Shanghaiist
Date: Jul 8, 2015
By Shanghaiist

Just as the internet was coming down from all the hype over Taipei’s hunky bean curd seller and the now semi-famous “pork princess”, another beautiful vendor in Taiwan has got web users in a tizzy. Must be something in the water.

Wang Xianghong was recently photographed at a fruit and vegetable store on Qiangjiang Road in Taipei’s Beitou district, and customers, mostly female, admit that they can’t help but ogle the worker’s six-pack as they’re shopping for fresh produce.

“It must be quite hot today for his top to be off. I’d want to buy more,” one female shopper said.

Wang, who is 20 years old and measures 185 centimeters tall, reportedly works as a part-time model with the Taiwanese agency CatWalk.By Joyce Ng     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-08
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

A team of four graduate students from National Taiwan University of Technology

The students’ spring-loaded design means less physical effort needs to be expended to break the glass. (Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University of Technology)

(NTUT) in Taipei has won a Red Dot Award in the category of design concept with an idea that improves the emergency window-breaking mechanism for buses, the school announced in a statement Tuesday.

The prize-winning work, named “Corner Breaker,” was developed by Chiu Kai-hsin, Chang Keng-tzu, Yang Chu-ting and Teng Pei-chih. It was one of seven NTUT efforts picked for the prestigious design awards from among nearly 5,000 entries from around the world, the university said.

Explaining their design, Teng said he had read in the news that around 40% of drivers of public buses in Taiwan lock the emergency window breakers in their vehicles so that they will not be stolen by passengers.

The most severe casualties in many bus accidents are caused by passengers having difficulty in escaping, Teng said, and it is particularly difficult for physically weaker passengers like seniors and children to break the windows with the emergency hammer provided. He and his teammates decided to improve the existing device to something that was not just easier to handle but also able to release an alert “when touched by mistake,” Teng said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/08
By: Justin Su, Lung Pei-ning, Kelven Huang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 8 (CNA) Over NT$1.03 billion (US$33.21 billion) has been donated to help people suffering from severe burns sustained in dust explosions at the Formosa Fun Coast water park in New Taipei on June 27, the municipal government said Wednesday.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, a total of NT$1,031,608,370 in donations had been collected in a special account created by New Taipei to help people who were injured in the flames triggered by the blasts and their families, according to the city’s figures.

To ensure the funds are used to help the burn victims, the city has established a committee to supervise the account consisting of representatives of the victims’ families, the Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation, the Consumers’ Foundation and the Taiwan Society for Burn Injuries and Wound Healing, according to New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-08
By: CNA

The Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Tuesday

The statement on the South China Sea on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website. (Internet photo)

reiterating that the ROC owns and exercises effective control over islands in the South China Sea.

The following is the statement:

With regard to the South China Sea, which has been in the international spotlight of late, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) reiterates its position as follows:

1. Whether from the perspectives of history, geography, or international law, the Nansha (Spratly) Islands, Shisha (Paracel) Islands, Chungsha Islands (Macclesfield Bank), and Tungsha (Pratas) Islands, as well as their surrounding waters, are an inherent part of ROC territory and waters. As the ROC enjoys all rights to these island groups and their surrounding waters in accordance with international law, the ROC government does not recognize any claim to sovereignty over, or occupation of, these areas by other countries, irrespective of the reasons put forward or methods used for such claim or occupation.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 09, 2015
By: Wu Po-hsuan and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Working with researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, Taiwanese geology

University of Texas doctoral student Kaustubh Thirumalai, left, inspects faro coral near the Solomon Islands’ Ranongga Island in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University associate professor Shen Chuan-chou

professor Shen Chuan-chou (沈川洲) was part of a team that uncovered a history spanning millennia of seismic activity around the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.

Until a devastating earthquake in 2007 proved otherwise, close to a century’s worth of seismic monitoring data going back to the British colonization of the area in the early 1900s had led to the belief that the region was free of large earthquakes.

The magnitude 8.1 quake in 2007 caused a subsequent tsunami that killed 52 people.

Coral reefs near beaches are “natural seismic activity recorders,” as they provide evidence of earthquakes, Shen said. m    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/07
By: Tyson Lu and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, July 7 (CNA) Dozens of stones were brought back to a beach in eastern Taiwan

(Photo courtesy of the East Coast National Scenic Area Headquarters)

where they were taken from 10 years ago after the person who gathered them up decided to atone for the mistake.

A resident of Puzi in Chiayi County who refused to give their name mailed the rocks to the East Coast National Scenic Area Headquarters, and confessed in an accompanying letter to being attracted by the stones’ beauty during a visit to a beach in Sanxiantai in Taitung County a decade ago.

A few years later, the person learned on the news that collecting stones in Sanxiantai was against the law and wanted to return them in person but kept putting off the plan because of being too busy working, the individual wrote.     [FULL  STORY]

PAID LEAVE:New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu said he would tap corporate donations to the disaster victims to cover the cost of subsidizing leave pay for their family members

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 08, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu and Shih Hsiu-chuan  /  Staff reporters

A 35-year-old man critically injured in the Color Play Asia fire at Formosa Fun Coast

Chen Po-chang is wheeled out of Far Eastern Hospital in New Taipei City yesterday. Photo: Chen Wei-tsung, Taipei Times

(八仙海岸) on June 27 was discharged yesterday from New Taipei City’s Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, becoming the first victim with burns to more than 20 percent of their body to be sent home.

Chen Po-chang (陳柏璋), who suffered burns to 20.8 percent of his body, was wheeled out of the hospital in a wheelchair yesterday afternoon with burns clearly visible on his arms and legs.

Chen told reporters he was standing right in front of the main stage at the event at the Bali District (八里) water park when the explosion occurred, and that he ran so fast that he lost both his shoes.

He thanked his family and the hospital for their support, and encouraged the other victims of the fire to have faith in themselves.