Page Three

Death penalty off the table at judicial reform meet

The China Post
Date: February 14, 2017
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The conveners of a national conference on judicial reform said Monday that the pardoning of ex-President Chen Shui-bian and the abolition of the death penalty would not be up for discussion.

The conference’s deputy convener, Chiu Hei-yuan (瞿海源), said the first conference would largely focus on aggregating issues from private organizations and society.

Chiu made the announcement at a press conference with fellow deputy convener, judicial Yuan President Hsu Zhong-li (許宗力).

The conference is being set up by the Presidential Office and comes after a campaign pledge by President Tsai Ing-wen to reform a judicial system that has long been perceived as unfair to ordinary people and partial to the rich.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan team makes breakthrough in carbon conversion technology

Taiwan Today
Date: February 10, 2017

A Taiwan research team recently demonstrated an innovative approach for converting carbon dioxide

NTUST professor Kuo Dong-hau (right) and the members of his research team have developed an innovative approach for converting carbon dioxide into methanol at room temperature. (Courtesy of NTUST)

into methanol that has potential applications in a wide range of fields spanning energy and transportation, according to Taipei-based National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Feb. 9.

Developed by three researchers at the university’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the technique was outlined in a study released Jan. 24 in Scientific Reports, an online open access journal from the publishers of Nature.

Professor Kuo Dong-hau, who led the research team, said the approach can help advance efforts to tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions and promoting the development of the low-carbon economy.

According to Kuo, most existing conversion methods operate at temperatures of greater than 150 degrees Celsius and require external electrical energy and high illumination intensity. In cases where lower temperatures were achieved, they either involved additional reagents or could only take place at high pressures.    [FULL  STORY]

Protests calling for concrete no-nuke policy to take place on March 11 in Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/13
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–A civil anti-nuclear organization in Taiwan announced Monday that protests will

The organizer said the protests will call on the government to carry out its promise of a nuclear-free homeland by 2025 and put forward concrete plans. (By Central News Agency)

simultaneously take place in three cities in Taiwan on March 11 to call on the government to lay out concrete plans and agenda to abolish nuclear power generation.

The National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform (NNAAP), organizer of the protest, said the protest will be staged in Taipei City in northern Taiwan, Kaohsiung City in southern Taiwan and Taitung City in eastern Taiwan at the same time.

Even though the new government, which has been in power for nine months, has promised to completely eliminate nuclear power in Taiwan by 2025, the government has been dragging its feet on the issues of decommissioning of old nuclear power plants, nuclear waste disposal, and exploitation of renewable energy, the NNAAP said in a press conference on Monday in front of the Office of the President in Taipei.

The organizer said the protests will call on the government to carry out its promise of a nuclear-free homeland by 2025 and put forward concrete plans and agenda towards that end.    [FULL  STORY]

Weather becoming warmer trough Friday as cold spell eases

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/13

Taipei, Feb. 13 (CNA) Weather around Taiwan will gradually warm up under mostly sunny conditions this

CNA file photo

week as the cold spell that has gripped the island over the past few days weakens, the Central Weather Bureau said Monday, reminding people living in central and southern Taiwan to heed big temperature fluctuations between daytime and nighttime hours.

Daytime highs are expected to go higher than 20 degrees Celsius Monday except northern and northeastern Taiwan and the eastern county of Hualien, with southern and southeastern Taiwan seeing temperatures of up to 25 degrees, the bureau said.

The difference between daytime highs and lows in late night and early morning hours in central and southern Taiwan can be as big as 10 degrees over the next few days, it said.

Temperatures are expected to rise further Tuesday through Friday under clear and sunny conditions around Taiwan with big temperature fluctuations, especially along the western half of the island, the bureau said.    [SOURCE]

Groups pan slow pace in DPP’s nuclear-free pledge

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 14, 2017
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has made little progress in realizing electoral promises to

Environmentalists and opponents of nuclear energy stage a protest on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei yesterday to demand that the government act on its pledges to abolish nuclear power by 2025 and deal with the problem of nuclear waste disposal. Photo: CNA

abolish nuclear power by 2025, environmental groups said yesterday, outlining plans to push forward with an annual march against nuclear power next month.

About 20 protesters from various environmental and self-help groups gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei, shouting slogans demanding that the government push forward with plans to dispose of nuclear waste while reducing emissions and moving toward renewable energy.

