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The top story from this past week involved a deadly killing spree on the Taipei metro.
The attacker, a 21-year-old university student, was immediately arrested on Wednesday after stabbing to death four people and injuring another 21. It was the first fatal attack on the city’s metro system.
On Thursday, Premier Jiang Yi-huah sent his condolences to the victims’ families. The interior ministry and the transportation ministry have both deployed more police officers to step up security on public transportation systems.
In a press conference, Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin said that for the time being, an armed police officer will travel on every metro train. He also promised to expand the metro police force.
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Also this past week, former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison for laundering upwards of US$2 million donated by Taiwan during his time in office.
Portillo, who was president of Guatemala from 2000 to 2004, took the money and placed it in US bank accounts. The US charged Portillo with money laundering, and he was extradited from Guatemala in May 2013. He pleaded guilty in March of this year.
According to the foreign ministry in Taipei, the money had been donated to support educational programs in Guatemala.
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And finally this past week, Taiwan held bilateral talks with 40 countries on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly (WHA). The WHA is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization; the group’s annual meeting kicked off Monday in Geneva.
Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta, who is in Geneva to attend the meeting, told the media on Wednesday that the Taiwanese delegation talked to 22 countries last year, a number which increased to 40 this year. He also said the delegation was hoping to strengthen cooperation with other countries.
Chiu gave a speech on Tuesday to share Taiwan’s experience in controlling contagious diseases and providing medical care in the wake of natural disasters.