Three weeks after fire engulfed hundreds of young partygoers, parents keep vigil at their children’s bedsides, willing them to survive

South China Morning Post
Date: 16 July, 2015
By: Agence France-Presse in Taipei

Almost three weeks after a fireball engulfed hundreds of young partygoers in Taiwan, the

death toll continues to rise with agonising slowness as parents keep vigil at their children’s bedsides, willing those who survived to stay alive.

“She almost lost her heartbeat,” said Michael Chu, father of 18-year-old student Julie, who suffered burns to more than 70 per cent of her body when the inferno scorched through the crowd at a water park on June 28.

“We kept calling her name, telling her not to be taken by the devil and that she had to live on bravely,” Chu said.

Around 1,000 revellers had gathered for a “colour party” at the Formosa Fun Coast water park, which turned into a nightmare when plumes of decorative corn starch being sprayed on the crowd ignited.

“She has to face the rest of her life like this, to deal with it on her own when we are no longer around”

Michael Chu, father of victim

Horrific amateur footage showed crowds running for their lives, screaming as they were overtaken by flames.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-16

Taipei, July 16 (CNA) A recent diarrhea outbreak among 102 tourists on Green Island off Taitung was caused by a norovirus infection at a local seafood restaurant that had served contaminated raw oysters imported from South Korea, Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported Thursday. Taitung health authorities have received seven suspected food poisoning cases between June 26-30 which involved 102 tourists in six tour groups who displayed symptoms of diarrhea, with 76 of whom having been hospitalized.

After an investigation, Taitung County’s Public Health Bureau found that all the 120 people had eaten raw oysters at a seafood restaurant on Green Island and directed that all restaurants around the island to stop serving raw oysters. In addition, two raw oyster samples have been found with the presence of norovirus, while two travelers who visited local hospitals tested positive for the norovirus, according to a report from the FDA on July 8.

The FDA then traced the sources of the contaminated products and found they were among a total of 16,447.5 kilograms of raw oysters imported by two aquaculture companies in New Taipei and Kaohsiung from South Korea, a FDA official said Thursday.

HSINCHU TRAGEDY:Closed-circuit TV footage appeared to show the father entering the mother’s residence early in the morning and placing the female infant on a deck chair

Taipei Times
Date:  Jul 17, 2015
By: Wang Chun-chieh, Tsai Chang-sheng and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

A female infant was found dead and wrapped in a black garbage bag by her mother yesterday

morning, the Hsinchu City Police Department said.

Police said that the mother found the body on a deck chair beside the front porch of her house.

Police said the dead infant was fathered by a 37-year-old man surnamed Chen (陳), who does not live with the 40 year-old mother, surnamed Lin (林).

Chen had visited Lin on Sunday last week at her residence on Jhonghe Road and asked to take the infant back to his residence in Siangshan District (香山), saying that he had not seen the child in a long time, police said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Central News Agency
Date: 2015-07-16

Taipei, July 16 (CNA) The death toll of a fiery explosion at a water park in New Taipei last month rose to 7 Thursday after a 19-year-old college student succumbed to her wounds and complications including sepsis, doctors said.

Lin Chi-yun was taken off life support at Taoyuan General Hospital with the consent of her family, doctors said.

She is the second victim to die in as many days in the wake of the flash fire that occurred on June 27, when cornstarch powder ignited at a party in Formosa Fun Coast water park, leaving nearly 500 people injured.

As of Wednesday morning, 388 of the victims remained hospitalized, with over 250 in intensive care units, 200 of whom were still in critical condition, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Asia One
Jul 15, 2015

TAIPEI – A woman who works as a corporate legal adviser recently complained to a local

newspaper that she and her friends bought the”angel eyes HD webcam”through the Internet to monitor her cat at home yet found her webcam was hacked.

Wu Fang-fang said she bought the webcam this March for NT$1,830 (S$80). She set up the machine on a small refrigerator in early April so that she can use her cellphone to monitor the situation in her bedroom, checking out her cat from time to time.

