Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/28
By: Huang Hsu-sheng and Flor Wang 

Taipei, Feb. 28 (CNA) A couple from Singapore have been identified by police as persons of interest in a case in which the body of a newborn baby girl was found wrapped in a plastic bag in a kitchen waste bucket carried by a garbage truck from Taipei to Xindian in New Taipei early Tuesday, Xindian police said Thursday.

The body was discovered when an employee at a recycling company opened the plastic bag to recycle garbage collected from across Taipei in the early hours of Tuesday.

The employee immediately reported the incident to Xindian police who believe the baby girl, found with the umbilical cord and placenta intact, was disposed of shortly after her birth.

After reviewing street camera footage along the route of the garbage truck, police concluded that the baby was likely disposed of in Ximending (西門町) in central Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 27 February, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

This year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival is being held in the southern county of Pingtung.

There are 20 different display areas featuring 184 themed lanterns. More than five million people have visited the festival so far.    [FULL  STORY]

American man without health insurance praises the cheap medical bill he paid at Taiwanese Hospital

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/02/27
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A U.S. citizen, who recently had to make a late night trip to an emergency room in Taipei, has praised the swift, quality care he received for a low price.

On Feb. 18, Kevin, a 25-year-old American man, on Facebook posted his harrowing account of suffering severe stomach pain and incessant vomiting. Because Kevin, who is studying Chinese in Taiwan, does not yet have Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI), was afraid of the cost of medical treatment, but he ultimately chose to go the emergency room and was pleasantly surprised with the efficiency and effectiveness of the treatment, and most importantly, its low cost.

In a post sarcastically titled “The Horrors of Socialized Medicine: a first hand experience,” Kevin said that he began to suffer severe stomach pains on Feb. 17 and soon found himself vomiting at 30-40-minute intervals. Despite completely emptying his stomach of its contents, he continued to suffer the urge to puke.

He tried to sleep it off, but by 3 a.m. on Feb. 18, his stomach cramps intensified, and he reported feeling dizzy and light-headed. Despite his desperate condition, he was still reluctant to visit a Taiwanese hospital because he was unsure of the quality of care, doctors’ ability to speak English, and how much it would ultimately cost, since he had not yet been in the country long enough to receive his NHI card.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/27
By: Wu Jui-chi and Flor Wang

Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) returned Wednesday from a five-day visit to Israel,

saying he hoped to see further cooperation with that country, particularly in the innovative industries.

“It was a fruitful visit,” Ko told reporters on arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. “Taiwan can learn a lot from Israel, which is small but strong.”

In particular, Israel’s strength in applied and basic sciences and its policy of subsidizing innovation industries are worthy of emulation, he said.

Taipei will also discuss with Israel about opportunities for cooperation in the development of autonomous vehicles and information security, Ko said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 26 February, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan must pool its innovate technology resources together to create bigger business opportunities.

Tsai was speaking Tuesday while meeting with a delegation that represented Taiwan at January’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The CES is the world’s largest and most influential technology event.     [FULL  STORY]

The 1.2 km tunnel built in 1908 was the longest tunnel of the former mountain railway line

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/02/26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Hou-Feng Bikeway (后豐鐵馬道) is listed by Taichung’s Tourism and Travel Bureau as one of the top three most widely favored bikeways in Taichung City, and it is easy to see why.

Hou-Feng Bikeway was open to the public in April 2005. The bikeway starts under the elevated bridge of National Highway 4 in Fengyuan District and ends at the Houli Horse Ranch.

The bikeway was built along a stretch of an old TRA mountain line railroad. The 4.5km bikeway offers views of the verdant countryside as well as the unique experience of riding over a truss bridge, the Hualiang Steel Bridge, and through a 1.2 km former railway tunnel, Tunnel No. 9.

The Hualiang Steel Bridge, an attraction near the southern end point of TRA’s former mountain line, spans 382 meters over the Dajia River. The bridge was completed in 1908 during the Japanese rule, featuring a patterned truss superstructure.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/26
By: Wang Shu-fen, Christie Chen and Chung Yu-chen

Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) The government’s NT$52.88 billion (US$1.7 billion) project to improve the Suhua Highway along Taiwan’s rugged east coast is expected to open before the 2020 Lunar New Year, the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said Tuesday.

According to the DGH, the new sections of the highway will run from Su’ao to Dong’ao in Yilan County, from Nan’ao in Yilan to Heping in Hualien County and from Hezhong to Daqingshui in Hualien, covering a total of 38.8 kilometers.

The Su’ao to Dong’ao stretch opened Feb. 5 last year and the remaining two sections are slated to be completed by the end of this year, the agency said.

The highway includes eight tunnels with a total combined length of 23.8 km, bridge sections constituting a total length of 8.5 km and a 6.5 km-long stretch of highway, said the DGH.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: February 25, 2019 
By: Phillip Charlier

The latest recruits of the Army 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion had badges pinned to their chests after successfully completing a grueling training regimen dubbed “the iron-man road,” Saturday, February 23.

The Ministry of Defense Youth Daily reported that seven trainees endured the 15-week course to finally have the Sea Dragon badge pinned through the flesh of their chests by their commander in Kinmen County.

The specialist unit of the ROC Army was founded in 1949 with training and equipment provided by the USA, with the purpose of collecting intelligence from communist China, and carrying out stealth missions on coastal installations.

To date, the battalion has executed 130 missions on the historical record, but others remain classified information (or lost over time, according to local media nomenclature).    [FULL  STORY]