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KMT presidential hopeful’s health raises concerns

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/07
By: S.Y. Tang and Lillian Lin

Taipei, July 7 (CNA) The health of ruling Kuomintang presidential hopeful Hung

Hung Hsiu-chu (CNA file photo)

Hung Hsiu-chu (CNA file photo)

Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) raised public concern Tuesday in the wake of reports that she has in the past been treated at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) for stage 1 breast cancer.

Yu Tzu-hsiang (游梓翔), spokesman of Hung’s campaign office, declined to comment on the reports, saying that personal health is a matter of privacy.

He added, however, that Hung will find an appropriate time to respond to inquiries regarding her health.     [FULL  STORY]

Taitung ferries, balloon festival canceled as Linfa approaches

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

A balloon festival in southeastern Taiwan’s Taitung county was canceled Monday and

One of the hot air balloons in storage at a school in Taitung, July 6. (Photo/Chuang Che-chuan)

One of the hot air balloons in storage at a school in Taitung, July 6. (Photo/Chuang Che-chuan)

ferry services between the county and two islands off its coast were due to be suspended as Tropical Storm Linfa approached Taiwan.

Earlier in the day, the national Central Weather Bureau issued a sea warning for the storm, which was centered 400 kilometers south of Taiwan’s southern tip as of 8 am, moving northward at a speed of 6-9 kilometers.

Linfa has maximum sustained winds of 83 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 108 kph, according to the bureau.     [FULL  STORY]

Tranditional Hakka Banquet 東勢客家美食辦桌 票券開賣

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 08, 2015

To promote Hakka cuisine, the Taichung City government will hold a Dongshih Hakka

Taichung City Mayor Lin Chia-lung, center, stands in front of a table of various Hakka dishes on Tuesday last week as he welcomes the public to sample classic delicacies in Taichung’s Dongshih Township. 台中市長林佳龍上週二站在一桌多樣的客家料理前歡迎大眾前來品嚐道地的佳餚。攝於台中東勢。 Photo: Lee Chung-hsien, Liberty Times 照片：自由時報記者李忠憲

Taichung City Mayor Lin Chia-lung, center, stands in front of a table of various Hakka dishes on Tuesday last week as he welcomes the public to sample classic delicacies in Taichung’s Dongshih Township.
台中市長林佳龍上週二站在一桌多樣的客家料理前歡迎大眾前來品嚐道地的佳餚。攝於台中東勢。
Photo: Lee Chung-hsien, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者李忠憲

Cuisine Outdoor Banquet next month. The venue will have one hundred banquet tables and can seat one thousand people. The public can indulge in Hakka cuisine while enjoying a wonderful program of performances and a raffle. Tickets to the event have already gone on sale, with a number of tickets still available; one ticket reserves one table. People that are interested may purchase tickets on the ibon online booking system.

Taichung City Mayor Lin Chia-lung used the slogan “South and north Taiwan eat to get full, while Taichung eats smart” to recommend everyone to head to Dongshih to try out the cuisine. Lin said, aside from eating smart, Taichung food is extordinarily varied, and the authentic cuisine of Dongshih has the purist Hakka flavor. For only NT$3,999, you can enjoy 12 Hakka dishes. Lin recommends that everyone register for the event as early as possible to have a good meal together and experience rich Hakka culture.

The Economic Development Bureau says the Dongshih Hakka Cuisine Outdoor Banquet will bring together Dongshih township’s local Hakka seal meat, drunken chicken and fresh shrimp, assorted Hakka grass jelly, pickled mustard-green pork soup and more, served at an outdoor banquet with one hundred tables and seating for one thousand people. The bureau hopes the event will raise the profile of Taichung’s Hakka food culture.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to defend sovereignty, rights over Taiping Island: Ma (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/07
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, July 7 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said Tuesday that the Republic of 201507070011t0001China government will “staunchly defend” its sovereignty over Taiping Island in the South China Sea and every right held by the country under international law.

Citing international documents such as the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Declaration and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, Ma said that the ROC regained sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea after the end of the World War II in 1945.

Since then, the ROC government has built infrastructure on islands in the region, including Taiping Island, Ma said while speaking at an international conference marking the ROC’s victory in its war of resistance against Japanese invasion during World War II.     [FULL  STORY]

Decision to grant paid leave to some fire victims’ family members panned

Taipei Times
Date:  Jul 07, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Premier Mao Chi-kuo’s (毛治國) proposal to grant paid leave to civil servants who are

New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu yesterday speaks to reporters in Taipei after calling on companies and employers to give family members of victims of the Color Play Asia fire at Formosa Fun Coast in New Taipei City paid leave as they help care for their relatives. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu yesterday speaks to reporters in Taipei after calling on companies and employers to give family members of victims of the Color Play Asia fire at Formosa Fun Coast in New Taipei City paid leave as they help care for their relatives. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

the immediate relatives of victims of the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) fire, and the Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Personnel Administration’s (DGPA) confirmation yesterday of the measure’s legality, have prompted debate about the fairness and appropriateness of the government’s actions.

