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Taiwan to make referendum day public holiday

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/20
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Ko Lin

Taipei, Oct. 20 (CNA) Taiwan’s government is working on legislation to make referendum

Image taken from Pixabay

day a public holiday, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Saturday.

Earlier this year, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Referendum Act that lowers the minimum voting age from 20 to 18, as part of the government’s efforts to encourage more young people to participate in the referendum process.

Under the law, local government elections are sanctioned public holidays for eligible voters aged 20 or above, but that privilege has yet to be extended to referendum voters.

This year, voters will get to vote in at least nine referendums on Nov. 24, the same day as local government elections are to be held.    [FULL  STORY]

ELECTION: Ko campaign fined for parking ‘headquarters’ in park

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 21, 2018
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) campaign held its first large-scale public event in

People look on as a member of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s campaign staff takes the stage during an election event in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: CNA

Qixing Park (七星公園) in Beitou District (北投) yesterday, but the municipality fined Ko’s campaign office for illegally parking his “mobile campaign headquarters” — a stage truck — in the park.

The event was described as a “fun fair,” after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao (姚文智) protested that the Taipei Parks and Street Lights Office had rejected their applications to hold campaign events in public parks.

The parks office gave the campaign a ticket at 9am when the stage truck drove into the park to prepare the main stage for the afternoon event and continued issuing fines every two hours until the event ended in the evening, for a total fine of NT$14,400.

“Ko values the key principles of ‘respect professionals, perform administrative duties according to the law, and be open and transparent,’ so the campaign office will respect the office’s penalties and pay the fines according to the law,” Ko campaign spokesman Tsai Chun-wei (蔡峻維) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Self-driving bus to debut at Taichung Flora Expo

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-19

Taiwan’s first-ever medium-sized self-driving bus is set to the hit the road by the end of the year. That’s according to the economics ministry on Friday.

The bus is to undergo trials at the Taichung World Flora Expo, which opens at the start of November. It can accommodate 17 people and is 100% Made in Taiwan, with its systems developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute.

The economics ministry said the bus’s sensing systems have been designed especially to deal with the complexities of traffic conditions in Taiwan. They also foresee self-driving buses playing an important role in public transportation during off-peak hours, such as offering services in the early hours of the morning.    [SOURCE]

Taiwan News: Interpol, Vatican Reject Taiwan

Your daily bulletin of Taiwan news, courtesy of ICRT.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/19
By: International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is voicing its regret over Interpol’s refusal to accept a

Credit: Reuters / TPG

request to allow Taiwan to attend its general assembly as an observer next month in Dubai.

Ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said Thursday that his office has received a reply from Interpol’s General Secretariat in which it refused to invite Taiwan to the event, citing a 1984 resolution recognizing China as the sole representative to Interpol.

According to Lee, the foreign office, has expressed its “strong dissatisfaction and regret” about that decision, saying the refusal runs counter to the group’s stated goal of building a more secure world through global police cooperation.

Lee said the request to attend the event has the support of like-minded countries, including the U.S., and Interpol should seek to make practical arrangements for Taiwan to participate in its activities in order to help avoid loopholes in the global security network.
[FULL  STORY]

Ang Lee receives Director’s Guild of America award for outstanding contributions

Lee expressed that he was overjoyed to receive the award

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/10/19
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Critically acclaimed Taiwanese film director Ang Lee was issued

Director Ang Lee (By Central News Agency)

an outstanding contributions award today by the Director’s Guild of America (DGA).

Lee expressed that he was overjoyed to receive the award and honored to be admitted into the DGA hall of fame. He attended the ceremony together with his wife.

According to a report by Liberty Times, Lee’s assistant revealed the director was feeling anxious about chairing the upcoming Golden Horse Film Awards and had thought about returning to Taiwan earlier. However, the director has yet to decide when he will arrive back home.

