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ELECTIONS: China is meddling in elections, officials say

INVESTIGATION: The Criminal Investigation Bureau said it has turned over 40 cases of alleged online dissemination of disinformation and fictitious news to prosecutors

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 25, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

China has bought off two big Taiwanese media corporations and has provided funding and other resources to influence the nine-in-one election campaign, top government officials said.

“It is a fact that China has been giving money to groups in Taiwan for access to all kinds of conduits and networks to interfere with and influence our elections. Our judicial and investigation agencies have gathered a lot of evidence to back this up,” Premier William Lai (賴清德) said at a media interview on Tuesday.

Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau Director-General Leu Wen-jong (呂文忠) told lawmakers on Tuesday that Chinese funds have been flowing into Taiwan in recent months, with the money going directly to their designated candidates and their campaign managers.

The funds have been used to finance banquets, junkets to China and gifts for distribution to constituents and vote brokers to secure their support, Leu said.    [FULL  STORY]

Electricity restored in Kinmen after repairs

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/05
By: Huang Li-yun and William Yen

Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) State-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) said Tuesday that electricity was restored to offshore Kinmen County at 6:35 p.m. following a power outage of more than two hours.

Taipower spokesman Lin Te-fu (林德福) said that while the cause of the power cut had not been established, initial investigations found that the Tashan Power Plant suffered a malfunction when a fault caused protective relays to shut down all of the plant’s eight generators at 4:16 p.m.

He added that an additional six generators from another power plant in Kinmen also shut down as a protective measure due to the disruption at Tashan.

Lin calculated that 30,523 households were affected by the power outage.
[SOURCE]

Over 100 Filipino firms meet with Taiwan business delegation in Manila

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/23
By: Emerson Lin and William Yen

Manila, Oct. 23 (CNA) More than 100 Philippine firms, including a large marketing

Photo courtesy of Taiwan Trade Center, Manila

institution and well-known hygienic tissue product supplier met with a Taiwanese business delegation to establish connections and discuss partnerships in Manila Tuesday.

The Filipino firms, including AVESCO Marketing Corporation and Sanitary Care Products Asia, Inc., met with the Taiwan Mix Industry Trade Mission delegation, jointly organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Foreign Trade and Taiwan External Trade Development Council, at the Makati Shangri-La in Metro Manila.

Over 20 Taiwanese firms were part of the delegation, which included businesses involved with automobile and motorcycle parts, machinery, food, LED lighting, building materials and hardware, safety monitoring and other general consumer goods.

Chen Wei-jui (陳暐叡), head of the delegation, said Filipino firms have made a large number of inquiries about Taiwanese products and business opportunities are expected to follow.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to vote on 10 referendums on Nov. 24 as CEC gives another green light

Formosa News
Date: 2018/10/23

The Central Election Commission approved yet another referendum proposal today, this time on whether Taiwan should continue using nuclear power as it develops renewables. With this latest CEC approval, Taiwan’s voters are set to vote on 10 referendums alongside the local elections on Nov. 24.

On Election Day, voters will pick up as many as 15 ballots. Once all the votes are cast, the CEC will release the results of the local elections first, followed by the results of the 10 referendums. That means the people may have to wait up a bit for the full results of this November’s big elections.    [SOURCE]

158 Injured Victims Have Been Released from Hospital

ICRT Radio News
Date: 2018-10-23

The majority of the passengers injured in Sunday’s deadly derailment of
Puyama have left hospital.

The Taiwan Railways Administration says that 158 of the 190 injured people
had been released

The remaining ones are being treated in hospitals in Taipei, Yi-lan and
Tai-tung.

TRA officials say all the luggage from the train have been numbered and
labeled by police and sent to the hospitals for victims or their families to
claim.

The derailment has killed another 18 people.    [SOURCE]

Magnitude 5.7 earthquake jolts eastern Taiwan

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/10/24
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 5.7 earthquake rocked eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County at 00:04 a.m. on Wednesday, with the shock waves felt across almost all of island country, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

The epicenter of the temblor was 106.1 kilometers east of Hualien County Hall, was measured at a shallow depth of 29.4 kilometers.

