‘DANGER,’ NOT ‘ACTION’:City councilors also said the department was missing figures for underground water pressure and cracks in the walls of the MRT tunnels

Taipei Times
Date:  May 01, 2015
By: Kuo Yi, Hsu Yi-ping and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with Staff Writer

Taipei city councilors, during a meeting of the city council’s transportation

committee yesterday, accused the Taipei Department of Mass Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS) of misleading the public by using different names for the danger values and for allegedly being in the dark on some numbers that were critical for the building’s success.

The meeting was held due to recent reports that the construction of Taipei Dome was negatively affecting the Bannan MRT Line, reportedly causing cracks in the tunnels near Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall MRT Station.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) said DORTS has repeatedly used the word “action value” (行動值) in its reports, when it was actually referring to the “danger value” (危險值) of the building.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/30
By: Ho Horn-ru, Tang Pei-chun, Maubo Chang

Kathmandu, April 30 (CNA) Three Taiwanese who were trekking through the valley in Langtang National Park, which is 130 km north of Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu, when the earthquake rattled the region, called Taiwan’s representative office in New Delhi, India, Wednesday afternoon, saying that they were safe.

Chang Kui-chen (張桂真), told the office that she and Chen Yen-chun (陳彥君), Chen Yu-chin (陳玉琴), and their British friend Michael Tandy were stranded at Langtang Village after the quake, and were airlifted out along with 70 other visitors by India’s military helicopters April 29.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/29
By: Lin Chung-sen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Switzerland’s Supreme Court has ruled that US$6.74

million (NT$205 million) on deposit in accounts held by family members of Taiwan’s former President Chen Shui-bian should be returned to Taiwan, investigators said Wednesday.

The money will be remitted to bank accounts designated by the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Special Prosecutors Office, the SID said.

Chen and members of his family were accused of laundering large sums of money by sending political donations and secret diplomatic funds overseas, taking kickbacks on government contracts and accepting bribes from businessmen during his presidency 2000-2008.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/29
By: Hsiao Po-yang and S.C. Chang

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Prosecutors demanded Wednesday a 30-year jail term

for former Nantou County Magistrate Lee Chao-ching and his wife’s brother who had been indicted on charges of taking kickbacks from contractors while Lee was in office.

Also indicted in the well known corruption case were officials and advisors in Lee’s county government, for each of whom prosecutors requested jail terms ranging from 12 to 2 years, in addition to depriving them of civil rights for shorter periods than expected jail sentences.

Nantou District Court began hearing the case in March 2013, following a public indictment on charges of violating the nation’s Anti-Corruption Act.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 30, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said he would “carefully

consider” the possibility of running for president and dismissed a television report claiming to have obtained a draft of a statement by Wang on a decision to run.

With New Taipei City Mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) declaring his disinclination to join the presidential race and Wang retaining his KMT party membership after a court case against him concluded last week, it has been widely speculated that the speaker would soon announce his intention to seek the KMT nomination for next year’s presidential election.

Wang, after weeks of equivocal answers, said that he would seriously consider the possibility of running.

“As I have said before, I have never denied that possibility,” he said.

Regarding the “exclusive report” aired by Next TV on Tuesday night that claimed to have secured a draft copy of a declaration on his intention to join the race, Wang said he had no idea where it came from.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-29
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, voiced his support Wednesday for the idea of

solidifying the so-called 1992 Consensus and making this concept part of Taiwan’s efforts to seek access to regional economic integration.

“I totally agree with” the idea proposed by ruling Kuomintang chair Eric Chu to incorporate into Taiwan’s efforts the 1992 Consensus, a tacit understanding reached between Taipei and Beijing in 1992 to allow each side to have their own interpretations of what “one China” means, Ma said during a visit to the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan’s top China policy-making body.

During Taiwan’s bid for its participation in regional economic integration, Ma said, his administration will also take care of the needs of Taiwanese small and medium enterprises.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/28
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Jay Chen

Taipei, April 28 (CNA) With the exception of emergency vehicles, all traffic will

come to a standstill from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. Tuesday as part of an air defense drill which covers all cities and counties in northern Taiwan.

All vehicles are required to pull over and pedestrians to evacuate and stay indoors or in shelters where available.

While railways, mass rapid transit systems in the seven cities and counties in northern Taiwan will continue to operate and air traffic will not be disrupted, the authorities remind travelers to get to their points to departure ahead of time, if necessary, in order not to be stuck on their way.

During the half-hour period, vehicles already on national freeways can continue to travel but on-ramps in the seven cities and counties will be closed and all vehicles are required to pull over as soon as they leave the freeway.     [FULL  STORY]

The National
Date: April 28, 2015
By: Nadeem Hanif

DUBAI // A one-year-old baby who is in desperate need of a life-saving liver

transplant will have to be moved to Taiwan for her operation.

Aleeyah Carungay has a potentially fatal congenital liver disease and is in and out of intensive care on a weekly basis at a hospital in Manila, in the Philippines.

Her mother Grace, who works as a receptionist in Abu Dhabi, said her hopes of getting an operation for her daughter in the Philippines in the next few weeks had been dashed after the latest in several setbacks.

“Unfortunately, the doctors at the hospital told us that the soonest they could do an operation for Aleeyah was at the end of June,” she said.

The delay was caused because a liver operation on another child, originally scheduled for April 7, had to be postponed until May.     [FULL  STORY]

Channel News Asia
Date: 28 Apr 2015

TAIPEI: Taiwanese prosecutors said on Tuesday (Apr 28) they will pursue the

family of man accused of reaping hundreds of millions of dollars from a controversial French arms deal over two decades ago, even after he died this year.

Andrew Wang was indicted for corruption in 2006 over his involvement in a slush fund linked to a US$2.8 billion contract for Taiwan to buy six Lafayette-class warships in 1991.

Wang was put on Taiwan’s most wanted list after he and his family fled the island shortly before the scandal broke in 1993. He died from an illness in London in January at the age of 87, Taiwanese officials said.

“We will drop charges against Wang since he had passed away. However, we will continue to seek the return of the ill-gotten funds in Wang’s case from Switzerland,” said Kuo Wen-dong, a spokesman for the special investigation unit under the supreme prosecutor’s office.     [FULL  STORY]

Quartz
Date: April 28, 2015
By: Lily Kuo

After a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on Saturday, April 26, Taiwan—an

island familiar with devastating earthquakes— rushed to assemble an emergency relief team, supplies, and $300,000 in financial assistance. But then on Sunday, the team was put on standby and Taiwanese officials were told that aid from neighboring countries was being prioritized, even as Japan, the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, Finland, and others sent aid and personnel.

Nepal said it would notify Taiwan when more help is needed.     [FULL  STORY]