CRIME
Homeless man attacked
New Taipei City police said they were investigating after a homeless man was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant as he slept in a park in the city’s Shulin District (樹林) on Monday night. The 64-year-old man, surnamed Chang (張), was sleeping in a park pavilion on Shulin’s Shuiyuan Street when he was awoken at about 11pm by a man who slashed him multiple times with a knife before fleeing. After the attack, Chang went to a nearby sink to clean his wounds and then went back to sleep in the pavilion, where a passersby later reported him to the police due to the large quantities of blood at the scene. Chang was taken to the Tucheng branch of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital to be treated for slash wounds on his body and hands, and a severed left index finger, which was later found near the pavilion, police said. Chang was believed to have consumed alcohol before going to sleep, resulting in a diminished awareness of pain and did not know who attacked him. Investigators are reviewing surveillance camera footage to try and identify the suspect in the attack, police added.
CRIME
Mother, boyfriend detained
The Taitung District Court on Monday granted a request by prosecutors to detain a single mother and her live-in boyfriend suspected of attempted murder, after the woman’s 11-month-old daughter died from alleged child abuse. The toddler was unconscious when she was rushed to hospital on Oct. 8. Doctors found that she had multiple physical injuries, including to the head, a Taitung District Prosecutors’ Office statement said. After efforts to resuscitate her failed, she was pronounced dead on Saturday by the hospital, which immediately alerted the police and the Taitung Social Affairs Department of the matter, prosecutors said. The daughter was one of a pair of twins born to the 28-year-old mother, police said. The woman has had three failed marriages and a follow-up investigation also revealed that the twin son also had bruises on him, indicating alleged child abuse, police said. Besides the twins, the mother also has another child from a previous marriage and lives with her boyfriend, identified only by his surname Kao (高). During questioning, police said the couple’s answers were inconsistent with their statements and prosecutors who reviewed the case later filed a request with the court to have them detained over suspicion of attempted murder.
EDUCATION
Ten injured in collapse
Ten girls at Donghu Elementary School in Taipei on Monday sustained minor injuries after portable bleachers on which they were performing collapsed under their feet. The girls, who were part of a choir made up of 40 students, fell from heights ranging from 60cm to 120cm when the portable bleachers collapsed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the 10 girls were sent to hospitals immediately for treatment and observation. The girls were sent to Taipei City Hospital Zhongxiao Branch and Tri-Service General Hospital. Fan I-more (方怡謨), deputy superintendent of Taipei City Hospital Zhongxiao Branch, said all six girls sent to that hospital were calm after sustaining minor injuries, such as sprains and abrasions, and they were discharged an hour after arriving. Tri-Service General Hospital said in a statement that the four girls it admitted had bruises and abrasions, and had been released. The bleachers that collapsed were purchased about four to five years ago, school principal Hsiu Chin-chu (修金莒) said. Hsiu said that the bleachers collapsed because the weight of the 40 students was unequally distributed.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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