Reuters
Date: August 9, 2019
By: Yimou Lee, I-hwa Cheng

TAIPEI (Reuters) – The articles on the website of the leading Taiwan newspaper were gushing about a new Chinese government program to lure Taiwanese entrepreneurs to the mainland.

China “treated Taiwanese businessmen like its own people,” one of the articles said, citing “multiple perks”. Far from being a threat to Taiwan, the program to give economic incentives to Taiwanese to start businesses in the mainland was an “unprecedented” opportunity, it said.

While the articles were presented as straight news, they were actually paid for by the Chinese government, according to a person with direct knowledge of the arrangement and internal documents from the Taipei-based newspaper.

The placement of the articles was part of a broader campaign by China to burnish its image in the Taiwanese media as part of efforts to win hearts and minds in Taiwan for China’s “reunification” agenda.    [FULL  STORY]

Four Vietnamese workers arrested

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/09
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Police in Taoyuan City freed a Vietnamese man abducted and arrested four of his compatriots, reports said Friday (August 9).

The man, a migrant worker, had reportedly been unable to pay back gambling debts, resulting in four other Vietnamese nationals kidnapping him and torturing him at a site in Hsinchu County, the Central News Agency reported.

After police in the Taoyuan City district of Luzhu learned of the case on August 3, they formed a special taskforce to locate the missing man.

On Thursday (August 8) afternoon, they attacked the site where they believed the man was being kept prisoner, and they freed him unharmed and arrested four suspects, including one woman.
[FULL  STORY]

BLACKOUT: Taipower said that it had deployed 800 workers to restore electricity to 1,333 homes in Taoyuan and New Taipei City that had lost power due to the storm

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 10, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Typhoon Lekima, which sideswiped northern Taiwan from late Thursday through early yesterday, and a

strong earthquake on Thursday morning left two people dead, 11 injured and more than 3,000 homes without electricity overnight, the Central Emergency Operations Center said.

According to a situation report released by the center at 7pm yesterday, one of the casualties was a 64-year-old man who on Thursday fell to his death from a tree in Taipei while attempting to trim branches as a precautionary measure against the typhoon.

The other fatality was a woman in her 60s who was crushed by a fallen clothes rack, hangers and clothes at her house in New Taipei City when a magnitude 6 earthquake struck northeastern Taiwan, the report said.

An initial investigation found that she might have been knocked unconscious after being hit by the metal rack and hangers, and then suffocated under more than 100kg of clothes that smothered her face, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 08 August, 2019
By: Paula Chao

As Taiwan braces for Typhoon Lekima, China lashes out against the Golden Horse Awards and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je shakes up politics with his new Taiwan People’s Party. 

Today’s Taiwan Insider isn’t all about tempests; for Father’s Day, Natalie Tso offers gift ideas as well as insights into the challenges Taiwanese men face in fatherhood.    [FULL  STORY]

Island nation finished just ahead of South Korea and Japan

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Out of 89 countries surveyed, Taiwan has the best health care system in the world, business magazine CEOWorld concluded in its 2019 Health Care Index.

The list considered the overall quality of health care, including the infrastructure, competencies of staff, cost, availability and government readiness, the magazine said.

Taiwan finished top of the list with 78.72 points out of 100, with Venezuela at the other end scoring 33.42 points.

Other Asian nations in the top 10 included South Korea at No. 2 and Japan at No. 3, with Thailand ranking sixth. Five European nations and Australia filled up the rest of the top 10, according to CEOWorld.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/08
By: Wang Shu-fen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) Severe Typhoon Lekima will have the greatest impact on Taiwan from late Thursday through Friday, when it is projected to skirt the northeastern part of the country, the Central Weather Bureau said.

Lekima is forecast to bring extremely heavy rain to western and northeastern parts of Taiwan, the bureau said.

Intermittent showers were already being seen in northern Taiwan earlier Thursday due to the peripheral effect of the typhoon and the rain was expected to get worse later in the day, with northern parts of the island, Yilan in the northeast and Hualien in the east prone to heavy rain or extremely heavy rain, according to the bureau.

The weather in central and southern Taiwan and Taitung in the east remained stable Thursday morning, but sporadic showers or thunderstorms were forecast for those areas during the afternoon, with the chance of heavy rain in mountainous areas.    [FULL  STORY]

‘WITHIN EXPECTATION’: If it were a foreshock, another earthquake of magnitude 6 or greater can be expected, but if it were the main quake, aftershocks are not likely

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 09, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

A magnitude 6 earthquake struck just off the coast of Yilan County at 5:28am yesterday, the Central

Weather Bureau said, adding that it does not exclude the possibility that a bigger earthquake could happen near the epicenter within a week.

Data from the Seismological Center showed that the epicenter was 36.5km southeast of Yilan County at a depth of 22.5km.

The earthquake was detected nationwide, except on Hengchun Peninsula, center Director Chen Kuo-chang (陳國昌) said.

The highest intensity felt was level 6 in Yilan County’s Wuta (武塔), bureau data showed.

A level 5 intensity was recorded in Yilan City, while a level 4 intensity was detected in Hualien County, New Taipei City, Taipei, Hsinchu County, Taoyuan and Taichung, the data showed.
[FULL  STORY]

New Taipei elderly woman crushed by wardrobe cabinet knocked down by magnitude 6.0 earthquake

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/08
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An elderly woman in New Taipei City was killed today (Aug. 8) after she was crushed by her 50-kilogram wardrobe cabinet, which fell on top of her when a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck notheastern Taiwan.

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck northeastern Taiwan's Yilan County at 5:28 a.m. this morning and lasted for 20 seconds, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB). At 7:02 a.m., a second temblor struck the same area, this time registering a magnitude 4.5 on the Richter scale.

A 65-year-old woman was sleeping in her home at Lane 186, Xinsheng Street in New Taipei City's Zhonghe District when the first temblor struck, reported ETtoday. The woman was soon awoken by the violent shaking, but as she tried to get out of her bed, a metal wardrobe cabinet next to it suddenly fell over and landed on top of her.

The woman was immediately pinned beneath the 50-kilogram cabinet and piles of clothing and was unable to move, according to the report. When her husband, who was sleeping next to her, saw his wife trapped under the cabinet, he immediately rushed outside and cried for help.
[FULL  STORY]

Magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocks northeastern Taiwan's Yilan County, entire country shaken by shock waves

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/08
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck northeastern Taiwan's Yilan County at 5:28 a.m. this morning (Aug. 8), according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The epicenter of the temblor was 36.5 kilometers southeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 22.5 kilometers, based on CWB data.

The quake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of the tremor, registered a 6 in Yilan County and a 4 in Hualien County, New Taipei City, Taipei City, Hsinchu County, Taoyuan City, and Taichung City. An intensity level of 3 was felt in Nantou County, Keelung City, Miaoli County, Hsinchu City, Changhua County, and Yunlin County.

An intensity level of 2 was recorded in Chiayi County, Chiayi City, and Tainan City. An intensity level of 1 was reported in Taitung County, Kaohsiung City, Pingtung County, and Penghu County.
[FULL  STORY]