Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/24
By: Huang Hsu-sheng, Wang Hung-kuo and Bear Lee

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) A public funeral service will be held Monday afternoon for the 23 Chinese tourists, their Chinese tour guide, and two Taiwanese who were killed in a bus fire on a Taiwanese freeway July 19, Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications Fan Chih-Ku (范植谷) said Sunday.

Before the public funeral service, religious ceremonies — both Christian and Buddhist — will be held that morning, Fan said.

Some of the 24 Chinese victims will be cremated Monday morning after their family members, who have rushed to Taiwan over the past few days to tackle the aftermath of the accident, agreed to the move, Fan added.

The ill-fated group from Liaoning Province, along with their Taiwanese bus driver and a local tour guide, were on the bus heading toward Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport when a fire broke out in the vehicle on the No. 2 National Freeway. The tourists had arrived in Taiwan July 12 for an eight-day tour.     [FULL  STORY]

FISHERMEN’S EXPLOITS:A group sailing toward the contested island reportedly planned to use emergency scenarios to justify landing on Taiwan-controlled Itu Aba

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 25, 2016
By: Lo Tien-bin / Staff reporter, with CNA

The Executive Yuan yesterday said that civilians are not allowed to set foot on Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) without permission from the Ministry of National Defense, even as a group of Taiwanese fishermen plan to sail close to the contested island in the South China Sea today.

“Given that Taiping Island is categorized as a restricted military area, fishermen are not permitted to enter the zone without the defense ministry’s authorization,” Executive Yuan spokesman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said.

However, if the fishermen are in need of emergency shelter or need to replenish their supplies on the island, the coast guard officers stationed there would provide assistance, Tung said.

Tung added that as the fishermen are not familiar with the area they are heading to, the Coast Guard Administration would order patrol vessels to stop the boats at a safe distance to ensure their safety at sea.     [FULL  STORY]

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

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A group of fishermen who are scheduled to arrive on the Taiwan-controlled

Taiping Island (太平島) to assert their country’s South China Sea claims on Monday may not be allowed to step onto the island unless they need emergency relief, a Cabinet spokesman said on Sunday.

Cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) told local media that civilians are normally not allowed to visit the island if they have not applied for permission beforehand as it is an important military control area.

According to a Defense Ministry statement, one needs to apply for the permission to visit Taiping 45 days before a scheduled trip or visitors will not be able to step foot on the restricted area.

However, Tung also said that in case of emergency or if fishermen need to replenish water or food supplies on their vessels, coastguardsmen on Taiping will give “all necessary assistance” to them in accordance with the applicable regulations.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-24
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Directorate General of Highways (DGOH) said Sunday it will make public in August a blacklist of tour bus companies that have had bad records of causing traffic incidents and violating traffic rules in light of the tour bus accident that killed 26 people on July 19.

After the accident, Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan issued an order to step up efforts to conduct roadside inspections of tour buses, to review laws and regulations regarding inspection and safety standards of tour buses, and to supervise tour bus companies by making public those with good management and those with ill behavior and bad practices. The purpose of revealing the records is to use consumers’ boycott power to encourage good companies and eliminate bad companies, the minister said.

The DGOH said it will announce the best performing companies on July 28, and the worst performing, or ill-behaved, companies in August.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 24, 2016

A marijuana bush standing three meters tall is shown in the photo taken at a papaya farm in

Tainan, Saturday, July 23. The marijuana grower, surnamed Chen, has been arrested by the police. Up to 64 marijuana bushes were found on the farm. As the planting area is in a remote location and could not be seen easily, police who had been tipped off had to pose as farmers, tracking a river and passing through waist-deep bushes to reach the farm.
[FULL  STORY]

 

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The relatives of the mostly Chinese victims of this week’s bus blaze on Saturday visited the site of the accident where 26 people died.

On July 19, a tour bus on its way to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport caught fire and smashed into the railing of the No.2 Freeway, with all people on board unable to escape. The dead were 23 tourists from northeastern China’s Liaoning Province and a Chinese tour guide who were arriving at the end of an eight-day tour, as well as a Taiwanese guide and the Taiwanese driver.

On Saturday afternoon, the relatives of the victims who had flown over from China were allowed to pay their respects in a traditional ceremony at the site of the accident on the freeway between 2 and 4 p.m.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/23
By: Liu Chien-pang, Lin Chang-shun and Y.F. Low

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) A Russian national has been added to the list of suspects in the theft of more than NT$83 million (US$2.6 million) from First Bank automatic teller machines (ATMs) in Taiwan earlier this month, police said Saturday.

The latest addition is 42-year-old Oxana Sarkisova, who arrived in Taiwan from Macau at 11 a.m. July 11 and departed for Macau again at 8 p.m. that same night. She was previously listed as an associate in the case.

The latest findings by police show that Sarkisova headed directly to the Humble House Taipei hotel to look for her boyfriend Alexander Lvovskiy, another Russian suspect in the case, immediately after she got off the plane.

She was seen on surveillance camera footage pulling a piece of white luggage into the hotel at 6 p.m., police said.

The luggage, containing more than NT$22.51 million, was eventually handed to Evgenni Babii, also a Russian, who stored it in a locker at the Taipei Railway Station July 13. It was then taken away by Romanian Mihail Colibaba July 16, according to police.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 24, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — Taiwan’s top official on mainland China policy said Saturday that the government and

the travel industry are making every effort to improve safety for tourists, while expressing hopes that tourism will continue to help promote peace between the two sides.

“We hope that similar tragedies will not occur and that Chinese tourists will feel safe traveling in Taiwan,” said Chang Hsiao-yueh (張小月), head of the Cabinet’s Mainland Affairs Council.

She was speaking as she visited a funeral parlor in Northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City to pay respects to the 26 people killed in a bus fire on Tuesday, including 24 from mainland China.

She expressed her condolences to the families of the victims and said she hopes that the deceased will rest in peace.

On Tuesday, a bus carrying 23 Chinese tourists, a Chinese tour guide, a Taiwanese driver and a local guide began to belch smoke on the No. 2 National Freeway in Taoyuan City while on its way to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.    [FULL  STORY]