Taiwan woman, 80, smothers polio-stricken son, 53, afraid he would be left alone after she dies
Do you work for this mothership.sg or something? You seem to only post link to that website 
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Mental health issues here are rampant. And essentially next to no meaningful care, societal push or education for prevention. As the elders that enabled the psychos (and often reared them) die off, and these people have less and less family control going on, it will spill into the streets more than before. It’s pretty much already determined given how little effort is given to this matter. Same with drug related issues and other such similar things.
Car wash shop boss extorting his employee and threatening him and even assaults the worker’s family and even attacking the worker with a machete, damaging the nerve in his hand.
Absolutely disgusting.
CoPilot AI translation:
Trapped in a Gang-Run Car Wash! Disabled Worker Forced to Sign Promissory Notes, Boss’s Identity Exposed
A gang-affiliated boss forced a disabled employee to sign promissory notes and even attacked him with a machete. In Taipei’s Zhongshan District, a car detailing shop was exposed: its owner, Li Zhe-wei, is a cadre of the “Mei Ying” faction of the Tiandao Alliance. He repeatedly accused a disabled worker surnamed Su of damaging customers’ cars and scratching paint, coercing him into signing promissory notes. Li also brought Su’s family to the shop to threaten them, and even injured Su with a machete. Su’s father publicly condemned the boss’s cruelty.
The thug detained Su and his family inside the car detailing shop, forcing them to sign promissory notes. Shockingly, this “thug” was Su’s own employer. Claiming Su had scratched cars, Li demanded compensation and resorted to violence, slashing with a machete.
Su’s father said: “Whenever he was dissatisfied, he would beat or curse. The boss claimed cars at the wash were scratched and demanded compensation. He asked my son if he had damaged them—my son said no. Then the boss cut his hand with a machete, severing nerves. It wasn’t my son’s fault, so why should he bear this crime?”
The shop, located near Linsen North Road in Taipei, had even been visited by celebrities such as Golden Horse Best Actor Lee Kang-sheng, actor Ko Chen-tung, and DJ/singer Luo Baiji. But police found that the victim, a man in his early 20s with a disability certificate, was only working part-time there. Li, the Tiandao Alliance gang cadre, used excuses like damaged cars and scratched paint to force promissory notes, summoned Su’s parents, beat them, and slashed Su with a machete. He extorted the family into paying NT$500,000–600,000, even taking NT$3,000 meant for tuition. For the already struggling family, this was devastating.
Su, his parents, and siblings—five people in total—squeezed into a damp, dirty studio apartment in Jinxin Building, paying NT$14,000 rent. After Su was injured, they could no longer afford rent or utilities.
Su’s father described: “The larger room is where my wife and two children sleep. I rely on this stove to cook. It’s truly adding insult to injury. When my wife and I still had jobs, we could save a little. After the car wash incident, we can’t bear it anymore.”
The gang boss acted like a vampire, preying on a disabled worker with brutal methods. Following investigation, Li Zhe-wei and his accomplices were all taken into custody. But for Su’s family, the trauma has left an indelible scar.
CoPilot AI translation.
Unscrupulous Car Wash Owner Withholds Wages, Detains Entire Family; Vulnerable Worker Attacked While Demanding Pay
In Taipei City, a man surnamed Su worked at a car wash run by a man surnamed Li. Because Su repeatedly scratched customers’ cars, Li used this as an excuse to dock Su’s wages and eventually refused to pay him altogether. When Su went to demand his pay, Li attacked him with a machete. Afterwards, Li even detained Su’s entire family at the car wash and forced them to sign promissory notes. Police later arrested Li and four accomplices, charging them under the Organized Crime Prevention Act, as well as with offenses including unlawful detention, assault, and disturbing public order.
Police investigations revealed that Su had been employed at Li’s car wash since February 2023. During that time, Su often damaged customers’ vehicles, which Li cited as justification for deducting wages. Su’s monthly salary was originally NT$28,000, but after deductions he only received NT$15,000.
