Taipei Times
Date: Feb 04, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The fishery products, cuisine and landscape of Pingtung County are to be featured at this

year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival in Pingtung City, which opens on Feb. 19.

Given its locale, this year’s festival for the first time will have a main lantern that is not based on the Chinese zodiac animal for the new lunar year, the Tourism Bureau said.

Instead of a pig, the main lantern is in the shape of a giant golden tuna jumping out of the sea, symbolizing the bluefin tuna that brings wealth to the county.

This year will be the first time that the festival’s main show is to be held inside a national scenic area — the coastal area of Dapeng Bay (大鵬灣), it said.    [FULL  STORY]

People convicted of drunk driving resulting in death currently only face maximum 10-year prison sentence

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

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) issued a statement that he will sponsor a bill to amend Taiwan’s criminal law to make those who are found guilty of drunk driving which results in the death of another person face, eligible for a sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty.

The statement comes after two motorcycle riders were killed in a traffic accident caused by a repeat drunk driving offender in Taichung City this morning.

Chiang also mentioned another serious traffic accident that resulted in the deaths of three people and injuries to three others in Taichung a few days ago, which also involved a drunk driver.

The accident this morning involved a repeat drunk driver whose driver’s license had been suspended. He drove in the wrong direction hitting eight cars and killing two people, Chiang said. Therefore, he decided to sponsor a bill so that people convicted of a felony charge of drunk driving causing death will face the possibility of the death penalty.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/02
By: Wang Cheng-chung and Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) Taiwan’s working-age population fell to a record 72.52 percent at the end of 2018, indicating a growing burden on the workforce, data from the Ministry of the Interior showed Saturday.

The working-age population, defined as citizens aged 15-64, was 17.11 million as of the end of last year, the lowest since 2012, according to the MOI. The figure represented 72.52 percent of the country’s population of 23.59 million, the data showed.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 03, 2019
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) has reduced reimbursements for

7,470 drugs covered by the National Health Insurance (NHI) and expects to save about NT$5.83 billion (US$189.6 million), it said on Friday.

In an effort to secure financial stability for the NHI by reducing the gap between sale and procurement prices, it introduced a drug expenditure target pilot program in 2013 to adjust pharmaceutical prices on an annual basis, the agency said.

Under the scheme, the agency sets a target for total annual NHI expenditure on drugs and if that exceeds the budget, price adjustments are implemented.

The scheme was revised when it ended in 2016 and a modified three-year pilot program was implemented in 2017 that excludes expenditure for treating HIV infection, hepatitis C, hemophilia and rare diseases.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 01 February, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

Fishermen in the outlying Penghu Islands are finishing up work as the Lunar New Year approaches.

The islands are known for their fresh seafood, some of which is shipped to Taiwan proper.    [FULL  STORY]

Let’s check out the top four news this week

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/02/01
By:  Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –Top news this week includes Controversial American passenger flying back to Taipei in May; Outrage sparked after dog owner’s pet pit bull kills stray in Keelung; Taipei’s Lohas Cherry Blossom Festival in Neihu kicks off; 3 Chinese visitors denied entry in campaign against African swine fever.    [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/01
By: Hsiao Po-wen and Ko Lin 

Taipei, Feb. 1 (CNA) A total of 94.138 kilograms of heroin with a street value of about NT$2.4 billion (US$78.08 million) was seized in a drug bust in Keelung, leading to the arrest of two suspected drug smugglers, the Investigation Bureau announced Friday.

Police found 242 bricks of heroin hidden in a container filled with machinery equipment imported from Thailand on Jan. 27, the bureau said.

Each brick has an estimated street value of NT$10 million, which means the haul had a total value of around NT$2.4 billion, investigators said.

The seizure was one of the biggest drug busts in Taiwan’s recent history, they said.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 02, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Taipei prosecutors yesterday charged movie director Doze Niu (鈕承澤) with sexual

assault, after tests matched Niu’s DNA with samples taken from a staffer’s chest.

Niu, 52, has been accused of sexually assaulting a staffer, who was working on the set of his new film Horse Racing (跑馬).

The staffer said that she told her roommate what had happened after the incident, and they went to a hospital to have her injuries examined and subsequently filed a complaint with the police.

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office subpoenaed Niu for questioning, and he was released on Dec. 10 last year on NT$1.5 million (US$48,788) bail.    [FULL  STORY]

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

The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/31
By: TNL Daily News
Credit: Reuters / Nicky Loh

Taiwan reduced the feed-in-tariff (FIT) rate and set production caps for offshore wind power firms on Wednesday but backed away from a proposed larger cut that had irked wind power developers such as Danish firm Orsted A/S, CNA reports.

The FIT rate, which governs wind power projects that sign power purchasing agreements with state-owned Taipower, will drop to NT$5.516 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from its 2018 rate of NT$5.8498 per unit.

Danish firm Orsted A/S said on Jan. 2 it would pause two offshore wind power projects in Changhua County over disagreements on the FIT rate.

Orsted Offshore CEO Martin Neubert said in a Wednesday statement the company would attempt to “mitigate the adverse impacts from the production cap and the reduced feed-in-tariff with the objective of making the projects investable.”    [FULL  STORY]