Wu found her webcame made unusual noises at 11 p.m. on June 30 just as she was preparing to take a bath. She said that at the time she was only wearing undergarments. She used her cellphone to log in to her webcam account once she entered the bathroom.

She then found that someone else was accessing the webcam at the same time and that a screenshot had been taken without her knowledge. Wu said she wanted to dodge the eye of the camera, but it turned as she moved around the room. She had to cover the webcam with her hand and then pull the plug.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/15
By: Maria Tsai

Taipei, July 14 (CNA) The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSR) handed out 20 round-trip tickets to students from the Dann Center (德安啟智教養院), an association for individuals with development disabilities located in Nantou County, central Taiwan, to give them the chance to take a trip and socialize.

Dann Center President Ho Hsin-tzu (何心慈) expressed her gratitude to THSR for making possible the two-day trip to Taipei for the lucky recipients.

Ho said that due to the lack of financial support, the journey could not have been subsidized by the center had it not been for the generosity of the THSR.

Ho said she believes the students will make great progress in socialization through the experience.     [FULL  STORY]

Asia One
Jul 14, 2015

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Water Resources Agency (WRA) said yesterday that it expects water

supplies across Taiwan to stabilize by the end of September.

Over the weekend, Typhoon Chan-hom filled the Shihmen Reservoir to 90-per cent capacity, WRA Chief Secretary Lai Chien-hsin said yesterday.

Lai said the WRA is set to adjust its water supply monitoring indicator in neighbouring regions from “green,” which signals a tight supply, to “blue,” indicating a stable supply.

Prior to the typhoon’s arrival on June 8, the WRA under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) had already lifted water use restrictions island-wide, but had not adjusted the water supply monitoring lights from green to blue for all Taiwan areas.     [FULL  STORY]

The New York Times
Date: July 14, 2015
By: Robin Pogrebin

The memorial to honor Dwight D. Eisenhower is receiving $1 million from the government of

Taiwan, the Eisenhower Memorial Commission announced Tuesday.

“The donation will be given in grateful recognition of President Eisenhower’s ‘staunch support for Taiwan’s security and his strong commitment to the U.S.-R.O.C. relationship,’ ” the commission said in a news release, using the initials for Taiwan’s formal name, the Republic of China.

The $142 million memorial, planned for the National Mall, has been stymied by opposition to the design by the Eisenhower family, a lack of funding from Congress and slow fund-raising efforts in the private sector. A report issued by the House Natural Resources Committee last summer suggested that while the memorial planned to raise $35 million from donors, it had taken in only $448,000.

But the memorial’s much-debated Frank Gehry design recently received final approval from the two federal agencies charged with its evaluation — on July 9 from the National Capital Planning Commission and on June 18 from the United States Commission of Fine Arts.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/15
By: S. F. Wong and Lillian Lin

Kaohsiung, July 15 (CNA) Kuomintang presidential hopeful Hung Hsiu-chu told a group

of women’s groups representatives in Kaohsiung that Taiwan must not fear a rising China, but should learn to make use of it like a boat that is lifted by a rising tide.

At a symposium with KMT members during a campaign tour of southern Taiwan, the deputy speaker of Taiwan’s Legislature said cross-strait relations remained the most important and complicated political issue facing Taiwan.

Amid China’s rise in the world, she said, there has been opposition to stronger ties with China every step of the way, from opposing direct transportation links and free trade agreements for both goods and services to fighting Taiwan’s bid to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-15
By: CNA

Facebook said Tuesday that it will not close all anonymous community pages, rebutting

some media reports in Taiwan that it would do so to stem online bullying and slander.

In a media workshop held by the US-based social networking service in Taipei earlier in the day, Ken Cheung, head of Facebook media partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region, said the company has observed bullying and slanderous posts on many anonymous community pages in Taiwan.

Facebook will therefore use software programs to stem the practice, Cheung said at the workshop.

The announcement, however, was not understood by some reporters at the event, who then released news reports that “Facebook will close all anonymous pages.”     [FULL  STORY]