CHINA AGAIN?Media reports said that prosecutors suspect Chinese funds of being behind a failed tender offer for the gaming company that saw its shares plummet

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 25, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The Taipei District Court yesterday set bail for XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞科技) chairman Aaron Hsu

(許金龍) after prosecutors sought court approval to detain him over alleged irregularities in a botched investment from a Japanese suitor, which caused massive losses for investors.

In late May, Bai Chi Gan Tou Digital Entertainment Co (百尺竿頭) announced it would acquire 38 million XPEC shares, or 25.17 percent of the company, at NT$128 per share, an almost 22 percent premium over the gaming software developer’s share price at the time, saying Bai Chi Gan Tou was upbeat about the Taiwanese firm’s prospects.

The acquisition was valued at NT$4.86 billion (US$155.1 million at current exchange rates) at the time.

The offer prompted investors to buy XPEC shares with the expectation that Bai Chi Gan Tou would buy their XPEC holdings.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 25, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Six Taiwanese tourists were reportedly robbed after falling into a deep sleep at a

resort in Pattaya Thursday evening.

The tourists, all women, found that over NT$63,300 in cash had been stolen when they woke up Friday morning, the Central News Agency reported on Saturday from Bangkok.

The six tourists, who were traveling together in Thailand, called the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand for help.

The tourists had made an online reservation at a well-known resort called VIP Villas Pattaya Palm Oasis Jomiten Beach.

In a telephone interview with CNA, the tourists said that they had found the check-in process “strange.”

“After we checked in, the counter service staffers found various reasons to deny us room keys. They asked us to put our luggage in the rooms and to have a walk around,” one tourist said.

The woman reportedly told staff that their room telephone did not work and that the French windows did not lock.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Reports in the media Friday that a Ph.D. student from Taiwan might have lost his hand in an attack in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh turned out to be false, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Earlier, MOFA said it was seeking contact with Linus Huang, 35, a student in Sydney, Australia, who had traveled to Great Britain for research.

News of an attack came only a few days after a Taiwanese tourist was dragged by the side of a train in Paris by an alleged Eastern European assailant.

Huang reportedly called his relatives in Taiwan on Friday morning to let them know he and a friend from Thailand had been attacked in Edinburgh, but the conversation had been broken off and his family had been unable to locate him.

According to media reports, Huang might have lost his hand while his Thai friend had been covered in blood.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/23
By: Jennifer Huang and Lilian Wu

London, Sept. 23 (CNA) The High Court of Justiciary in Scotland ruled Friday that a British citizen

sentenced to a jail term in Taiwan for a hit-and-run accident that left a man dead should not be extradited to Taiwan to serve his sentence.

The ruling overturned a previous finding by the Edinburgh Sheriff Court in June 2014 that the Briton, Zain Dean, should be sent back to Taiwan to face justice.

David Lin (林永樂), Taiwan’s representative to the United Kingdom, told CNA that he regretted the high court’s ruling, but he stressed that the government will not give up and will continue to work to have Dean extradited.

Dean was sentenced by the Taiwan High Court to four years in jail after being convicted in July 2012 of hitting and killing a newspaper delivery man, Huang Chun-teh (黃俊德), while driving under the influence of alcohol in March 2010.

He was supposed to begin serving his sentence in 2012, but he fled the country that same year in August using the passport of a British friend.     [FULL  STORY]

POLITICS AND FLYING:President Tsai Ing-wen said aviation safety is a basic human right and that politics should have no influence over people’s expectations of safety

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 24, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) yesterday said that the ministry has not received an

invitation to this year’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) assembly in Canada, adding that the government regrets and is disappointed with the outcome, while it believes the apparent decision to not invite Taiwan is a mistake.

“It is extremely unfair to Taiwan and a great loss to international flight safety,” Lee told a news conference in Taipei after confirming at the Legislative Yuan in the morning that the ministry had not yet received an invitation.

Lee on Thursday said that the ministry would know by yesterday whether it would receive an invitation.

Separately yesterday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that flight safety is a basic human right and should not be compromised with any “premise” or “affected and deprived due to the intervention of political factors,” regardless of political affiliation.

“Since [the first direct presidential election in] 1996, Taiwanese have shown the world our resolve for democracy and freedom. The road chosen by Taiwanese is a demonstration of collective will. If we all agree that democracy is a universal value, then there should not be anyone suffering unfair treatment because they chose democracy; there should not be anyone deprived of their rights just because they do not accept some undemocratic framework and confinement,” the president said.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/22
By: Olivia Yang and Mo Tz-pin

Wu Pei-yu was allegedly raped by a fellow student at Fu Jen Catholic University last year. Yesterday

she issued an apology to a school dean who has been criticized for reportedly trying to cover up the case.

A Taiwanese rape victim has apologized to the dean of the School of Social Sciences at Fu Jen Catholic University for accusing her of attempting to cover up the case.

Wu Pei-yu (巫沛瑀), the victim, was a psychology student at the university when she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Kevin Wang (王凱民), another student of the department, after a school event on June 28 last year. Wang has been charged in relation to the case.

This case was made public and went viral after Wu wrote about the incident on Facebook in March. The post can no longer be found on Wu’s page.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A quadruple amputee picked up where he left off about a year ago and went back to his old profession of teaching in a university on Wednesday.

National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) business administration assistant professor Wang Chih-yuan went on a mountain climbing trip to Taitung and Yilan in eastern Taiwan in Sept. last year. He felt sick during the trip and had a fever when he came back to Kaohsiung. He was treated at the emergency unit of a local hospital, but was found to have conditions of pulmonary infiltration, septic shock and multiple organ failure. He was intubated and transferred to an intensive care unit that night. The next day, the hospital informed Wang’s family that he was in critical condition. Soon after that Wang underwent dialysis treatment for acute kidney failure.

Wang’s students even took turn to keep him company in the hospital. He eventually survived and gradually got better, but he suffered from necrosis of the limbs. Wang was transferred to Cheng Hsin General Hospital in Taipei, where he had all four of his limbs amputated in November.     [FULL  STORY]