Associated Press
Date: Jun 27, 2015
By RALPH JENNINGS, Associated Press

A fire on a music stage spread into a crowd of spectators at a party Saturday night at a Taiwan water park, injuring more than 300 people, authorities said.

An accidental explosion of an unknown powder set off the fire near the stage in front of about 1,000 spectators, said Wang Wei-sheng, a liaison with the New Taipei City fire department command center.

Wang said 83 people had serious injuries and 131 others have light injuries.

Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported the fire at the Formosa Water Park in New Taipei City near the island’s capital was quickly brought under control.

Video showed rescue workers and bystanders carrying burned and injured people on their backs, in inflatable boats and on stretchers to get medical treatment.

CNA reported witnesses as saying the fire spread quickly after the colored powder was blown into the air.

It wasn’t clear if the colored powder was part of a performance. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

INSIGHT:Taiwan fared relatively well, while China had poor results, with some speculating that the report’s late release was to avoid upsetting China prior to talks

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 27, 2015
By: William Lowther  /  Staff reporter in Washington

Taiwan’s principal human rights problems are labor exploitation of migrant workers by fishing companies, exploitation of domestic workers by brokerage agencies and official corruption, a new report from the US Department of State says.

While Taiwan gets generally high marks in the report, it notes that authorities indicted 687 officials, including 69 high-ranking officials, on corruption charges last year.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014 was issued on Thursday — four months after a deadline set by the US Congress.

There was widespread speculation that the delay was deliberate to avoid upsetting China before a series of strategic and diplomatic talks were completed this week and to appease Iran where nuclear talks are being finalized.     [FULL  STORY]

The Jakarta Post
Date: June 26 2015

Riau Islands Police are cooperating with Interpol in Taiwan in the investigation of fraud cases following the arrest of 58 Taiwanese people in Batam, Riau Islands.

The arrests were made on Thursday in two houses in two different residential complexes in Batam after the police received reports from neighbors about suspicious activities in both houses.

“We received the reports last week and we followed them up before the arrests on Thursday,” Riau Islands criminal division head Sr. Comr. Adi Karya told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

All 58 suspects – 52 men and 6 women – were found to be holding Chinese passports. They are allegedly involved in fraud cases targeting Chinese people in the region. The suspects allegedly contacted victims listed in phonebooks then threatened and cajoled them into sending them money.

Adi said he then contacted Senior Police Officer Jay Lee, who was also an Interpol officer in Jakarta to assist him in the case.

Lee said there had been 10 similar cases found in Indonesia, including in Bali, Semarang, Central Java and Jakarta.

“We will follow up the case,” he said.

Taipei Times
Date:  Jun 27, 2015
By: William Lowther  /  Staff reporter in Washington

Taiwan appears to have played a limited role in the seventh annual US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington this week.

Sources say that the US did not even raise the subject during closed-door talks.

However, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) said in his publicly released closing remarks that China had “reaffirmed its principled positions on Taiwan.”

He said that China had stressed the need for the US to respect and accommodate the interests and concerns of China and “handle differences and sensitive issues with caution.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/26
By: Y. C. Chiang and Lillian Lin

Seoul, June 26 (CNA) Three Taiwanese businessmen, three Taiwanese firms, and a Syrian company have been listed by the South Korean government as subjects of financial sanction, for their involvement in arms trade with North Korea.

According to reports in South Korean media, the Taiwanese and Syrian businessmen have earlier been sentenced to prison terms in the United States while the companies had faced sanctions.

One of the Taiwanese businessmen, Tsai Hsien-tai, had pleaded guilty in a U.S. Federal Court in Chicago last October and admitted to having engaged in illegal business transactions involving the export of goods and machinery originating from the United States.     [FULL  STORY]

‘END CONTRACT’:The Songshan Tree Protection Volunteer Union’s Arthur Yo said the Farglory contract should be ended before it has a chance to finish the job

Taipei Times
Date: , Jun 27, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Banks said that they hope the Taipei City Government can “coach” Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to produce a follow-up Taipei Dome safety plan, according to Deputy Taipei Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基).

The banks’ stance belies Farglory’s position that the terms of the contract under which it borrowed construction funds should restrict the results of ongoing negotiations with the city, Teng said after a meeting yesterday.

The city and Farglory have been locked in conflict over the build-operate-transfer project’s contract and site safety since January.

The city government yesterday held an initial “information session” with the banks behind the Taipei Dome’s syndicated loan.

“Even though financing institutions are not included in the [Dome] contract, their loans mean that they have a large stake in the project,” Teng said.

He said that city departments had made several presentations to banking representatives to ensure that they had “first-hand” information on city policy.

“There is a possibility that in the future our partnership can continue to be pushed forward and expanded,” he said.