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.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
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