Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/24
By: Wang Shu-fen and Jay Chen

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) One of Taiwan’s major international airlines on Friday confirmed that

one of its student pilots has been injured in a plane crash in central Florida, USA.

China Airlines said its representatives will accompany relatives of the student pilot to the United States and the company will do its best to help provide medical care for the young man.

News reports in Florida identified the man as Chen Sheng-yen, 26, a would-be pilot receiving a year-long training at Aerosim Flight Academy based in Sanford near Orlando.

He was flying with instructor pilot Anthony Arzave, 32, when their single-engine Cirrus SR20 crashed Wednesday morning (local time) near a runway at the Lake Wales Municipal Airport to the south of Orlando, Bay News 9 reported on its website.     [FULL  STORY]

… and the couple went ahead with the ceremony just hours later to honour their friends

•     The group were travelling towards Taiwan’s western Changhua city
•     A tyre burst sending the overcrowded car off a bridge and into a ravine
•     Six of the seven in the car died, including the best man and a bridesmaid
•     Ceremony lasted just 30 minutes, with a table left clear to honour the dead

  The Daily Mail
  Date: 24 July 2015
  By: Imogen Calderwood For Mailonline

  A Chinese couple have celebrated their wedding with broken hearts, after a car crash

  

  Accident site: A tyre burst on the overcrowded five-seater, making the driver lose control and sending the car over the edge of a bridge and into a ravine, while the group travelled south towards Taiwan’s western Changhua city

  killed six of their closest friends just hours earlier.

  Seven of the couple’s friends – including the best man and one of the bridesmaids – were on their way to the wedding when the driver lost control of the car.

  The group were travelling south towards Taiwan’s western Changhua city, to attend the wedding of their former classmate Fan Sheng-yu and his girlfriend Chen Chun-ying.

  One of the car’s tyres burst as the overcrowded five-seater car crossed over a bridge.

  The driver lost control and the car plunged from the bridge into a ravine, killing six and

  

  injuring one.

  Despite the tragedy, the couple decided to go ahead with the planned wedding.

  But in honour of their recently-deceased friends, the newly-weds left a table empty at the reception.

  The subdued celebration lasted just 30 minutes, with the guests in silence, until thanking and greeting the bride and groom at the end of the reception.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The chairman and CEO of Chang Guann Co. were sentenced to 20

years in prison each and the company was fined NT$50 million (US$1.59 million) Friday for their part in the adulterated oil scandal which rocked Taiwan last year.

The company was accused of having worked substandard lard oil unfit for consumption into edible oil products, which it sold on to several food manufacturers.

Of eight individuals indicted for the scandal, Chang Guann Chairman Yeh Wen-hsiang, 60, and CEO Tai Chi-chuan, 58, were each sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Pingtung District Court. Appeals were still possible.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/24
By: Ku Chuan and Christie Chen

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) Local watchdog group Taiwan Media Watch on Friday backed the three reporters who were arrested and offered to be released on bail after breaking into the Ministry of Education building the previous evening, saying their arrests have “violated press freedom.”

In a statement, the watchdog group said press freedom is protected by Taiwan’s Constitution and argued that the arrests had infringed on that freedom.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-24
By: CNA

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has made more physical mock-ups of strategic targets in

Taiwan for simulated attacks since 2014, which suggests Beijing has stepped up its “preparations for a military struggle” with Taiwan, an expert on the Chinese military said Friday.

China has increased the preparations because the Beijing government is concerned about “potentially drastic changes in Taiwan’s political situation” after a presidential election in January 2016, said Andrei Chang, also known as Pinkov, founder of the Canadian-based Kanwa Defense Review.

Tsai Ing-wen, chair of Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), is a front-runner in the presidential race and, if elected, is expected to adopt a less conciliatory position toward China than incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou.     [FULL  STORY]

OFFICE OCCUPIED:The Ministry of Education said that 33 people were arrested, while video showed police dragging people from an office on the second floor

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 25, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

High-school student protesters and civic groups yesterday rallied outside the Ministry of

Education building in Taipei, demanding the release of students arrested in the early hours of the morning after breaking into the complex.

“We demand that our comrades be immediately released and not be subjected to violent judicial hunting,” Taoyuan High School Alliance spokesperson Liao Hao-hsiang (廖浩翔) said.

“If the ministry does not give us a reasonable and positive response today, we will continue our protest, refusing to bend in spite of last night’s [Friday morning’s] violent expulsion,” he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/23
By: Chiu Chun-chin and Jay Chen

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) The death toll of a fiery explosion at a water park in New Taipei nearly a month ago increased to nine Thursday, with more than 160 of the nearly 500 wounded still listed in critical condition.

Lu Kuan-ting (呂冠廷), a 19-year-old college freshman, was pronounced dead in the early morning at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital despite the medical team’s efforts to save his life. He died of sepsis and multiple organ failure, doctors said.

Doctors of the hospital said at a press conference that Lu’s family agreed to donate the young man’s corneas following his death after seeing his condition deteriorate and infection get out of control on July 19.

Lu had third to fourth-degree burns to 80 percent of his body. He also had inhalation injury to his lungs.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/23
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) The Taipei City government said Thursday that it is in the process of seeking a constitutional interpretation on whether Taiwan’s Civil Code violates the Constitution by restricting marriage to heterosexual couples.

In a statement, the city’s Department of Civil Affairs said it completed the documents for submission to the court July 2. The documents were approved by the city government on July 20 and will be sent to the Ministry of the Interior next week, Hong Jin-da (洪進達), a section chief at the department, told CNA.

Article 972 of the Civil Code states that “an agreement to marry shall be made by the male and the female parties in their own concord.”

The city government is seeking the opinion of the Justices of the Constitutional Court on whether that article and other marriage-related articles in the Civil Code violate articles in the Constitution that pertain to freedom and equality, Hong said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/23
By: S.F. Wang and Lillian Lin

Kaohsiung, July 23 (CNA) Standing firmly on his prosthetic right foot, Hsu Yen-hsiang (徐晏祥)

recounts the moment when he woke after he was injured in the August 1, 2014 gas explosion in Kaohsiung and says he hopes his story can bring hope and comfort to the victims of a recent flash fire at a New Taipei water park.

In an interview recorded by the Kaohsiung rehabilitation center of the Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation, Hsu said he lost his right foot and sustained third degree burn over 66 percent of his body when a series of underground gas explosions ripped through the streets of Kaohsiung last year.

The Kaohsiung gas explosion claimed the lives of 33 people and injured 300, 51 of whom have been receiving rehabilitation training at the Sunshine center.

Hsu said he would like the story of his survival and rehabilitation to serve as an inspiration to other burn victims, particularly the hundreds who were injured June 27 in an explosion of colored corn starch during a party at the Formosa Fun Coast water park (八仙樂園) in New Taipei.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-23
By: Staff Reporter

The world’s largest adultery dating website Ashley Madison has been hacked and the

personal information of over 37 million users may be revealed if the website isn’t taken down, according to Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily.

To show that they are serious, the hackers have already released the personal information of some of the website’s users, along with the bank account numbers and salaries of the company’s employees, according to the paper.

Web security company Krebson Security stated on their website on Sunday that a team of hackers called “The Impact Team” announced that they had successfully infiltrated the databases of Canadian-based Avid Life Media (ALM) and accessed user information, credit card information and emails from the company’s subsidiaries Ashley Madison and Established Men, a website aimed at connecting young beautiful women with wealthy older men. ALM also has another dating site subsidiary called Cougar Life, which seeks to connect young handsome men with wealthy older women.     [FULL  STORY]