Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/10
By: Chen Ching-feng and Ted Chen

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) Ten people were accused of cutting corners on a Mass Rapid Transit project in Taichung and were indicted on manslaughter charges Wednesday, two months after an accident on the construction site resulted in four deaths and four injuries.

The accident occurred on April 10, when a massive steel girder fell from a height of about three stories onto a busy road, killing a vehicle driver and three construction workers.

The Taichung District Prosecutors Office said the accident occurred because a number of contractors on the project had employed cost-cutting methods and failed to put safety measures in place when a crane was lifting the 209-metric ton steel girder.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-10
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

A Taiwanese man who recently returned from a trip to Seoul is being treated in isolation at a

hospital in northern Taiwan as a precaution against the deadly MERS virus after he developed symptoms of an upper respiratory track infection, including a sore throat and runny nose.

The 39-year-old man sought treatment at the Hsinchu branch of Taipei Veterans General Hospital on Tuesday and was dealt with carefully because of the recent outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea, which has claimed nine lives.

Although the patient was not suspected of having MERS, the hospital put him in a negative pressure ward and conducted more tests as a precaution.

As of Wednesday, 108 cases have been reported in South Korea, with nine deaths.     [FULL  STORY]

Skip the day-tripper and tourist hotspots and head to the Yangmingshan east-west vertical traverse for some serious hiking

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 11, 2015
By: Edward Jones  /  Staff reporter

It may surprise some readers, as did me, to know that Yangmingshan (陽明山) is more than

just a place for a leisurely stroll amongst the cherry blossoms in spring, or a soak at a hot spring during the colder months. There’s some leg-busting hiking to be done among the verdant green hills of the famous national park; and best of all it’s right on Taipei’s doorstep. Aside from staggeringly-beautiful scenery, the park is also home to an extraordinary variety of flora and fauna, as well as many other unexpected surprises.

The Yangmingshan east-west vertical traverse (陽明山東西大縱走) is an approximately 24km route that takes in seven peaks and can be completed in approximately 10 hours if you decide to tackle the whole stretch in one go. The route is used by many hikers as a training session in preparation for climbing Taiwan’s high altitude peaks such as Jade Mountain (玉山). Alternatively, you can split the route in two to make it more manageable, as I did on a recent trip with three hiking companions.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus TaIWAN
Date: 2015/06/09
By: Hsieh Ya-chu, Wang Hung-kuo and Chiu Chin-ching

Taipei, June 9 (CNA) A 17-year-old female student was rescued late Tuesday afternoon by a

passing fishing ship in waters three km from where she fell off a banana boat, 21 hours after she was reported missing.

Chang Hui-er (張蕙而), appeared weak but was conscious and able to talk clearly when she was brought ashore at Fishermen’s Wharf in Tamsui and rushed to Mackay Memorial Hospital.

Chang, who studies at Taipei College of Maritime Technology and moonlights at a cafe in Sanzhi on Taiwan’s northern coast, boarded an inflatable banana boat with her male colleagues Monday evening after getting off work.

The boat capsized in heavy seas, but while the men managed to swim ashore on their own, Chang was nowhere to be seen.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/09
By: Lilian Wu

Taipei, June 9 (CNA) Two Jesuit priests received Plum Blossom Cards (梅花卡) from the

National Immigration Agency on Monday, giving them permanent resident status in Taiwan in recognition of their selfless love and devotion to the country over the past decade.

The two priests — Barry Martinson (丁松青) from the United States and Yves Nalet (南耀寧) from France — have worked many years in the mountainous areas of Hsinchu County in northern Taiwan.

Residents of the mountainous communities in Jianshih (尖石鄉) and Wufeng (五峰鄉) townships in the county do not have much materially, but their faith has become a source of strength, and many who grew up going to church in the villages said they have been deeply influenced by the priests.

“They have not only brought religion, but strength, which allows you to believe that love changes everything,” one parishioner said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/09
By: Lu Hsin-hui, Wen kuei-hsiang and Elaine Hou

Taipei, June 9 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday that it will offer commemorative medals to veterans who participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War, as part of a series of events to mark the 70th anniversary of the Republic of China’s victory over Japan in 1945.

The eight-year war against Japan was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis powers were defeated.

Those who joined the ROC military before Sept. 3, 1945 to fight against Japan are eligible to apply to the Defense Ministry for the medal, said Lt. Gen. Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞), who is responsible for the project, at a news conference.

The design of the medal is based on a commemorative medal bestowed by the ROC government in October 1946 on those who served in the military and in government agencies during the war, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 10, 2015

Liberty Times: The student club [you are a member of] at Taichung First Senior High School

was the first student body to publicly criticize the planned adjustments to the high-school curriculum guidelines. What is the main issue that provoked you and what are you hoping to achieve?

Liao Chung-lun (廖崇倫): I have been following the issue since as early as 2009, when then-minister of education Cheng Jui-cheng (鄭瑞城) halted the three-year discussions over proposals to adjust the high-school curriculum.

I subsequently discovered that proposed changes to textbooks used to teach social sciences at high schools — slated to be implemented this August — had not involved any discussion with the teachers who would teach the classes, and the decision to change the curriculum guidelines was rushed past a small panel of academics that were not even experts in the subjects under discussion.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-08
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Lynn Miles, a human rights activist who made a massive contribution to building

democracy in Taiwan, died of cancer in Taipei on Monday at the age of 72.

Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and the party’s 2016 presidential candidate, who is currently on a 12-day visit to the United States, posted on her Facebook page that she was saddened by the news.

Tsai hailed Miles as a witness of an era and said she could not forget his words to her prior to her US visit that “(she) must safeguard Taiwanese people and must not let them be harmed.” A photo of Tsai and Miles at his sick bed on May 16 was also posted.

Tsai said that in the strict political suppression of the 1970s, Miles was driven by his sense of justice to help dissidents convey news about Taiwan overseas. She said that a lot of good friends like Miles helped “Taiwan to go from the path of undemocratic to democratic.”

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/09
By: Chen Ching-fang and Y.F. Low

Taipei, June 9 (CNA) Twenty-six percent of elementary students in Taiwan were

overweight or obese in 2013-2014, according to the results of a survey released Tuesday by the Health Promotion Administration (HPA).

The overweight and obesity rate was 32 percent among boys and 20 percent among girls.

The results show a slight improvement from 2001-2002, when 28.2 percent of elementary students were overweight or obese (boys 31.8 percent; girls 24.2 percent).

According to the HPA, due to the notion of “thin is beautiful,” girls pay more attention to their body image than boys. As a result, the overweight and obesity rate of girls has dropped significantly over the past 10 years, while that of boys has risen slightly.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/08
By: Jay Chou, Yang Shu-min and S.C. Chang

Taipei, June 8 (CNA) A fishery official said Monday that an initial investigation has failed

to substantiate media reports that five Indonesian workers had starved to death aboard two Taiwanese fishing boats in waters off Senegal in Africa.

Huang Hung-yen (黃鴻燕), deputy director of the Fisheries Agency under the Council of Agriculture, noted that inquiries of the nation’s fishery business sector had produced no results that can confirm such reports.

“We have also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help confirm whether the reports are true,” Huang said when asked to comment on a CNA report from Jakarta.

The CNA report quoted an Indonesian labor official as telling local media the five Indonesian workers had been working on the Bintang Samudra 68 and the Bintang Samudra 11, two Taiwanese fishing boats owned by Hsin Chiang Fisheries or Chi Hsiang Fisheries Co., Ltd.     [FULL  STORY]