■ CRIME
Kuo Kuan-ying indicted
Prosecutors charged former Toronto-based Government Information Office official Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英) yesterday with defamation for making personal attacks on former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) and Contemporary Magazine editor-in-chief Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒). Chen and Chin filed a lawsuit on April 1, accusing Kuo of publishing articles in which he called them“violent pro-independence dogs” and other names. Using the pen name Fan Lan-chin (范蘭欽), Kuo on Dec. 15 described the two as “violent pro-independence supporters” and “eunuch’s dogs,” adding that he himself was a “high-class Mainlander” and that Chen and Chin were “high-class Mainlander dogs,” the pair said. The indictment said Kuo’s comments had damaged Chen and Chin’s reputations. Kuo was stripped of his civil servant status in March in the wake of a controversy over online articles he wrote under Fan and other pen names that smeared Taiwan and Taiwanese.
■ SOCIETY
No decision on tombs site
The Tainan City Government said on Thursday that no decision would be made on relocating a group of ancient tombs unearthed at a military residential compound in January until the end of this month. Department of Culture and Tourism Director Hsu Geng-hsiu (許耿修) said the city government asked a professional archeology group to examine the site, where at least 60 tombs dating back to the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty are located. The tombs were unearthed in Shuijiao She (水交社), one of the largest military residential compounds in Tainan, when workers were clearing land for the development of new roads. The site is believed to be a graveyard for people who died during the era when Koxinga’s son, Zheng Jing (鄭經), ruled the Tainan area at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Artifacts unearthed from the site so far include tea pots, bronze coins and ceramics.
■ CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Wu in Changsha for forum
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) arrived yesterday in Changsha, Hunan Province, to attend the KMT-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forum on economic and cultural exchanges that begins today. Before boarding a chartered flight at Taipei’s Songshan Airport yesterday, Wu told reporters the forum would focus on education and culture. Talks will be held on how to preserve and ensure the continuation of Chinese culture while trying to innovate, he said, adding that other subjects include cross-strait cooperation in the promotion of the culture industry and educational exchanges. Wu said the forum was no longer limited to KMT and CCP participants.
■ POLITICS
Ex-lawmaker appeals
Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who last month lost his legislative seat because of vote-buying, filed an appeal with the Control Yuan yesterday, calling on it to impeach the prosecutors and judges in charge of his case. The Tainan Branch of the Taiwan High Court on June 30 upheld a lower court’s decision that invalidated Chang’s legislative victory last year. The final verdict said the election was not fair and valid because Chang’s father bought votes for his son. Chang said the witness statement was fabricated by prosecutors and that the lawyer of a suspect-turned-prosecution-witness and prosecutors did not record the whole investigation.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
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