FrameWeb
Date: February 02, 2020
By: William Lee and Shonquis Moreno
William Georgi and Shonquis Moreno photos Ku9omin Lee

TAICHUNG, TAIWAN – In a reification of well-being and a tribute to nature, Taipei City-based Waterfrom, looked to the object of pharmaceutics – extracting and combining certain molecules in order to synthesise curative drugs – to develop the design concept of this 120-sq-m pharmacy.

A two-floor copper spiral staircase, recalling the double helix of a DNA strand, was installed as a way to link the three types of transactions occurring at Molecure: drug display, experimentation with dispensing methods and human interactions that foster well-being. The fact that making drugs involves ‘molecular aggregation’ inspired the designers to clad the pharmacy’s double-height walls with cobblestones and cement, creating a rough texture that lends a sense of solid reality to an almost ethereal space.

Top: A third-generation pharmacist asked Waterfrom to subvert the stereotypical pharmacy. At the heart of the space, the trunk of a 100-year-old tree and hanging foliage surround a wooden laboratory table where pharmacists engage more fully with customers.| Middle: Clear floor-to-ceiling acrylic shelves display drugs as if each were a costly beauty product. | Bottom: Natural materials and light suffuse the space, bespeaking well-being and saluting nature. The process of ‘molecular aggregation' suggested the look of the stone walls: triangular holes (molecules) are laser-cut in the stairs to create shadows that fall like leaves.

What is more, the designers avoided the typical pharmacy counter, where service flows in one direction, by making the heart of the space a laboratory table where pharmacists can engage more fully with customers. Together with the open dispensing area and an iPad-integrated consulting service, an unusual degree of human interaction takes place in a light and air-filled space, re-framing the pharmacy experience as one that is about healing instead of illness.   [FULL  STORY]

Brisbane Times
Date: February 3, 2020
By: Nathan Hondros

WA's taxpayer-owned State Theatre Centre has apologised to the Chinese government after it allowed a Taiwanese performing arts group to hire its facilities.

According to the Perth Theatre Trust, the state government body which manages the theatre, the Chinese consul in WA was embarrassed when "a flag was raised that did not align with the Commonwealth's one-China policy" at a performance of the Taiwanese Acrobatic Troupe.

The People's Republic of China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, but this is rejected by the controversial east-Asian democracy, which maintains informal diplomatic relations with Australia even though its independence is not recognised by most countries.

In March last year, the Perth Theatre Trust's venues director Glenn Hall apologised in person at China's consulate in East Perth when officials requested a meeting about the Taiwanese performance.    [FULL  STORY]

No signs of symptoms in majority of Taiwan's confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/02
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Saturday (Feb. 1) that the conditions of the country's 10 confirmed novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) patients have improved after carefully treatment by medical staff.

During a press conference Saturday evening (Feb. 1), Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that there have been a total of 964 potential Wuhan virus cases reported in Taiwan, but so far only 10 have been confirmed. He added that 492 Taiwanese citizens are currently still under home quarantine since they have had close contact with the confirmed patients.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/02/2020
By: Lin Ke-lun, Lai Yen-hsi, Chang Ming-hsuan and Evelyn Kao

Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, which has been temporarily closed due to the outbreak. Photo courtesy of the China News Service.

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) Taiwanese nationals stranded in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic, will soon be able to return to Taiwan on a charter flight, a Taiwanese business association in the city said Sunday.

Wuhan's Taiwan Affairs Office said it has decided to help Taiwanese stuck in the city return home via a nonstop charter flight and has asked the association to count the number of Taiwanese still there, according to association chairman Hsiao Yung-jui (蕭永瑞).

Hsiao said it would take two days to complete the count and other procedures to arrange the flight.

