The Geotechnical Engineering Office encourages people to visit Xiaoxitou Circle Trail and bask in the atmosphere of the forest and mountains.

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/18
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–The Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO) encourages people to visit Xiaoxitou Circle Trail and bask in the atmosphere of the forest and mountains.

The agency has connected the “Xiaoxitou Circle Trail” – combining Bixi Trails (碧溪步道), Daluntoushan Forest Trails (大崙頭森林步道), and Daluntoushan Natural Trails (大崙頭自然步道). The agency recommends the circle trail for those looking for interconnected trail routes which allow hikers to breathe in the rich phytoncides emitted by the surrounding plant life.

The trail boasts the only “treehouse” concept-based structure in Taipei – the “Tree Pavilion.” Featuring an easy ascent to the top of the old tree, the facility provides visitors with an excellent view of the forest.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/18
By: Liu Shih-i and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Nov. 18 (CNA) The Taiwan High Court sentenced a Mongolian national to 19

months in jail for stealing the purses of three commuters, containing a total of more than NT$50,000, (US$1,660) in April.

According to the ruling from the high court, Sodtungalag Ankhbayar, who came to Taiwan on a tourist visa, stole the purses on April 4, 13 and 22, on Wenhu line and Bannan line trains of Taipei Metro, as well as on the platform at Zhongxiao Fuxing station.

The Mongolian pleaded guilty during his trial at a district court and was sentenced to one year and seven months in prison, a sentence he appealed.    [FULL  STORY]

QUID PRO QUO: Media speculated that KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu agreed to let the bill advance to committee if the DPP would shelve a transitional justice act proposal

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 19, 2017
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday urged the

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus to hold public hearings about the Cabinet’s draft amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), which advanced to legislative committee reviews on Friday.

Wu made the remarks yesterday morning on the sidelines of a conference on vegetarianism at National Taiwan University, in response to media inquiries about alleged tensions within the KMT caucus due to a lack of consensus among the party’s lawmakers on how to handle the draft amendment.

Some KMT lawmakers were reported to have insisted on blocking the draft amendment from being forwarded for committee reviews, while others, including KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福), only demanded that public hearings be held to solicit opinions before the bill could clear the legislative floor.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 18, 2017
By: Chiu Chun-chin and Ko Lin

TAIPEI (CNA) – Passengers arriving at Taoyuan International Airport faced temporary

delays at immigration on Friday due to a technical glitch in the computer system, airport authorities said.

The system outage, which occurred at 2:20 p.m., also affected the airport’s automated immigration check system, or e-Gate, Taoyuan International Airport Corporation said.

Passengers were temporarily delayed on immigration lines for 15 minutes before systems were fully restored at around 2:35 p.m.

The cause of the incident has yet to be determined, according to the airport authority.    [SOURCE]

Taipei IN Style interviews local designer Sabrina Hsieh

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/17
By: Mabel Neo , Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – After traveling around the world, local designer Sabrina Hsieh

(謝怡君) finds it best at home when she returns to the Hukou Old Street (湖口老街) in Hsinchu.

The Japanese Baroque architecture on the old street inspire her, and she starts to pen it down on paper.

In this collection, she included Taiwanese-style Majolica tiles and combined Hakka-style traditional printed cloth and twined flowers into the designs.

She was also the recipient of the Young Pin Design Award, and her debut collection was also one of the winning collections of the 2016 Taiwan Fashion Design Award in which she unveiled “The Art of Travel,” which combines the tailoring of neoprene fabrics with sculptured lace.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/17
By: Chai Sze-chia and Kuan-lin Liu 

Taipei, Nov. 17 (CNA) The two Chinese scholars scheduled to attend a conference Friday on historical trade ties between Taiwan and China were no-shows, likely because of political factors.

The Commerce Development Research Institute, which organized Friday’s conference, was notified at the last minute that the Chinese scholars would be unable to attend, according to Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) deputy chief Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正).

The two scholars, Sheng Jiuyuan (盛九元), head of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Taiwan Research Center, and Chu Lei (朱磊), a Taiwan specialist at Nankai University, had already arrived in Taiwan for the seminar but decided at the last minute not to attend and returned to China in the afternoon.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 18, 2017
By: Peng Wan-hsin and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) yesterday

accused former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Hsiung Kuang-hua (熊光華) and former Executive Yuan secretary-general Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) of serving as intermediaries for financially troubled Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co.

The shipbuilder has been embroiled in a fraud scandal over a contract that it won from the Ministry of National Defense in October 2014 to build six minesweepers for the military at a cost of NT$34.9 billion (US$1.16 billion).

To finance the construction, Ching Fu obtained a syndicated loan of NT$20.5 billion from a group of nine domestic lenders led by First Commercial Bank.

However, an investigation initiated by prosecutors in August found that Ching Fu might have used bogus documents to falsify four capital increases that were required as part of the terms of the loan.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 16, 2017
By: Elaine Hou and Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI (CNA) – Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran of the Vatican arrived in Taiwan on

Wednesday to attend an annual Buddhist-Christian forum that is focusing this year on non-violence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday.

During his four-day stay, the cardinal will also meet with Taiwan’s Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) as part of an effort to strengthen bilateral cooperation, the ministry said in a statement.

The Sixth Buddhist-Christian Colloquium is being held in New Taipei City Nov. 13-16 under the theme “Christians and Buddhists Walking Together on the Path of Nonviolence.”    [FULL  STORY]