“The DPP has been in office for more than six months, but its progress in fulfilling promises to retire old nuclear plants, dispose of nuclear waste and push for renewable energy has been extremely sluggish, falling far short of the expectations of the public,” Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said.

Demonstrations against nuclear power are to be held on March 11 in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taitung to urge the government to outline specific plans and a timeline for realizing its promises, Tsuei said.
[FULL  STORY]

Yilan and Taitung set up checkpoints to contain flu

The China Post
Date: February 14, 2017
By: The China Post news staff and CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Yilan government said Monday it had set up a checkpoint on the Taipei-Yilan Expressway to disinfect all poultry-carrying vehicles entering the county, in an effort to stem the spread of bird flu amid a growing outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N6 avian influenza virus.

The Police Department in Taitung has also set up checkpoints at the county’s border with Hualien.

The county government’s move came after it established a checkpoint on the Yilan end of the Suao-Hualien Highway, requiring that vehicles transporting poultry between Feb. 9 and Feb. 21 report to the checkpoint before continuing their journey in order to be sprayed with disinfectant.    [FULL  STORY]

Yilan upgrades H5N6 epidemic level

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-02-12

Yilan County quarantine authorities on Sunday again ordered the inspection and

The Yilan County government has upgraded the county’s level of bird flu epidemic prevention and has banned the entry of all poultry from Hualien from February 12-21. (CNA photo provided by Yilan County government)

disinfection of all poultry farms within a three kilometer radius of a slaughterhouse.

That’s after the slaughterhouse culled nearly 3,787 ducks from neighboring Hualien County, which have been confirmed to be infected with the H5N6 bird flu virus.

The birds were intercepted by the slaughterhouse one day after a bird flu case was confirmed at a nearby goose farm in Hualien.

The Yilan County government has also announced that it is restricting the transportation of birds. The county government has also upgraded its level of epidemic prevention and has banned the entry of all poultry from Hualien.  [FULL  STORY]

Taipei public transportation authority: Taipei eBus offers easy access to complete bus info

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/12
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Taipei City’s Public Transportation Office (PTO) has recently

Taipei City’s Public Transportation Office has recently urged the public to take advantage of the city’s bus service website “Taipei eBus” (ebus.gov.tw)

urged the public to take advantage of the city’s bus service website “Taipei eBus”, recommending it as a great tool to easily access complete information on Taipei buses.

The PTO said that buses operating across Taipei and New Taipei offer residents of Greater Taipei area an important means of transportation. Therefore, the governments of both cities worked together to integrate existing bus information systems with the new platform, allowing users easier access to more complete information of bus routes, according to the office .

Launched on November 25, 2015, Taipei eBus has three main features: real-time info, transfer info, and route maps, the PTO said. Users will be able to look up the arrival time of selected buses via routes or stops, according to the office.    [FULL  STORY]

Hakka tomb-sweeping sparks fire hazards across Miaoli

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/12
By: Kuan Jui-pin and Ko Lin

Taipei, Feb. 12 (CNA) A tomb-sweeping ritual that led to nearly a hundred emergency calls in Miaoli had firemen scrambling across the county to identify and extinguish multiple fires, Miaoli County Fire Bureau said on Sunday.

The Hakka community in Miaoli turned out in droves to visit ancestral tombs and burn votive papers atop tombstones, a tradition that begins on the 16th day of the first month on the lunar calendar.

According to the bureau, fire fighters from across the county rushed to the scene of multiple accidents, caused mainly by small fires and firecrackers which set fire to the surrounding grass.    [FULL  STORY]

Ministry working for WHA attendance

BLEAK:The medical sector thinks that it is unlikely for Taiwan to secure an invitation to this year’s meeting, the executive director of a medical professionals alliance said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 13, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that it is working to secure an invitation for Taiwan to attend this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer, announcing the nation’s desire to contribute to the promotion of public health worldwide.

The ministry said in a statement that Taiwan will make every effort to solicit the support of allies and nations that share similar ideas in the hope that it will be invited to the assembly when it gathers in May.

Taiwan wants to “continue to attend [the meeting] in a pragmatic and meaningful way, and to make a contribution,” the ministry said.

The statement came in the wake of media reports saying Taiwan might not receive an invitation from the WHO to attend the assembly this year.    [FULL  STORY]