The China Post
Date: October 17, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Sunday her administration will start next year

to carry out one of her promises — to launch a national project aimed at developing a north-south provincial highway into a “Hakka Romantic Avenue” to promote the culture of Taiwan’s Hakka ethnic group.

Under the plan, measures will be taken to promote the industrial economy and improve the ecological and cultural landscapes of 16 Hakka towns in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli and Taichung cities and counties along the 438.7 kilometer-long highway.

“The new government’s building the national Hakka Romantic Avenue along the Provincial Highway 3 is a very important governing mission,” said Tsai at the Hakka Yimin Festival in Taipei Sunday.

Work will begin next year to carry out the national project, Tsai said, noting that different ministries and government departments, as well as local governments, will be mobilized to help promote Hakka culture and local economic development along the provincial highway.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/15
By: Lu Hsin-hui, Tang pei-chun, Chen Chi-ching and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Oct. 15 (CNA) The government resolved to do more for Penghu after residents of the outlying

island voted against the opening of casinos on the island in a referendum Saturday.

According to the official results announced by the Penghu Election Commission, 6,210 residents voted for the proposed casinos, while 26,598 voted against. The turnout was 39.56 percent.

Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang (黃重諺) said Penghu residents have expressed their view on public policy through the ballot box, which he said was democracy in action and a form of public participation worth encouraging.

He quoted President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as saying “the government will display resolve and do more (for Penghu).”

Tsai openly came out against the casino plan just three days before the vote.

Executive Yuan spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that the Cabinet respects the result of the referendum.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 16, 2016
By: CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen pets her new dogs in New Taipei, Saturday, Oct. 15. Tsai visited Huikuang Guide Dog Centre Taiwan (惠光導盲犬學校) on Saturday to sign adoption papers for retired guide dogs Bella, Bunny and Maru. “I have waited for this day for a long time,” Tsai said. The trio is joining the presidential cats, Think Think and Ah Tsai.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 15, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

The Executive Yuan should overrule the Ministry of Economic Affairs and force a policy-oriented

environmental review of the nation’s mining and concrete industry, residents of rural communities said yesterday at a protest in front of the Executive Yuan in Taipei.

More than 50 protesters mobilized by Citizens of the Earth gathered in front of the Executive Yuan, waving banners accusing the government of acting as a “stooge” to corporate “tigers” and calling for a comprehensive environmental review of the industry as part of broader reforms.

“Under the current system, the state of the mining and concrete industry is unclear, including environmental costs and risks,” Citizens of the Earth researcher Pan Cheng-cheng (潘正正) said, adding that only 15 percent of Taiwan’s mines have ever been subject to an administrative review, because they were licensed prior to the implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法) in 1995.

She was critical of the ministry’s rejection of Environment Protection Administration calls for a policy-oriented environmental review of the nation’s mining industry, raising the prospect of the initiative being halted.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-14
By: Wendy Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

This year’s 21st typhoon, Sarika, will hit the Philippines this weekend, and head into the South

China Sea for a second landfall next week, according to the latest Central Weather Bureau (CWB) forecast.

The storm, currently located east of the Philippines and moving westward at 10 kilometers per hour, is expected to make landfall in the Philippines’ Luzon Island Saturday, bringing flooding rain and damaging winds to the Southeast Asia nation.

The mild typhoon will not have a significant direct impact on Taiwan, according to the weather bureau, but the southern parts of Taiwan may still see a significant amount of rainfall due to the effects of the outer periphery of Sarika, which will be closest to the island next Monday into Tuesday.

Meanwhile, yet another storm could be brewing in the Western Pacific. A tropical low-pressure area has just formed near Guam and is located about 3,000 kilometers away from Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/14
By: Elaine Hou and Chen Wei-ting

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) Taiwan has confirmed two new imported cases of Zika virus infection, involving a Taiwanese man in his 60s who visited Malaysia on a group tour in September and a Thai national who developed symptoms of fever, headaches and joint pain before coming to work in Taiwan earlier this month, health authorities said Friday.

The Taiwanese man and the Thai man were the 11th and 12th imported cases of the mosquito-borne disease in Taiwan this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The Taiwanese man, who lives in New Taipei City, contracted the virus when he traveled to Malaysia with a tour group in late September, the CDC said. He was the second confirmed Zika case among members of that tour group, after a Taiwanese woman in her 50s was also confirmed to have been infected on Sunday, it added.

Another 11 people on the same tour group have tested negative for the virus, the CDC said.     [FULL  STORY]