Ang Lee won his first award—Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear Award—in 1993 for The Wedding Banquet. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe and Academy Award in the same year.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan sets rules for kidney donation exchange between families

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/19
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) Taiwan’s health authorities publicized new regulations Friday that

Shih Chung-liang (石崇良), head of the MOHW’s Department of Medical Affairs

allow the exchange of kidney donations between two families of patients needing kidney transplants to increase the chances of such patients finding the organ they need.

Under the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s (MOHW’s) new guidelines, people who are willing to donate a kidney to a family member suffering from kidney failure but whose kidney is not a match can have their information posted on the Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center to see if mutual matches with other families can be arranged.

If there are two families, each with a donor whose kidney is a match for a patient in the other family, transplants can proceed with MOHW approval after two rounds of reviews by the medical ethics committees of the hospitals involved, according to the guidelines.

Shih Chung-liang (石崇良), head of the MOHW’s Department of Medical Affairs, described the new system as “exchanging one kidney for another.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taipower bid to scrap EIAs for Shenao plant received

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 20, 2018
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday said that it received an application from Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) to scrap environmental impact assessment (EIA) approvals for the Shenao power plant.

The original Shenao plant in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳) was decommissioned in 2007 and demolished in 2011, but a proposal by the state-run utility to build a new plant at the site passed an EIA in 2006.

While the plan also passed an EIA in May, Premier William Lai (賴清德) last week said that the project would be shelved, given that the nation’s power supply would be ensured after CPC Corp, Taiwan’s third liquefied natural gas terminal passed an EIA on Oct. 8.

Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) on Monday said the ministry would revoke the Shenao EIAs within two months.    [FULL  STORY]

National Taiwan Normal University 2nd in Asia in teaching

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-18

National Taiwan Normal University is now ranked15th in the world by the UK Times Higher Education in the area of teaching. That’s up from 22nd last year. It is also ranked 2nd in Asia, after Hong Kong University.

The ranking takes into consideration the factors of teaching, research, international outlook, research impact and income.

Founded in 1946, National Taiwan Normal University was formerly dedicated solely to educating future teachers in Taiwan but has also evolved into a comprehensive university. It also has an internationally known Mandarin Training Center that attracts students from over 70 countries.    [SOURCE]

Study says antibiotics could make heart attacks more deadly

Formosa News
Date: 2018/10/18

Antibiotics are prescribed as a matter of course by physicians for many medical procedures and illnesses, but their misuse can have deadly consequences. A new study shows that when rats are given antibiotics high enough to clear out all the bacteria in their digestive tracts, their risk of dying after a heart attack is 100%. That’s because antibiotics disrupt the production of short chain fatty acids, which the body needs to repair itself after a heart attack. Researchers say the best approach with antibiotics is to use them sparingly.

They’re used for ailments, big and small. From treating the common cold to blocking bacterial growth during chemo, antibiotics are prescribed by doctors for fast results, and that can lead to their misuse.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s ‘Power Lottery’ jackpot swells to a whopping NT$900 million

Taiwan’s ‘Power Lottery’ jackpot has now climbed to NT$900 million

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/10/19
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(By Taiwan News)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — With a jackpot now having reached over NT$918,048,943 million (US$29,629,877), the winning numbers for Taiwan’s “Power Lottery” (威力彩) in order of appearance in the first section are 35, 32, 20, 04, 12, and 36 , while the winning number in the second section was 01, announced Taiwan Lottery yesterday (Oct. 18).

The Power Lottery has now gone 42 weeks in a row without a winner, breaking the record of 40 weeks set in 2015. If one person wins the prize, they will set a record for the highest single payout this year.

Meanwhile, the jackpot for the Taiwan Grand Lottery (大樂透) has reached NT$100,000,000 and the winning numbers in the first section are 46, 01, 39, 49, 24 and 40 and the special number is 33. The jackpot for the Grand Fortune Lottery (大福彩) has reached NT$106,003,745 and the winning numbers in the first section are 23, 31, 27, 10, 21, 16 and 40, with the special number being 38.     [SOURCE]