High Court to reconsider 45 other charges

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/06
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Wei Ying-chun (魏應充), one of four brothers owning the Ting Hsin

International Group, will have to serve five years and nine months in prison for his part in food safety scandals involving cooking oil.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 6) found Wei guilty on seven counts which can no longer be appealed. He was also guilty on 19 other counts, though he can avoid prison sentences for those by paying fines, the Central News Agency reported. A further 45 counts will have to be retried at the High Court level on the Supreme Court’s orders.

Wei had been sentenced to 15 years on all charges by the High Court, following a not-guilty verdict by a District Court.

The cases centered on the import of low-grade oil from Vietnam, which Wei’s Ting Hsin repackaged and sold as cooking oil fit for human consumption. The affair was one of many food safety scandals to break into the open in 2013 and 2014, some including false labeling of cheap oil as more expensive olive oil, or the use of oil residues and oil products for animal consumption as cooking oil.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/06
By: Lin Yi-li and Elizabeth Hsu

Berlin, Nov. 5 (CNA) The German man who launched a petition urging the German government to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan has explained he wanted to encourage public debate about Taiwan so German society learns more about the nation.

Michael Kreuzberg, 71, comes from the port city Rostock on the Baltic Sea, which was once in East Germany. He initiated the petition before submitting it to parliament on May 31 and posted it online Sept. 11 to solicit endorsement signatures.

Currently, the petition has received enough signatures to be placed on the agenda of the German parliament or Bundestag, which has decided to hold a public hearing on Dec. 9.

In a recent interview with CNA, Kreuzberg introduced himself as a retiree who previously specialized in marine ecological conservation. In recent years he has undertaken relief work in Ghana and the Philippines to help improve the health care and education available to local children, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

SMUGGLING OPERATION: Police officers last week raided locations in New Taipei City and seized three handguns, a silencer, 124 bullets and two magazines, and other items

Taipei Times
Date:  Nov 07, 2019
By: Chiu Chun-fu and Jason Pan  /  Staff reporters

Police yesterday said they have busted a drug trafficking ring smuggling narcotics to Malaysia and

seized 1.18 million tablets of Erimin, a brand name of the hypnotic drug nimetazepam.

Four people were detained in raids conducted last month in New Taipei City, police said.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday displayed the items seized during the raids, including three 9mm handguns, 124 bullets, one silencer, two magazines and 24 cartons filled with pouches containing the nimetazepam tablets, which is a Class 3 narcotic drug.

“We found up to 10 Erimin tablets in each pouch. [The pouches] weighed 217kg in total, with an estimated street value of NT$300 million [US$9.87 million],” said police Captain Hsiao Juei-hao (蕭瑞豪) with the bureau’s Third Investigation Corps.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 05 November, 2019
By: Paula Chao

The southern city of Tainan has opened a vocational training center for stray dogs. Since it was set up by the city in April, the center has offered training to hundreds of strays and found jobs for them.

This is Niu-niu, a police dog whose job is to patrol a neighborhood in the southern city of Tainan. Niu-niu  does a pretty good job. But she not only helps the police, she also enjoys playing with children.

Tainan’s vocational pet training center trains stray dogs like Niu Niu. Holding up two fingers like this means “bark twice”. Once they’re trained, they can become campus dogs or guard dogs, depending on their personality.

Dog trainer Huang Lien-fa said it takes half a month for strays to learn simple commands.

This dog is learning to sit on command.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: November 6, 2019
By: Phillip Charlier

Coast Guard investigators, along with customs officers and national police intercepted a shipment of cocaine at the Port of Kaohsiung two days ago, according to reports released today, November 5.

Investigators were first tipped around six months ago that a transnational drug trafficking group planned to use the Port of Kaohsiung as a trans-shipment point for drug shipments from Central and South America. Coast Guard, Customs, and National Police formed a special group to investigate the claims.

