Focus Taiwan
Date; 2019/03/12
By: Lee Hsin-Yin)

Taipei, March 12 (CNA) Human rights activists from Uyghur and Tibet on Tuesday urged

the Taiwanese government to engage more in public conversation about their struggle and offer tangible programs to support their democratic efforts.

Taiwan’s experience in building a democratic society has become a model for activists in China, and it should capitalize on that to encourage more discussions about minorities that are also threatened by China, the activists told CNA.

“The political threats that Uyghurs and the Taiwanese people are facing are similar, (though) different in nature,” said Nury Turkel, chairman of the Uyghur Human Rights Project. “We are facing an existential threat, but you are facing a territorial threat.”

Turkel, who was attending a regional forum in Taipei on religious freedom, said he hoped the Taiwanese government would invest more time and energy into learning from Uyghur’s struggle and would become more aware of China’s conspiracy to control Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 11 March, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

Hualien port in eastern Taiwan welcomed its first international cruise liner of the year on Monday morning. Indigenous dancers from local tribes performed for the visitors as the boat arrived from Okinawa.

The ship is the Westerdam of the Holland American Line. It’s an 11-story ship that can hold nearly 2,000 people. The tourists will tour Hualien on Monday before heading to the port cities of Keelung and Kaohsiung.

Hualien is expecting ten cruise liners to grace its port this year. Last year, the city saw over 10,000 tourists arriving on six cruise liners.    [FULL  STORY]

A daily breakdown of Taiwan’s top stories and why they matter.

The News Lens
March 11, 2019
By: TNL Daily News

Taiwan’s third annual Women’s March was held on a rainy Saturday in Taipei, one day after International Women’s Day.

The march began at Huashan Park, the site of a murder case last year which, along with other cases, drew attention to misogyny and violence against women in Taiwan, and continued past the Legislative Yuan and 228 Peace Park before ending at Liberty Plaza. Between 80 and 100 participants were in attendance, according to New Bloom.

“We conquered the pouring rain of Taipei at the 2019 Women’s March, the WoMen Wave!” read a statement from march organizers. (WoMen means “us” or “we” in Mandarin.) “Let’s continue to fight for gender equality on women’s day and every day.”

“We were very pleased that attendants represented a diverse mix of women, men, and non-binary and nonheteronormative genders who came out to support women’s rights and achievements in the rain,” Darice Chang of Women’s March Taiwan told The News Lens.    [FULL  STORY]

Long exposure to high MEP concentration is likely to cause health issues

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/11 
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Latest research findings from Taiwan’s National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) show that pregnant women who often use personal care products, cosmetics, fragrances, and scents are more likely to give birth to babies who are susceptible to allergies and asthma, the NHRI said on Monday.

In order to make fragrance last longer, personal care products and cosmetics usually contain perfume fixatives, and the most widely used perfume fixative is a plasticizer called Diethyl phthalate (DEP), the NHRI reported. The more often pregnant women use retention care products or cosmetics, and the more varieties of these products they use, the more meprobamate (MEP), metabolite of DEP, is found in their urine.

NHRI researcher Wang Shu-li (王淑麗) said that many researches have proven that DEP exposure during pregnancy can cause endocrine disruption and other health issues.

Even though MEP will not accumulate in the human body, long exposure to high MEP concentration is likely to prolong the metabolic process and increase the risk for upper respiratory tract infection, asthma, and decreased pulmonary function.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/11
By: Lin Hung-han and William Yen 

San Diego, March 10 (CNA) A team of high school students from Taiwan has advanced to the national championships of a robotics competition in the United States after winning at the regional level in San Diego, California, on Saturday.

The 30 students from Taoyuan Municipal Nei Li Senior High School (NLHS), will now compete in the “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” (FIRST) Championship in Detroit from April 24-27.

Speaking about the robot, Tsai Ting-ke (蔡廷科), an NLHS teacher told CNA that the terms of the competition required that the robot be built entirely of metal with computer numerical programing, pneumatic hydraulic clamps and power panelboards.

Such applications are not easy for high school students, but the NHLS group “was willing to try and this made me feel very proud,” Tsai said.    [FULL  STORY]

Star2.com
Date: March 10, 2019 
By: Dinesh Kumar Maganathan

Clans fighting. People divided. Differing ideologies. Strained relationships. All this strife flaring up in a beautiful country. Sound familiar?

No, this isn’t a commentary about Malaysia Baru, but it’s a case of similar political and social state of affairs in Taiwan.

It’s no surprise that Malaysians united in diversity would find solace in Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s Formosa when it opens at Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur, on March 16. This is the Taiwanese production’s only Southeast Asian stop before its Russian tour in June.

Formosa, which won the Stef Stefanou Award for Outstanding Company at the 19th National Dance Award in the UK, is choreographer Lin Hwai-min’s final love letter to his beloved homeland – and one that is deeply personal, poetic and meditative.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/10 
By:  Central News Agency

Rain is expected across Taiwan on Sunday due to the effects of a weather front, with some areas in the

eastern half and northeastern part of Taiwan to see heavy rain, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

Daytime highs will hover around 17-18 degrees Celsius in northern Taiwan, with lows likely to drop to 14-15 degrees at night and the early hours of Monday, the CWB forecast.

In central and eastern Taiwan, the mercury will range between 21-25 degrees, while hovering around 25 to 27 degrees in the rest of the country during the day, the CWB said.

Meanwhile, as of 12:00 a.m., air quality across Taiwan was good or moderate, according to the Taiwan air quality monitoring index.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/10
By: Elaine Hou and William Yen

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) The Polish Office in Taipei is holding a “Polish Film Festival” for the first time in

Taiwan in the hope of deepening bilateral cultural exchanges and developing further opportunities for cooperation.

The 7-day film festival, held March 8-14, will screen a total of seven Polish movies selected by the Polish Filmmakers Association at “eslite art house” in Taipei’s Xinyi District.

Polish film director Jacek Bromski, who is visiting Taiwan for the film festival, told CNA that starting last year Poland has been holding film festivals in different countries, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, China, Vietnam and New Zealand, to commemorate the centenary of Polish independence.

The idea is to introduce more people to Polish history and the best way to get to know a country is by watching movies, Bromski said.    [FULL  STORY]