An investigation by the Aviation Safety Council has identified three contributing factors to the helicopter crash last year that took the life of a well-known filmmaker.

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 2018-10-31

The celebrated documentary filmmaker Chi Po-lin was killed in a helicopter crash in June

2017. At the time of the crash, Chi was working on a sequel to his acclaimed film Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above. The pilot and another passenger were also killed in the accident.

After an investigation that has lasted more than a year, the Aviation Safety Council has found that the helicopter was flying too low at the time of the crash.

Surviving footage indicates that there may have already been a problem 31 seconds before the crash. At this point, the helicopter was just 500 feet above the ground, giving the pilot little time to recover from the drop.
[FULL  STORY]

The exhibition ‘Out in Taiwan’ could not come at a more important time for LGBTQ rights in Asia.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/31
By: Jay Lin

I first heard of “Out in Asia” and its creator, the world-famous fashion photographer Leslie Kee, in 2016, while I was a speaker at the Nara International Film Festival (NIFF) in Japan.

The festival’s founder, film director Naomi Kawase, collaborated with “Out in Japan” to arrange the display of hundreds of black and white portrait photographs throughout the NIFF venues in Nara.

At first glance, these walls of photographs, lined up neatly in rows and columns, resembled ID pictures. Up close, however, the secret behind Leslie Kee’s simplicity was revealed: every still captured each individual’s unique aura, all filled with undeniable confidence, happiness, and pride. The “Out in Asia” series is a project to depict LGBTQ people from all walks of life who are out of the closet with the goal of reaching 10,000 unique portraits by 2022.

At the time, I did not understand the significance of an exhibition featuring out people, until I realized how difficult it is to actually be fully out. I only came out to my parents just before I turned 40, even though I have been coming out of the closet to various people (friends, classmates, colleagues, siblings, etc.) since college.    [FULL  STORY]

Commissioner Lai is out of danger, but suspect escaped

Taiwan News
Datew: 2018/10/31
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A man entered the office of Taipei City Labor Affairs Department

chief Lai Hsiang-lin (賴香伶) and hit her in the face with a steel bar Wednesday.

She was taken to hospital and received 11 stitches in a three-centimeter-long gash near her left eyebrow, while she would need a week to recover, media reports said.

Even though the assailant managed to flee the scene, witnesses recognized him as Lee Ming-yen (李明彥), a self-styled labor activist angry at the city government for using dispatch workers at the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, the Central News Agency reported.

Earlier in the day, he had reportedly already visited Commissioner Lai’s office to ask where she was. At 3:52 p.m., he returned, armed with a steel bar, and immediately attacked her without speaking a word, according to CNA.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/31
By: Bien Chin-feng and Flor Wang

Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) At a court hearing in Taipei on Wednesday, former President Ma Ying-

jeou (馬英九) denied any wrongdoing in the sale of three Kuomintang (KMT) properties during his tenure as party chairman. Ma said he had handled the sale of Central Motion Picture Co. (中影), Broadcasting Corporation of China (中廣), and China Television Co. (中視) “strictly in line with law.”

“I did not commit any crime, and I cannot accept the prosecutors’ twisted interpretation of my words,” Ma told the Taipei District Court.

“In my 30-plus years in politics, I remained law abiding and clean,” he said, “I have never put a cent from the party asset sales into my pocket or taken a bribe from a buyer.”

On July 10, Taipei prosecutors brought charges of breach of trust or money laundering against Ma and five others, including Chang Che-chen (張哲琛), former chairman of the KMT-controlled Central Investment Co.; Wang Hai-ching (汪海清), the company’s former general manager; and Alex Tsai (蔡正元), former KMT legislator and director of the party’s Central Policy Committee.    [FULL  STORY]

THREE YEARS: Brent Christensen said that he would focus on security cooperation, economics, people-to-people contacts and Taiwan’s international participation

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 01, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen yesterday outlined his top

priorities for his tenure as he pledged to build a bright future for Taiwan-US relations.

At his first news conference since taking up the position on Aug. 11, Christensen listed security cooperation, economic ties, Taiwan’s international participation and people-to-people contacts as the areas he would work to promote.

“As you have heard, the US recently approved the second arms sale to Taiwan in two years of US$330 million. Our obligation to support Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability against coercion is a foundational element of the Taiwan Relations Act,” Christensen said.

