and southern Taiwan, and temperatures are expected to be high for the western part of the island, the forecasters said.
■ SOCIETY
Scared husband gets divorce
A district court granted a divorce to a man because his wife, suspecting him of infidelity, had threatened to cut off his penis, a newspaper said yesterday. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), told the Taoyuan District Court that he and his wife, surnamed Huang (黃), had been married for 10 years, the United Daily News reported. Three years ago, Tseng became a truck driver, which required him to work occasional night shifts. The following year, Huang began to suspect Tseng of seeing other women. When Tseng slept, Huang would sometimes wake him up to interrogate him and threaten to cut off his penis. To show Tseng that she was serious, Huang placed a knife beside the bed and would sometimes sharpen it at night. After living in fear for two years, Tseng asked the court in May to grant him a divorce. The Taoyuan District Court granted the motion on Tuesday on the grounds that his wife's jealousy had made it impossible for them to continue living together.
■ PUBLISHING
Taiwan at Frankfurt fair
Some 64 local publishers are taking part in this year's Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, which opened yesterday. The Taiwanese are presenting 677 books in 10 categories to showcase the nation's publishing industry and seek copyright agreements. Taipei Book Fair Foundation chairman Lin Tzai-chuei (林載爵) said his group organized the national booth with the theme "Taiwan -- the Paradise of Chinese-language Publishing." The variety of books exhibited demonstrates that Taiwan is a favorable environment for writers and publishers, he said. A special section at the booth will display Chinese-language literary works banned in other countries, including the writings of exiled Chinese writers Gao Xingjian (高行健), Kang Zhengguo (康正果) and Jing Fuzi (京夫子), Lin said.
■ EVENTS
Double Ten fireworks at sea
A fireworks show organized by the central government to celebrate this year's Double Ten National Day will be held in the Taiwan Strait 400m off the coast of Dapeng Bay in Pingtung County, organizers said yesterday. They will be the first National Day fireworks display at sea, Pingtung County officials said, adding that the annual show on Oct. 10 would draw an estimated 100,000 visitors to the county. The fireworks show is scheduled to take place between 7pm and 8pm, the county government said, adding it has planned several other activities, including street art performances and a community fair. Last year's Double Ten National Day fireworks were held in Kaohsiung County.
■ CROSS-STRAIT TIES
DPP duo slam Beijing
Two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers on Tuesday blamed their failure to attend the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai on obstruction from the Chinese government. DPP Legislator Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) said that China should have allowed her to attend the ceremony, as she is a consultant for the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee. Legislator Lan Mei-ching (藍美津), who also acts in that capacity, was also denied a visa to attend the games. Lan said that sports should transcend political boundaries and that she had hoped to support Taiwanese athletes competing in the Special Olympics. Two other DPP legislators, Hsu Jung-shu (許榮淑) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮章), were granted visas to attend the opening ceremony.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
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