After relevant intelligence was gathered, the team swooped on a container in the re-export section at the Port of Kaohsiung at 10:00am, November 3.

The team found 200 packs containing 136.435 kilograms of a white powder which tests identified as cocaine. The shipment is suspected to have been destined for Countries in Southeast Asia, according to a report in United Daily News.    [FULL  STORY]

Suspect flew back to Taiwan within 24 hours, probably aware of loophole: Hong Kong authorities

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In a mirror image of the case blamed for triggering months of protest against an extradition bill in Hong Kong, a Taiwanese man reportedly robbed a watch store in the territory before returning to his home country within 24 hours, reports said Tuesday (November 5).

A young Hong Kong man, Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳), murdered his girlfriend during a trip to Taiwan but fled the island before the crime was uncovered. As no extradition agreement between the two existed, he has still not been handed over to Taiwan for trial.

The same problem in the other direction is now likely to happen with the case of a Taiwanese suspect, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday.

The man used an air gun to threaten a member of staff and steal two watches worth about US$126,000 (NT$3.8 million) at a shop in Tsim Sha Tsui last October 6.
Camera footage revealed he took a taxi to the airport and returned to Taiwan the same day he had arrived, Hong Kong police said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/05
By: Shen Peng-ta and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Nov. 5 (CNA) Hong Kong resident Lam Wing-kee (林榮基) raised nearly NT$6 million

(US$197,600) through an online fundraising website in a two-month period to fund his plan to reopen Causeway Bay Books in Taiwan, more than double the original target.

Lam's original goal when he launched the fundraising event titled "Causeway Bay Books – Reopen in Taiwan – Open for Free Souls," on the online fundraising platform flyingv on Sept. 5, was NT$2.8 million.

When the campaign ended on Nov. 4, a total of NT$5.97 million had been raised from 2,900 donors, related data shows.

Lam told CNA Tuesday that he has found an ideal location for the bookstore and the rent is fair. However, he needs time and money to remodel, he said, noting that the fundraising contract requires he open the bookstore within a month of fundraising ending.    [FULL  STORY]

SAFETY:A NASA  presentation showed that air traffic controllers may have to deal with supersonic crewed aircraft, subsonic fixed-wing planes and large UAVs

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 06, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Air traffic controllers are facing increasing challenges with the continuous development of uncrewed

aerial vehicles (UAVs), experts said yesterday, the second day of the three-day International Aviation Safety Summit in Taipei.

A presentation from NASA Airspace Operations and Safety Program director Akbar Sultan showed that the airspace between 18,000 feet and 60,000 feet (5,486m and 18,288m) above ground could in future be jointly shared by supersonic crewed aircraft, subsonic fixed-wing aircraft and large UAVs.

Not only would there be airports monitoring the traffic of large civil aviation aircraft on the ground, but there would also be vertiports or droneports on top of buildings or inside airports to accommodate vertical landing and takeoff of electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, the presentation showed, adding that this presents an urgent need for the integration of different air traffic control systems.

As UAV applications are set to expand — from accelerating urban air mobility to facilitating short-haul and medium-haul transportation services — experts said that UAV manufacturers must standardize safety criteria, such as categorization of UAV certification and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) devices.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 04 November, 2019
By: Leslie Liao

Acclaimed Taiwanese film director Wei Te-sheng has signed a contract with the Tainan City Government to build a film-based history theme park. The park will serve as a backdrop for a trilogy Wei is working on, set in Dutch colonial-era Taiwan.

If you’re a fan of the Jurassic Park movies, then you can visit Universal Studios theme park in America to immerse yourself in the film’s atmosphere. Now, believe it or not, Taiwan is getting it’s own theme park based on an upcoming set of period-piece movies!

The mastermind behind this project is acclaimed Taiwanese director Wei Te-sheng. He’s building the park as a set for his upcoming Taiwan Trilogy, which focuses on stories that took place when the island was a Dutch colony in the 17th century.    [FULL  STORY]