The policy of supporting Taiwan’s defense needs has been consistent across seven US administrations, helping foster Taiwan’s prosperity and democratic development, while bolstering cross-strait and regional stability, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

AccuWeather
Date: October 30, 2018
By: Eric Leister, AccuWeather senior meteorologist

Despite weakening into a tropical storm as it crossed the Philippines, Yutu is expected to restrengthen into a typhoon over the South China Sea.

Many areas previously impacted by Typhoon Mangkhut in mid-September were dealt another round of heavy rain and damaging winds from Yutu which made landfall in Isabela province around 4 a.m. local time.

Workers clear the road off toppled trees after Typhoon Yutu slammed Isabela province in northeastern Philippines Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. (AP Photo)

A 5-year-old was killed in a mudslide and three other people are missing across the northern Philippines, according to the Associated Press.

In advance of the storm’s arrival, more than 10,000 people were evacuated from high risk areas.    [FULL  STORY]

None of the Kaohsiung mayoral candidates have committed to developing their city for the people.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/30
By: David Evans

Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Kuomintang (KMT) candidate to be the new mayor of Kaohsiung, found himself in a bit of hot water last week. An interview he gave back in May suddenly re-emerged online in which he described Kaohsiung as being “old and poor.”

Many in Kaohsiung have understandably taken exception to this. But looking beneath his less than subtle language, Han does have a point.

Kaohsiung is poor. Under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration of Chen Chu (陳菊) and her interim successor Hsu Li-ming (許立明), the city has racked up the largest debt of any city in Taiwan. Kaohsiung currently owes a whopping NT$241 billion (US$7.78 billion). That is NT$89,500 (US$2,890) for every single person living in the city.

Kaohsiung is also an old city. Han was trying to make the point about Kaohsiung’s talented young workers departing for Taipei, or pastures even further afield, leaving the city with an aging population. But his comments could just as easily refer to the city itself.
[FULL  STYORY]

Driver behind deadly derailment in Taiwan’s Yilan had worked a nearly 18-hour shift during week before accident

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/10/30
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Labor (MOL) today announced that an investigation into the schedule of the driver behind the deadly derailment of a Puyuma Express train in Taiwan’s Yilan County revealed that he had worked a 17-hour shift a week before the accident, in clear violation of the provisions of the Labor Standards Act (勞基法), reported CNA.

At a press conference today, the MOL announced the results of an inquest into the work schedule of the 48-year-old driver in the deadly derailment of a Puyuma Express train on Oct. 21 – Yu Chen-chung (尤振仲). It found that over the six months prior to the accident, Yu, who whose official job title is “Scheduling Supervisor” rather than “Driver,” had worked overtime on many occasions, in many cases in violation of the “one fixed day off, one flexible day off” (一例一休) regulations.

According to the MOL’s findings, on Oct. 5, Yu worked for a total of 13 hours and 1 minute in the office, a portion of which was overtime. In response to a change in train schedules on Oct. 12, Yu worked from Oct. 11 to 12 on scheduling and other matters for a total of 17 hours and 41 minutes, representing an illegal length of overtime.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/30
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Elizabeth Hsu 

Taipei, Oct. 30 (CNA) Chiayi City in southern Taiwan outshone 21 other cities and counties to be crowned the most friendly city to seniors in Taiwan, according to an evaluation of living environments for senior citizens published on Tuesday.

Taipei City and Hualien County were ranked second and third most friendly to those aged 65 and older, while Yunlin County, Miaoli County and Taichung took the three bottom places among 17 assessed cities and counties in the 2018 Index of City and County Development for Seniors compiled by the Taiwan Active Aging Association (AAA).

Tainan City, Hsinchu County, the outlying counties of Kinmen and Penghu, as well as the islands of Matsu were not covered in the evaluation because of insufficient government data, the organization said.    [FULL  STORY]

GLOBAL ACCESS: Parts of the Taiwan Strait are international waters, and the US will continue to operate, sail and fly wherever international law allows, a US admiral said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 31, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The US military will continue to advocate free navigation through international waters,

including the Taiwan Strait, a top US Navy official said on Monday.

“Parts of the Taiwan Strait are international waters. They are accessible to all who want to pass through them,” US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said at a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Philippines.

“They’re part of the global commons, which is the foundation for free navigation, and so in this area, the United States and the United States Navy will continue to advocate for free navigation through those international waters, where we will operate and sail and fly or enter wherever international law allows,” Richardson said.

The US official’s comments were made in response to a question from Central News Agency on how he sees the current situation in the Taiwan Strait, and what the US military would do to help maintain peace and stability there.    [FULL  STORY]