An intensity level of 3 was felt in Yilan County and Yilan City, while an intensity level of 2 was felt in Taipei City, Taoyuan City and Hsinchu County.

A lesser intensity level of 1 was felt in Keelung City, Hsinchu City, Taichung City, Changhua City, Chiayi City, Tainan city, Kaohsiung and Pingtung City.     [FULL  STORY]

5 suspects indicted for violating Banking Act with virtual currency

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/23
By: Su Mu-chun and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Oct. 23 (CNA) Taichung District Prosecutors Office indicted five people Tuesday

Image taken from Pixabay

for violating the Banking Act after originally investigating them on suspicion of swindling investors out of money with a virtual currency they invented and touted as an improved version of Bitcoin, the world’s most popular virtual currency.

According to the indictment, a 47-year-old man identified by the surname Wen (溫), from Taichung in central Taiwan, established a cyber technology company called Baote, with two Chinese nationals in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China, in January 2016.

Wen, his two brothers, mother and a friend promoted and sold their invention — a virtual currency named “Baote Coin (寶特幣)” — in Taiwan and mainland China.

They bragged that Wen’s company in China had huge assets and that Baote Coin was a better virtual currency than Bitcoin because it was an upgraded cryptocurrency emerging on the global market, prosecutors said.    [FULL  STORY]

TRA overhaul, new safety team planned

DERAILMENT PROBE: The driver of the train was released on NT$500,000 bail yesterday morning after the Yilan District Court rejected a request from prosecutors to detain him

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 24, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) is to be overhauled and a national

Taitung Railway Station Director Yang Shun-an, left, yesterday sheds a tear as people in Taitung County attend a ceremony for the victims of the Puyuma Express train derailment in Yilan County on Sunday.  Photo: Chen Hsien-yi, Taipei Times

transportation safety committee established to investigate any future transportation accident, Premier William Lai (賴清德) told lawmakers yesterday.

“All Puyuma Express trains will go through safety tests and the TRA will undergo an extensive review,” he said during a question-and-answer session when asked about Sunday’s derailment in Yilan County that killed 18 passengers and left 187 injured.

The government plans to merge the agencies now responsible for the safety of aviation, water and road transport and railways into a single committee, he said, promising to have a plan for the committee ready by the end of next month.

Previous train accidents were investigated by a TRA committee, but its credibility has long been questioned.    [FULL  STORY]

Many donate blood to train crash victims

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-22

Taiwan was hit by a tragic train derailment on Sunday that led to at least 18 deaths and

People lined up to donate at the Yilan blood donation center on Monday. (CNA pic)

187 injured. When news got out that the victims needed blood donations, many went to blood donation centers to help.

Many people lined up to donate blood early Monday morning outside of the Yilan blood donation center. Mr. Tsang was the first in line to donate. He came at 6am Monday morning to do what he could to help the victims. Some came from afar. One man came from Banqiao because he knew the need was urgent.

The center in Yilan has been packed with donors. One of the workers said they don’t have enough personnel there. She said that people can also donate at other locations or come back if the wait is too long.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News: Investigation Seeks Answers after Train Crash Kills 18, Injures 175

Your daily bulletin of Taiwan news, courtesy of ICRT.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/22
By: International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT)

Photo Credit: 中央社

Premier William Lai (賴清德) has said external railway accident experts could be called in to help investigate Sunday’s deadly derailment of a Puyuma Express train in Yilan.

According to Lai, officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Yilan District Procurators’ Office are now still collecting evidence from the crash site.

Officials said 18 people have now been confirmed killed in the accident and 175 others were injured.

The train departed from New Taipei bound for Taitung and was carrying 366 passengers.

The Taiwan Railway Administration said that the train derailed at Xinma Station and all eight passenger cars jumped the tracks and five overturned.    [FULL  STORY]