The DGPA yesterday said that civil servants who are the immediate relatives of victims are entitled to 15 days of paid leave in accordance with the Operation Regulations on the Suspension of Offices and Classes in times of Natural Disasters (天然災害停止上班及上課作業辦法).

Including the five days of paid family care leave granted by the regulations on civil servants’ leave of absence, civil servants with immediate relatives injured in the water park dust explosion and resulting fire are entitled to a total of 20 days paid leave, the agency said.

Thirty-five victims’ families would benefit from the measure, according to the agency.     [FULL  STORY]

Death toll from New Taipei fiery blast rises to 3 (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/06
By: Sunrise Huang and Jay Chen

Taipei, July 6 (CNA) A 20-year-old university student died Monday of burns sustained in 15046793a recent fiery blast at a water park in New Taipei, bringing the death toll from the fire to three, health officials said.

Chen Tien-shun (陳天順), who suffered burns to about 50 percent of his body, died after 10 days in an intensive care unit at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou District, New Taipei.

He was a junior in the Department of Civil Engineering at Tamkang University, also in New Taipei.

In accordance with the wishes of his family, Chen was transferred to his own home in Banciao District in the city shortly before his death.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan seeks to diversify sources of foreign workers

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-06
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

In anticipation of greater demand for caregivers as Taiwan is scheduled to implement

A caregiver from Indonesia and a senior citizen in Taipei, March 30. (File photo/Fang Chun-che)

A caregiver from Indonesia and a senior citizen in Taipei, March 30. (File photo/Fang Chun-che)

the Long Term Care Service Act in 2017, the country’s Ministry of Labor has geared up to widen the sources of caregivers from more countries.

Tsai Meng-liang, deputy director-general of the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency, said his ministry, through assistance provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has actively been inquiring other countries’ willingness to send their nationals to work in Taiwan.

In recent years, apart from the large numbers of laborers that Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand have sent to Taiwan, Myanmar and Cambodia are two new countries to which Taiwan is looking to help ease its labor shortage amid a rapid growth of the senior population.

Indonesia, Taiwan’s largest source of foreign workers, has announced that it will freeze its exportation of domestic helpers to Taiwan from 2017, though the Ministry of Labor said it has yet to be notified of this by the Indonesian side.     [FULL  STORY]

Lai continues to dodge city council

Taipei Times
Date: , Jul 07, 2015
By: Tsai Wen-chu  /  Staff reporter

Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party yesterday

Tainan Mayor William Lai points to a clause in the Code of Civil Procedure that he said is relevant to vote-buying charges against Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao during a news conference in Tainan yesterday. Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times

Tainan Mayor William Lai points to a clause in the Code of Civil Procedure that he said is relevant to vote-buying charges against Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao during a news conference in Tainan yesterday. Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times

repeated that he and other Tainan City Government officials would not attend the Tainan City Council’s question-and-answer session, which is set to begin today.

Instead, he and other officials would respond to councilors’ questions on paper, Lai said.

Lai has been boycotting city council meetings since January, saying that he would not attend until the resolution of corruption cases against Tainan Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Citing the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), which stipulates that courts must conclude election-related cases within six months, Lai yesterday urged the court to rule on the case as soon as possible.     [FULL  STORY]

Chan-hom To Intensify; Late-Week Threat to Okinawa, Taiwan, China as a Strong Typhoon

weather.com
Date: Jul 5 2015
By Jon Erdman

Three Tropical Storms at Once

Three tropical storms are now moving through the Pacific. Tropical Storm Chan-Hom could become a super typhoon.

Tropical Storm Chan-hom passed near Rota Island Sunday, bringing heavy rain, gusty map_specnewsdct-10_ltst_4namus_enus_650x366winds and high surf to the Marianas. Guam is 14 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern daylight time.

As of late Sunday afternoon, the NWS office on Guam measured 11.77 inches of rain from Chan-hom. Rota Island also picked up 7-10 inches of rain. By early Monday morning, only patchy areas of locally heavy rain remained near Guam and the Marianas. Winds were diminishing, but high seas were expected to persist into Monday.

Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, reported a peak wind gust to 62 mph Sunday afternoon. Guam International Airport just east of Hagatna, Guam, clocked a peak gust to 43 mph, while Rota Island measured a peak gust to 37 mph.

Chan-hom is poised to become a typhoon again by Monday and could be a significant threat to parts of east Asia late this week.     [FULL  STORY]

Protesters call for transparency in review of curriculum guidelines

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/05
By: Hsu Chih-wei and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, July 5 (CNA) More than 100 protesters gathered in front of the Taipei office of 201507050018t0001the K-12 Education Administration under the Ministry of Education Sunday, calling for transparency in the review of curriculum guidelines and voicing their strong opposition to any secretive acts to revise the guidelines.

The rally was staged by the Northern Taiwan High Schools Alliance against Curriculum Guideline and several high school associations and student groups to protest the administration’s recent move to ask “district organizations” countrywide to hold conferences for a review to high school curriculum guidelines.

Some student protesters complained that the conferences were opened only to members of the organizations and “strictly prohibited students outside the organizations from participation.”     [FULL  STORY]