Further inquiries showed that after Su left the job, the car wash was short-staffed, leaving other workers overburdened. Li then demanded that Su pay NT$10,000 per month in compensation. He even extorted money from Su’s family, forcibly taking Su, his father, and two younger siblings to the car wash, where he beat Su’s father in front of him.
Following the assault, Li summoned Su’s mother to “rescue” them, but only released the family after forcing her to withdraw NT$3,000 from their savings. Police learned that Su’s family are low-income, surviving on his mother’s dishwashing job, his father’s restaurant work, and Su’s car wash wages to support the five-member household.
Recently, police tracked down and arrested Li and four others. Searches of their residences and the car wash uncovered mobile phones, debt records, and promissory notes. Li and his accomplices were transferred for prosecution on charges including organized crime, unlawful detention, assault, and disturbing public order.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some court actually sided against the family because they signed those notes…
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Translated by ChatGPT:
German man came to Taiwan to join family, but after 2 years unemployed he tries to rob two stores — ends badly
A 61-year-old German man named UDO HOEPPNER (surname Ho) came to Taiwan under a family-reunification visa. He had repeatedly visited Taiwan over past years, but most stays were short. In 2022 he entered to join his partner, and this year his residence permit was extended until 2027.
However, over the past two years he repeatedly failed to find employment. According to prosecutors, he could not pay rent, often went hungry, and eventually — driven by both hunger and desperation — decided to commit robbery.
On September 13 in the early morning, at about 4:54 a.m., he walked from his rented home in the Zhongyuan shopping district in Zhongli to a convenience store on Guangzhou Road. There, he picked up a NT$29 juice with the intention to pay. But when the cashier was about to scan it, he instead pulled out a fruit knife hidden in his tote bag, threatened the staff in Chinese “Give me money!”, causing the cashier to flee. He then left the store taking the juice.
At about 5:30 a.m. the same morning, he went to a supermarket on Zhongbei Road. Through a staff-only entrance he approached the counter, again brandished the knife and demanded cash. A female clerk said she could not open the register. He then grabbed a pack of cigarettes and insisted she open the store’s safe. Under his threat, she unlocked it. He took around NT$10,000 in cash (a mix of 100-, 500-NTD notes and various coins), plus the cigarettes, then fled.
Police responded quickly after reports. Reviewing CCTV footage and patrolling nearby, they spotted him about an hour later — at a different convenience store eating. At 6:11 a.m. he was arrested; the officers recovered the fruit knife and NT$9,915 in cash.
Prosecutors judged that his actions constituted robbery with a weapon, invoking aggravated-robbery charges: two separate acts, each involving a dangerous weapon, to be prosecuted separately, requesting combined sentencing.
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The story had me hooked at the first mention of “Zhongli.”
There’s a fair chance I’d start criming if I lived there! 
Guy
Zhongli isn’t that bad, plenty of worse places in Taiwan . That guy just lost his mind eh. Or was starving and needed a smoke. What happened to the wife, maybe she threw him out.
Which place(s) can compete with the Armpit of Taiwan?{TM}
Guy
It pains me to say it, but Zhongli and Taoyuan in general have improved considerably in recent years. I’d say they are on a par with many cities now. Jilong, Changhua, Jiayi, Douliu are no better.
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This is not the defense of Zhongli you think it is 
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Yeah, well, could be worse.
EDIT: Actually, Taoyuan’s next tourism campaign slogan could be “Arguably better than Changhua!”.
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Justice has been served! 
The Shilin District Court on Tuesday handed a public-sector recycling worker in Taipei a two-year suspended sentence for corruption after he took home a discarded rice cooker valued at NT$32.56 (US$1.03) and gave it to someone else.
The worker surnamed Huang (黃), who is with the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection’s sanitation team in Beitou District, received a three-month jail term, suspended for two years, along with a one-year deprivation of civil rights, the court said.
Later, after the Beitou sanitation team was made aware of his action through a public complaint, Huang turned himself in to the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption.
The Shilin District Prosecutors Office filed corruption charges against him in June, saying the case involved a civil servant embezzling private property in the course of his duties.
Prosecutors said Huang had confessed to the offense and voluntarily surrendered his “illicit gains” – the discarded rice cooker – and asked the court to take this into account when determining his sentence.
