Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/01
By: Lilian Wu

Taipei, June 1 (CNA) A research team from National Cheng Kung University has found that using plastic cups, bowls and bags to consume hot foods or beverages could lead to early puberty in girls and boys taking on feminine traits.

Lee Ching-chang (李俊璋), a distinguished professor in National Cheng Kung University’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, said that in its three-year study, the team studied 71 sexually precocious girls aged 2-8.

The factors leading to sexual precocity could include genes, obesity, diet, pressure, sexual contacts, and especially environmental factors, which are mainly linked to plasticizers and environmental hormones.

The study found that the plastic’s exposure to hot substances increased the level of plasticizers that melt into the item being consumed, Lee said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-01
By: Staff Reporter

Singapore’s late founding father Lee Kuan Yew predicted back in the 1970s that

China would one day try to manipulate countries in Southeast Asia to serve its interests, according to recently unsealed documents from the UK’s National Archives.

Lee, who passed away in March at the age of 91, told British ministers and members of parliament he met during a visit to the country in 1974 that China still needed about 10 years to establish effective second-strike nuclear capability. Once it achieved this, however, Lee predicted it would start to try to influence the world, especially its neighbors, to turn them into the type of countries it wanted them to be.

Even if China did not adopt an expansionist philosophy, it would try to manipulate neighboring countries and therefore Southeast Asian nations must keep Beijing’s interests in mind when dealing with China, he said at the time.     [FULL  STORY]

MILESTONE:As the nation welcomed its highest-ranking US guest in years, President Ma Ying-jeou said he hoped talks on a Taiwan-US investment deal would gain ground

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 02, 2015
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan and the US yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding on the Global

Cooperation Training Framework to enhance bilateral cooperation in responding to global challenges, a move visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles Rivkin said would “take our partnership to new areas and a new level.”

Before witnessing the signing ceremony at the Taipei Guest House, Rivkin had a closed-door meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) at the Presidential Office Building to discuss what he said were “matters of importance to our economies.”

Rivkin, responsible for managing trade negotiations, investment treaties and other economic issues at the US Department of State, is the highest-ranking official to have visited Taiwan since his predecessor Jose Fernandez in 2012.

In remarks to reporters before his meeting with Ma, Rivkin said people in the US feel “a special bond” with Taiwanese for various reasons.     [FULL  STORY]

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES?Education official Yen Ching-hsiang said he was pleased the ‘erroneous’ policy had prompted students to take part in societal change

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 01, 2015
By: Rachel Lin and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Students from 120 high schools and vocational high schools nationwide had as of

press time last night signed a petition to protest the Ministry of Education’s planned adjustments to curriculum guidelines.

The ministry faces opposition from teachers and politicians, who claim the planned adjustments would force high-school students to use “China-centric” texts that gloss over past atrocities of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) during the White Terror era, as well as suppressing information on efforts of Taiwanese who fought for democracy.

Students from National Taiwan Normal University’s (NTNU) Department of History supported the petitions, adding that it is necessary to support the “simple and sublime ideals” of high-school students in light of what they called “the forced passage of illegal curriculum changes.”     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-31
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, said Saturday that he was shocked and saddened

by the death of a second-grader murdered in a random attack by an intruder at her school campus in the Beitou district of Taipei the previous day.

Ma said he had contacted Premier Mao Chi-kuo and National Police Agency director-general Chen Kuo-en to ask them to instruct schools to step up campus security and find out the suspect’s motives for the killing.

The suspect, Kung Chung-an, 29, allegedly said he is under a lot of pressure and suffers hallucinations. “The existence of people (like Kung) poses a great threat to the city’s security,” Ma said, adding that the matter should be dealt with properly to prevent similar incidents from taking place again.

Sun Lih-chyun, spokesman of the Executive Yuan, said Mao was saddened by the tragedy and he thanked the medical team that treated the second-grader for their efforts to save her.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/31
By: Tang Pei-chun and Ted Chen

Taipei, May 31 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday announced that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on U.S.-Taiwan collaborative initiatives will be inked at a ceremony to be held the following day at the American Institute in Taiwan.

The MOU will further Taiwan-U.S. global collaborative initiatives by creating a framework on training. The measure is expected to improve joint efforts in public health and environmental conservation between the two countries.

Ongoing U.S.-Taiwan collaborations include a youth leadership training program for Pacific Island nations, and a joint international Ebola response and environmental conservation efforts.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 31, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Taipei plans to revise its system of keeping tabs on dangerous people, Taipei Mayor

Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday after the slaying of an eight-year-old student at an elementary school in the capital’s Beitou District (北投) on Friday.

Ko said the case raised questions about whether the city’s system should be expanded, given that it had not picked up murder suspect Kung Chung-an (龔重安) before the attack.

A review would be conducted once more was known about Kung’s social network and mental state, Ko added.

Problems revealed by the case focused more on prevention rather than the city’s response, Ko said, adding that city officers deserved a grade of 99 percent for their efficiency in handling the case.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/31
By Lin Shu-yuan and Ted Chen

Taipei, May 31 (CNA) State-run CPC Corp., Taiwan (中油) on Sunday announced that effective midnight, June 1, the price of gasoline and diesel will be reduced by NT$0.3 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively.

Following the change, the per-liter price of 92-octane gasoline will be NT$25.6, while those of 95- and 98-octane gasoline will be NT$27.1 and NT$29.1, respectively, with the price of premium diesel falling to NT$23.6 per liter.

CPC said that the price adjustment reflects a number of factors that has caused international oil prices to decline, including a surge in oil exports from Iraq and a marked rise in the U.S.’s crude oil reserves.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/30
By: Huang Li-yun and Y.F. Low

Taipei, May 30 (CNA) In the wake of the death of a second-grader who was knifed in a random attack by an intruder at her school in the Beitou district of Taipei the previous day, Taipei’s Department of Education said Saturday that it will take emergency measures to improve the school’s security.

Wenhua Elementary School has also published a letter on its website to help parents and students deal with the incident, the department said.

The school will also provide counseling for the students, it added.

The girl’s teacher, meanwhile, said she was very sorry that she did not take good care of the girl.

In the attack that sent shockwaves across society, the girl was slashed twice in the throat with a knife, severing or damaging her trachea and carotid artery, according to the police.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-30
By: CNA

Taipei’s “1999 citizen hotline” has launched a free interpretation service for taxi

drivers who have problems communicating with foreign passengers, the Taipei City government said Friday.

The interpretation service, which gives translations from English and Japanese to Mandarin, started May 22 and is being provided on a trial basis until the end of the year, the city government said.

It said a Korean to Mandarin interpretation service is also available via the service hotline of the Tourism Bureau.

1999 is the round-the-clock toll-free (except when calling from a pay phone or using a pre-paid cell phone) number in Taipei and several other cities and counties around Taiwan generally for citizens to report noises and other disorderly incidents, air grievances or make suggestions to the authorities.     [FULL  STORY]