CRIME
Robbers still at large
Taoyuan police are still searching for an armed suspect who robbed two security guards at a convenience store in Sinwu District (新屋) and fled with NT$518,000 (US$18,582) yesterday. The Sinwu police precinct said that a man armed with a pistol entered a convenience store on Zhongshan E Road at about 10am just as the guards were putting money into an automated teller machine. The man fired a warning shot, which hit the cash box holding the money being put into the machine, and told them to hand over the cash, police said. The robber immediately left with the stolen cash, and no injuries were reported, police said. A vehicle used during the robbery was found later in the day. Police said that the same convenience store reported an ATM heist in March 2019, in which suspects made away with NT$1.26 million by dragging the entire machine away with iron chains.
JUSTICE
Taiwan improves ranking
Taiwan has been ranked 25th in the category of “fairly administered justice” by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), a business education school in Lausanne, Switzerland, Judicial Yuan spokesman Chang Yung-hung (張永宏) said. Taiwan’s place on the list is its best showing in the justice category of the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings, with its previous best showing last year at 31, and 13 notches higher since 2018. This progress shows that the Judicial Yuan’s multiple reforms have been effective. The IMD has issued the list annually since 1989, ranking competitiveness based on economic performance, governmental efficacy, corporate efficacy and level of infrastructure.
ACADEMIA
French grants in the works
The French Office in Taipei and Kaohsiung-based National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to create a scholarship program that encourages students from the university to pursue short-term exchanges or dual degree programs in France. Under the terms, NSYSU would provide up to NT$90,000 per semester per year, while the French office would offer travel expenses. Up to 10 NSYSU students are to be awarded scholarships each year. The French government awards a variety of scholarships to foreign students to study in France, including one that pays tuition fees and accommodation based on social criteria, NSYSU said. The university has 26 sister schools in France along with established exchange programs, and dual degree programs at four of the schools.
DIVERSITY
LGBTQ+ chatbot offers help
The Taipei-based Taiwan Tongzhi (LGBTQ+) Hotline Association has posted a chatbot online aimed at offering counseling to members of the LGBTQ+ community conflicted about telling others about their sexual orientation. Although Taiwan legalized same-sex unions in May 2019, traditional values about marriage remain entrenched in many parts of society, leaving gay men and women reluctant to reveal their sexuality. The group said it has established chatrooms on Facebook and Instagram in cooperation with the two social platforms. The association said a wide range of content provided by the chatbot in its chatrooms can provide guidance and companionship to LGBTQ+ members to those hiding their sexual orientation from family or friends.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the