During the internal investigation, it was found that he was so embarrassed when he asked the elderly woman to return the rice cooker that he bought her a new one with his own money, the department said.
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So insane for 32 ntd
I dont understand.
Isnt it like picking garbage and taking it home? In other words, the original owner dont want it anymore.
Why is it a crime.
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From stories and my own limited experiences, there are some seriously twisted morals in this country.
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Simple, the news and police don’t do well at describing prices and costs.
Example, a rice cooker is multiple thousands of $ new. Used ones, under 1000. If that number is to be believed (it seems obvious the journalism and/or official reports are bogus) than the $32nt worth is for recycling it (scrap metal and the like).
Not hard to understand, to be honest.
Also: people take stuff on the street all the time. It wasn’t very long ago the garbage trucks picked up at the curb. It still happens, but now it is basic policy that the garbage/recycle/compost trucks don’t want to take fuck all for fear of getting sued. Still a few places, especially those that the workers know the individual and just agree, but there are those few morons that put shit on the road, it gets taken away, and people get sued. It’s why we see more abandoned stuff on the road no2, government is terrified of the democracy and vote influence. Everyone will be blamed. So, just be smart about it. Don’t leave your shit on public land 
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In Taichung a guy completely out of his mind after taking 20 of those drug laced coffee packets entered a swimming pool and tried to shoot a kid and the swim coach with a pistol. He pointed the gun and pulled the trigger on a 6yr. old…luckily the gun jammed.
What’s extra shocking for a lot of people is this happened almost 2 months ago and is only in the news now.
CoPilot article translation:
Taichung man downs 20 drug-laced coffee packs, armed with gun, storms swimming pool—points weapon at 6-year-old girl and pulls the trigger
A man surnamed Chen in Taichung claimed he consumed 20 packets of drug-laced coffee in one sitting. He then carried a handgun with 26 bullets and broke into a children’s swimming pool in Xitun District, where he aimed at a coach and a 6-year-old girl during a lesson and pulled the trigger. Fortunately, the gun jammed and no tragedy occurred. After being arrested, Chen argued he “couldn’t control his body.” Prosecutors, however, determined he had murderous intent and indicted him for attempted murder of a child under 7.
Investigators found that at the end of 2024, Chen had obtained an improvised handgun, 43 bullets, and 74 packets of drug coffee containing etomidate, cathinone, and ketamine from a friend in Daxi District, Taoyuan.
On October 10 this year, after consuming the drugs, Chen entered the office area of a swimming school in Xitun around 6 p.m. with the gun and ammunition. A supervisor surnamed Huang saw him and quickly fled in fear.
Chen then moved toward the pool, where a coach surnamed Yeh was teaching a 6- and 7-year-old sibling pair. Chen jumped into the pool, advanced toward Yeh and the girl, aimed the gun, racked the slide, and pulled the trigger. The weapon jammed, but Chen continued threatening them by waving the gun.
Failing to fire, Chen climbed out of the pool, went to a nearby staircase, racked the slide again, and aimed a second time at Yeh and the girl, causing them to fear for their lives.
Later, Chen struck a car windshield in the parking lot with the gun’s butt, terrifying the driver surnamed Tsai and a child inside. Police arrived after receiving reports, arrested Chen, and seized the firearm, ammunition, and large quantities of drug coffee.
During questioning, Chen denied attempted murder and intimidation, claiming he had consumed nearly 20 drug coffee packs, lost consciousness, and couldn’t control his body, insisting he had even submerged the gun in water. However, Yeh and the girl testified clearly that Chen aimed at them, pulled the trigger, and threatened them with the gun. Surveillance footage corroborated their statements.
Prosecutors concluded the investigation and indicted Chen on charges of attempted murder of a child under 7.
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Wow! Thankfully it’s really difficult to get hold of a firearm in Taiwan. I can think of many people who I would be very concerned if they were able to get one.
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Imagine those packets were NOT drug laced and the aforementioned Mr Chen downed twenty of them with coffee inside. He might also have acted insanely under those circumstances too. 
Guy
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And i thot taiwan was a safe space…