‘OUT OF TIME’:Students said the ministry did not show any sincerity at the forum, from which the education minister was absent, and complained of being snubbed

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 24, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Students from the Northern Taiwan Anti-Curriculum Changes Alliance yesterday stormed out

of a Ministry of Education sponsored forum in Taipei on controversial adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines.

Alliance spokesman Brian Sung (宋運川) said that K-12 Education Administration Director Wu Ching-shan’s (吳清山) responses to students’ questions lacked sincerity, with Wu avoiding key issues and deliberately wasting time.

“[Wu] was unable to give an account for why the ministry waited until now to put on the forums, or where in the world Minister [of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華)] is,” Sung said.

He rejected offers by Wu Ching-shan to arrange a meeting between student representatives and Wu, saying it was too late.     [FULL  STORY]

• Alex Haas, 27, was teaching in Taipei and burned when a firestorm erupted after a flammable powder substance blew up over a park stage on June 28
• Three people died and more than 500 were injured
• Haas has undergone several skin graft operations and faces years of physical and emotional recovery

  The Daily Mail
  Dated: 22 July 2015
  By: Associated Press

  A New Hampshire man recovering in Taiwan after being severely burned in an explosion at a water park there last month says he’s grateful after $100,000 was raised for his medical care.

  New Hampshire man who suffered 90 percent burns after an explosion at Taiwan water park thanks wellwishers who have raised almost $100,000 for his medical costs

  Alex Haas, 27, was teaching in Taipei and burned when a firestorm erupted after a flammable powder substance blew up over a park stage on June 28
  Three people died and more than 500 were injured
  Haas has undergone several skin graft operations and faces years of physical and emotional recovery     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-22
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) on Wednesday said 12 among 370 sample

items failed to meet the regulation on labeling, and three were found to contain veterinary drug residues, including the eggs sold by popular chain Yi-Jin Foods and Wei-Chuan Food Corp.

Since May, the TFDA have collaborated with local health authorities across 22 cities and counties on a nationwide inspection on eggs sold in supermarkets, malls and convenience stores.

Chiu Hsiu-yi, TFDA’s director in central Taiwan, said it had conducted random inspections on 370 eggs sold by 455 distributors nationwide, of which 358 have passed regulations on labeling while three amongst the 95 eggs tested for drug residues have failed to meet safety standards.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-22
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Kaohsiung port authority seized two shipments of more than 50 frozen tunas stuffed with 138 kilograms of amphetamines bound for Japan, reports said Wednesday.

The 1.4-billion yen worth of drugs smuggled using two containers were the largest seizure ever recorded, according to the Ministry of Justice’s (MOJ) Bureau of Investigation.

The bureau said it received tips from the Kaohsiung Harbor Police Department that two suspicious containers carrying frozen tunas had drugs stuffed in them, which had been loaded onto a cargo ship docked at Pier 63.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/22
By: Lu Hsin-hui, Chou Hui-ying and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Wednesday a

Chinese military exercise that reportedly simulated an attack on Taiwan has hurt the feelings of people in both Taiwan and China.

Since June, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been conducting a series of military exercises, coded “Stride 2015 Zhurihe,” at Zhurihe Training Base in Inner Mongolia.

Beijing-based state-run China Central Television on July 5 showed video clip of PLA special forces sprinting into a five-story building that looked like Taiwan’s Presidential Office.

The video gave rise to speculations that the exercises were simulating an attack on Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-22
By: Staff Reporter

China’s ongoing “Stride-2015 Zhurihe” series military exercise may have included simulating a

siege on Taiwan’s Presidential Office Building, reports the Shanghai-based Guancha Syndicate.

The Stride-2015 Zhurihe series exercise commenced on June 1 at the Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base of the People’s Liberation Army in the grasslands of northern China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Zhurihe is Asia’s largest and the PLA’s most modernized training base, and is the only base where the PLA can hold group-army-scale actual-troop campaign exercises.

The series has now entered its third phase, “Stride-2015 Zhurihe C,” which again split the troops into red and blue squads in full-scale competitive drills. Footage from the exercise was aired on China’s national broadcaster CCTV on July 5, during which participants talked about the seriousness of the exercise and the importance of treating it as a real live-fire mission.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 23, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed reports that Deputy Taipei Mayor Chou

Li-fang (周麗芳) has been relieved of her responsibilities as 2017 Universiade chief executive officer.

“The Universiade needs a full-time executive, but there is no way [Chou] can spend half of every day at the Taipei Arena,” Ko said, terming the change a “reassignment of duties.”

In response to media reports terming Chou “indecisive,” Ko said that everyone had their own opinion, but he believed in “using people’s strong points instead of their weaknesses.”

It was not necessary to respond to every criticism, he said.

Chou’s appointment as Taipei’s third deputy mayor came months after the appointments of the others in the role, while she assumed the post of Universiade executive after an open call for applications failed to find a suitable candidate.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/21
By: Lung Pei-ning, Pien Chin-feng and Bill Lin

Taipei, July 21 (CNA) A girl identified by the hospital only by the nickname of Hsiao Chien (小芊) wrote a letter on her 18th birthday Tuesday to express her gratitude to the healthcare workers at Cheng Hsin General Hospital in Taipei who have been taking care of her since she was injured in the June 27 dust explosion at a water park in New Taipei.

Hsiao Chien suffered burns to 54 percent of her body, as well as inhalation burns, in the explosion, Cheng Hsin General Hospital said.

After several rounds of debridement, her condition has stabilized, the hospital said.

She wrote: “Dear Dr. Hsiao, Thanks for listening to my requests. It seems that you are my father because of the care you have taken of me. I love you.”     [FULL  STORY]

Rocket News 24
July 21, 2015

At any time of year, a nice, long soak in a hot spring will leave your muscles relaxed and your skin feeling smooth. It’ll also leave your body feeling hotter than normal for some time after you get out, though, and while that’s part of the appeal in the winter, in the summer it’s just an unpleasant side effect of bathing in geothermally heated water.

That’s why in some parts of Japan that are famous for their hot springs you’ll see travelers walking around town wearing the thin, cotton kimono provided by their hotels as they take in the sites after a bath. A Chinese tourist at a hot spring resort in Taiwan seems to have had a similar idea, except he was apparently much more concerned with cooling down than staying covered up, as he decided do a little shopping wearing nothing but a towel.

Taitung is located on the southeastern coast of Taiwan. The town has a tropical climate with steamy, humid summers, but it also has hot spring baths, which continue to draw visitors all year round.     [FULL  STORY]

As two women slog it out to be Taiwan’s first female president, Sophy Ridge explains why this battle makes the country’s imposing neighbour look dreadfully out of date
            
The Telegraph
Date: 21 Jul 2015
By Sophy Ridge, Political Correspondent, Sky News

Taiwan has the kind of democracy that gives you goose bumps.

Throughout its history the little island has been squashed and shaped by the closest super-power, China.

Beijing continues to have sovereignty over Taiwan and seems to view it as a renegade sibling that will inevitably be subsumed. If Taiwan should at some point officially declare independence, China has refused to rule out military intervention.

Despite that, since 1996 the plucky Taiwanese have been electing their own leaders. Election turnout is consistently around 75 per cent. Here, democracy really matters.

This year the Taiwanese are preparing to use their votes to do something extraordinary.

No matter who wins, the next president is almost certain to be a woman.     [FULL  STORY]