Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/26
By: Lee Hsin-Yin 

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) The former Taipei Universiade mascot “Bravo,” which became the city’s official mascot earlier this month, was greeted by more than 1,000 enthusiastic fans on Tuesday.

The Formosan black bear Bravo arrived at Taipei City Hall in style, surrounded by reporters from over 20 media outlets, with fans queuing for hours to get a photo taken with the bear.

Bravo was asked many questions, including “Do you have a girlfriend?” “Did you lose weight after campaigning for the Universiade?” and “Do you think you are more popular than Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲)?”

The city government team in charge of marketing for Bravo helped the mascot answer questions, adding that more events are planned.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post  
Date: September 26, 2017

The Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) inaugurated the 2017 Textile

International Forum and Exhibition (TIFE 2017) on Tuesday with the theme “Intelligent Innovation and Green Circular Economy.”

The annual event, organized by the TTRI under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, is held on Sept. 26 and Sept. 27 at the International Convention Center of National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei.

TIFE 2017 kicked off with an opening ceremony attended by officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and representatives of both domestic and international textile firms and two key note speeches delivered by Ms. Arlene Kidd of Ardmel Automation, a UK-based company, and Mr. Frederic Chanay, the CEO of the Canada-based OMSignal.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-09-25
 
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je says he hopes that there will be increased friendliness in

cross-strait exchanges. Mayor Ko was speaking Monday.

His comments come a day after a violent clash between a group of pro-independent National Taiwan University students and pro-unification supporters. The clash broke out Sunday because students were dissatisfied with the university’s decision to lend its track to the organizer of a Chinese talent show called Sing China Music Festival. Two students were injured during the clash and the talent show had to be cancelled.

 

Ko said his city, a co-sponsor of the event, had already done the best it could. The mayor also said as long as the public is able to strengthen its Taiwan-centered identity, they will not be bothered by the political controversy.    [FULL  STORY]

Banned for his con acts in Thailand, a notorious German panhandler appears in Taiwan

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/09/25
By Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taipei News) — A German panhandler who has a penchant for partying and

has been blacklisted from a number of Asian countries for using his physical condition to dupe good Samaritans out of large sums of money, drew the attention of police in Taiwan’s southern resort town of Kenting.

The German man, Benjamin Holst, often referred to as “the party beggar with the big foot,” has built a reputation across Southeast Asia for using his condition, a rare type of localized gigantism called Macrodystrophia lipomatosa, to trick unsuspecting passersby of large amounts of money to fund his party and prostitute habit.

He preys on the sympathies of strangers who take pity on him for his abnormally swollen legs, which though unsightly, are actually not as painful or debilitating as they may seem. In a notorious case in 2014 in Thailand, he convinced locals to raise US$1,432 for him to buy a plane ticket home, provide free housing, and even set up a crowdfunding site.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/25

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) Business sentiment toward the local manufacturing sector

improved, with an index gauging the moods of manufacturers hitting a three-year high in August on the back of solid export performance, according to a survey released Monday by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER).

TIER, one of the country’s leading economic think tanks, said the domestic economy has benefitted from the global economic recovery, boosting exports, which account for about 60 percent of the total gross domestic product, making more export-oriented manufacturers more upbeat.

In addition, business sentiment toward the local service sector also improved in August, with the local equity market moving ahead after the weighted index on the main board breached the 10,000-point mark in mid-May for the first time in 17 years, the think tank said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post  
Date: September 25, 2017

A film festival featuring winners and finalists of the 2017 Cross-Strait Youth Short

Firm Competition (We愛•兩岸青年短片大賽) inaugurated at Taiwan’s Chinese Culture University on Monday.

Dignitaries attending the opening ceremony include Shanghai Cross-Strait Exchange Promotion Association Honorary Chairman Li Wenhui and Deputy Chairman Wang Lixin, xFuture Ltd. (Shanghai) President Sun Ta Chien, Hualien Media International Co. Chairman George Hsieh, Chinese Culture University President Lee Tien-rein, renowned film producer Wolf Chen, and DrMaster Press Co. Ltd., General Manager Gu Cheng-quan, etc.

In his opening address, Hualien Media International Co. Chairman George Hsieh said that he organized the film festival in order to deepen business and cultural exchange as well as the friendship between Taiwan and China. Through the exchange of films, young people on both sides of the strait can learn to think on multiple levels, he said. He also hoped to bring Taiwanese movies to a bigger Chinese-language market and looked forward to more chances for cross-strait or multilateral interaction for movie makers.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/24
By: Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Sept. 24 (CNA) A temperature of 35.1 degrees Celsius was recorded by a

weather monitoring station in Magong City, Penghu on Sunday, the highest recorded in September since the station was established 121 years ago.

Forecaster Chan Chien-hsuan (詹前烜) at the Penghu weather station said the record-setting temperature was recorded at 12:02 p.m.

The temperature on Penghu Islands was mostly 27-33 degrees C. on Sunday with strong sunlight, Chan added.

The weather has been unseasonably hot in September, with 34.4 degrees recorded on Sept. 21, Chan said, noting that the last time the archipelago saw a temperature that high in September was Sept. 19, 1975.     [FULL  STORY]

Cooler weather approaching next week

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/09/24
By: Juvina Lai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — According to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau, the weather

will get cooler starting the middle of next week, but until then weather will still remain hot and temperatures will remain high.

The high temperatures as reported by the CWB on Sunday will remain 35-36 degrees Celsius in western and eastern Taiwan, and people are urged to stay hydrated throughout.

Occasional thunderstorms are possible in south and central Taiwan. It also reported that the weather in north Taiwan shall be cooler from Thursday as a result of approaching northeastern winds which are also likely to bring occasional rains to the northern and eastern areas.
[SOURCE]