According to Hsu Cheng-wen (徐正文), who heads the Parents Association in Taipei, 501 Taiwanese are stranded in Hubei and he said applications to leave the city were being distributed Sunday morning.    [FULL  STORY]

NO FRIEND OF MINE: The Criminal Investigation Bureau urged people to be on the alert when they receive any telephone call or text message that is requesting money

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 03, 2020
By: Chiu Chun-fu and Dennis Xie  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Amid a rising number of fraud cases, the Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday urged the public

to double check the identity of “relatives or friends” who ask for money in a telephone call.

Fraudsters cash in on the Lunar New Year holiday by impersonating an acquaintance to ask that a victim transfer them money, with older people making up nearly 70 percent of victims, the Crime Prevention Affairs Division said.

Citing a case, officials said that a Taipei man, surnamed Chang (張), received a telephone call from someone claiming to be the brother of his ex-wife who was in urgent need of cash.

Without verifying the identity of the caller, whose voice Chang said was very similar to his ex-wife’s brother’s, Chang added him to his Line app and transfered NT$50,000 to his account, believing that he would be repaid the next day, the officials said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/01/2020
By: Wu Chia-hao and Emerson Lim

Taipei, Feb. 1 (CNA) Taiwan's Foreign Ministry has instructed its representative office in Atlanta to demand a correction from delivery services provider FedEx over its "inappropriate" designation of Taiwan as "Taiwan, China" on its website.

"The company has not concretely responded to us yet, but the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Atlanta will continue to negotiate with FedEx to correct the erroneous designation," Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement Saturday.

Several netizens noticed on Friday that FedEx has designated Taiwan as "Taiwan, China" on its drop-down menu in the sender section and on its language menu at the bottom of the website.

One netizen said in an internet forum that he used the FedEx website in early January, and the designation was still "Taiwan" at the time.    [FULL  STORY]

Women legislators take up 42 percent of seats in the island's legislative body, making it the most equitable in Asia.

Al Jazeera
Date: February 01, 2020
By: Violet Law

Taipei, Taiwan – In skinny jeans and chilly pepper red sneakers matching her lipstick, Kao Chia-yu was greeted like a film celebrity by her constituents.

Shouts of "Congratulations!" echoed through the narrow streets, and fans chased her down for selfies and autographs. Instinctually darting between Putonghua and Taiwanese, Kao, 39, was on her last thank-the-voters victory lap on the Lunar New Year break.

On Saturday, the three-term local councillor will be sworn in as a legislator. Kao and other women legislators take up 42 percent of the seats in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan, making it the most equitable in Asia.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan military aware of B-52 Stratofortress flight, from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/01
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An American B-52H bomber flew near Taipei's airspace on Friday (Jan. 31) en route to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, marking the plane's second known passage through the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) in the East China Sea.

Up Media reported the flight by citing a tweet from Aircraft Spots. The U.S. Air Force's legendary B-52 Stratofortress was said to have taken off from Guam, before proceeding to fly over the East China Sea near Taiwan and China, within the Taipei FIR zone, before returning to Andersen base.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Saturday (Feb. 1) responded to media queries about the flight by saying it was fully aware of all activity within its airspace and territorial waters.

On Dec. 4, two B-52Hs flew near the Taipei FIR and the trip was revealed by the military's air movement monitor Twitter account. The U.S. Air Force is believed to have deployed at least six B-52 bombers, which have a range of over 14,000 kilometers, in Guam.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/01/2020
By: Lai Yen-hsi, Liu Chien-pang and Ko Lin

Taipei, Feb. 1 (CNA) A civic group in Taipei called on the government Saturday to help bring home the 501 Taiwanese stranded in the Chinese province of Hubei, which has been placed on lockdown due to a serious coronavirus outbreak.

According to Hsu Cheng-wen (徐正文), who heads the Parents Association in Taipei, the majority of them are trapped in Wuhan, the epicenter of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic.

They have all expressed their wish to return home, and are willing to go into quarantine in Taiwan, Hsu said.

Many of the Taiwanese currently in Hubei are not business people living in the province but individuals who traveled there for short-term business activities, sightseeing trips or private visits to see relatives, he told reporters in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]