SOCIETY
Visiting teen dies in fall
A Chinese-American, 17, fell to his death from an upper floor of the Chientan Overseas Youth Activity Center in Taipei, the China Youth Corps said yesterday. The teenager, whose name has not been released, arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday last week with his sister to participate in a 21-day summer camp run by the corps, China Youth Corps inspector Wang Chun-yuan (王群元) said. However, he appeared to have had some difficulty adapting and on Saturday last week began hiding in a clothes closet, Wang said. After communicating with his parents, the corps made arrangements to send the youth to Hong Kong today to meet with relatives, Wang said. It also arranged for him to visit the Taipei Zoo yesterday. However, after the zoo visit, his body was found yesterday afternoon in a garden, Wang said. Police said they are investigating the incident, including the possibility that the young man committed suicide, but said he had not left a note.
POLITICS
Township mayor guilty
The Pingtung District Court yesterday invalidated the election of Chen Lung-chin (陳隆進) as the mayor of Liouciou Township (琉球) after finding him guilty of vote buying. Chen, Liouciou Township Council member Hung Tzu-chien (洪慈綪) and a township council candidate were indicted on charges of paying NT$4,000 (US$128) per vote ahead of the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections last year. Chen said he would appeal. A verdict in Hung’s case is expected tomorrow. Hung, who ran for office for the first time last year, gained prominence while acting as a spokesperson for her family after her father, Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成), was killed when Philippine Coast Guard personnel strafed his fishing boat during a confrontation in May 2013.
SOCIETY
Mobile bathing van donated
Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) over the weekend thanked MySchin Co chairman Chen Chih-chi (陳志池) for donating a mobile bathing vehicle, the county’s third. The vehicle cost more than NT$2 million. The county’s seniors and disabled residents will be better served, Wei said, adding that the county needs at least eight such vehicles to serve residents. He said that he hoped more people would assist the county government’s efforts to help people in need. Chen, who grew up in the county’s Erlin Township (二林), said he had always wanted to do something for areas lacking resources, especially when society is rapidly aging. The county government launched the mobile bathing program last year with two bathing vehicles, which as of the end of May had made 1,733 missions. The new vehicle is scheduled to enter service next month.
TRANSPORTATION
App provides MRT times
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) yesterday launched a mobile app that allows users to check the arrival times of Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) System trains. The app also displays the location of YouBike stations and parking lots near MRT stations and provides bus transfer information, the transit operator said. It also indicates which MRT exits have elevators, escalators or staircases, the company added. The app was released for Android devices in the Google Play store yesterday afternoon and is to be available for iOS devices in the Apple App Store after screening by Apple Inc, it added.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
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