Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-21
By: Matthew Strong,x Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Chiayi District Court issued long prison sentences and heavy

fines Tuesday for four people accused of supplying adulterated oil products to a major cooking oil producer.

Their case formed part of a range of food safety scandals swirling about the Ting Hsin International Group last year, which led to a massive boycott of the food manufacturer and to calls for tighter supervision.

Appeals were still possible against the sentences for the four, who were accused of having supplied pork oil adulterated with animal feed products to Ting Hsin affiliate Cheng I Food Co., Ltd.

Yung Cheng Co. general manager Tsai Chen-chou was sentenced to 15 years in prison or a fine of NT$28 million (US$897,000), deputy general manager Tsai Yao-hung received eight years, Chiu Feng Co. top man Chiu Fei-lung was sentenced to 10 years in prison or a fine of NT$4.5 million (US$144,000), and his sister Chiu Li-pin was slapped with a nine-year sentence.     [FULL  STORY][

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/21
By: Chen Chih-chung, Chen Ching-fang and Christie Chen

Taipei, July 21 (CNA) The two random attacks that occurred in Taiwan on Monday are products of isolation, alienation and loneliness suffered by young people in today’s society, experts in the country said Tuesday.

Young people are prone to feeling lonely and not being understood, and they can easily seek the wrong outlets to release their emotions, said Lin Lien-chang (林聯章), chief executive officer of Teacher Chang Foundation, one of the largest counseling groups in Taiwan.

The lack of face-to-face interaction in the Internet age may also intensify people’s sense of isolation, Lin said.

A 27-year-old man wielded a knife in a random attack that wounded four people at Taipei’s Mass Rapid Transit system on Monday. That same day, a 15-year-old junior high school student attacked a man and a woman on the streets of New Taipei, also with a knife.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-21
By: CNA

Taiwan and China are staging a series of activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of

the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the retrocession of Taiwan, which had been ceded to Japan in 1895 after the Qing Dynasty was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894.

Since its establishment in 1949 after winning China’s civil war, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has inflated the role of Communist forces in resisting Japanese aggression while minimizing the role of the Republic of China Nationalist government forces.

It was not until 2005 that the PRC even acknowledged the role played by Nationalists (the Kuomintang) in the war when then PRC president Hu Jintao said KMT and Communist Party forces both contributed to victory over Japan by fighting the enemy on and behind the front lines, respectively.

The PRC’s campaign to control the narrative of the war is just another area in which Taiwan and China compete. After the KMT lost the Chinese civil war, the Republic of China was moved to Taiwan and remains Taiwan’s official name today.     [FULL  STORY]

‘ALL TOO LATE’:Police allege that Kuo Yen-chun, who had been sleeping in a public park, told them he carried out the attack out of frustration after being jobless for a long time

Taipei Times
Date:  Jul 22, 2015
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter, with CNA

Kuo Yen-chun (郭彥君), the suspect in the Taipei MRT knife attack on Monday evening that

injured four people, was detained yesterday after being charged with attempted murder and intentional injury.

Kuo was questioned at the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office in Taipei yesterday morning, then taken to the Shilin District Court, where the presiding judge upheld the prosecutors’ request for detention, saying the suspect has no permanent residence and that detention was necessary to prevent him from escaping justice.

Police said the 27-year-old suspect told them: “I wanted to kill someone,” and that he had made a mistake, but “it was all too late.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/21
By: Huang Hsu-sheng, S.C. Chang and Bear Lee

Taipei, July 21 (CNA) A 15-year-old junior high school student randomly attacked one man and a woman late Monday night with a kitchen knife, police said. It was the second random attack in the greater Taipei area Monday night.

The woman suffered a knife cut on her arm and was sent to a nearby hospital for treatment while the man was unharmed.

“I want to kill people like Cheng Chieh （鄭捷）did,” he shouted when he was subdued by police, police source said.

Cheng, a university student in early 20s, killed four people and injured more than 20 passengers in a stabbing spree on a Taipei subway train in May last year.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/20
By: Hau Hsueh-ching and Christie Chen

Taipei, (CNA) Less than a month ago, 24-year-old Chen Yi-ju (陳奕如) had a bright future

ahead of her. She planned to attend a cram school in July to prepare for a test to become a certified nurse.

But that all changed June 27, when colored corn starch exploded at a Taiwan water park party, injuring Chen and around 500 other partygoers, most of them in their teens and 20s.

Chen, who suffered second- and third-degree burns to 37 percent of her body, was rushed to hospital along with her boyfriend, who was also at the party. She was later transferred to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taichung Hospital in central Taiwan, where she has been receiving treatment ever since, while her boyfriend remains hospitalized in Taipei.     [FULL  STORY]

HELPING OTHERS:The water park fire has led to a spike in organ donations around the country, with a donation occurring almost every day over the past three weeks

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 21, 2015
By: Staff writer, with CNA

A 25-year-old man yesterday died of injuries he sustained in the Color Play Asia disaster at

Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) last month, bringing the death toll from the incident to eight.

Chen Meng-hung (陳孟宏) was pronounced dead at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei before midday after his family decided not to continue medical attempts to save him, the hospital said.

Chen suffered second-to-third-degree burns over 55 percent of his body, as well as inhalation burns, the hospital said.

His condition was listed as stable, but later deteriorated, it said.

Of the nearly 500 people injured in the June 27 incident, 175 people remained in critical condition as of Sunday.

The accident occurred when cornstarch powder ignited at a party at the Formosa Fun Coast water park in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里), engulfing partygoers in fire.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-19
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The medical team from the United States decided to pay an impromptu visit to the Mackay

Hospital after having touched down in Taipei less than 24 hours ago, reports said Sunday.

Five experts in the six-member U.S. group arrived along with President Ma Ying-jeou late Saturday evening to help treat patients who suffered severe burns last month in a water park disaster in New Taipei.

The five medical experts are Stephen Maxwell Milner, director of the Johns Hopkins Burn Center; Christina L. Catlett, attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Denver Lough; plastic and reconstructive surgery resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital; Linda Ware, clinical social work/therapist; and therapist Theresa A. Lynch.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/19
By: Chen Ching-fang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Three weeks after nearly 500 people were injured in fiery explosions at a concert in New Taipei on June 27, there are still 175 people listed in critical condition, according to government figures released Sunday.

Among them, 73 were intubated and seven were undergoing dialysis therapy, but none were being kept alive through extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), an artificial life support system, the Ministry of Health and Welfare figures showed.     [FULL  STORY]