Page Three

Stun guns to be added to standard police equipment: Interior minister

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/30/2020
By: Su Mu-chun and Ko Lin

CNA file photo for illustrative purpose only

Taichung, June 30 (CNA) All police officers in Taiwan will be issued stun guns by the end of the year, as part of their standard equipment, Interior Minister Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said Tuesday.

Stun guns can be an effective tool for on-duty officers to incapacitate criminals or dangerous suspects, Hsu told reporters on the sidelines of a graduation ceremony for police cadets in Taichung.

The new policy is being implemented under a NT$480 million (US$16 million) budget announced in June by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to help improve benefits and equipment issued to Taiwan police.

The police equipment upgrades would include the purchase of virtual reality training simulators and new batons and walkie-talkies, according to Tsai.    [FULL  STORY]

Older bus drivers’ hours curbed

ADDRESSING SHORTAGES: The changes allow drivers of large commercial vehicles to keep their licenses up to the age of 68, while implementing stricter regulations

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 01, 2020
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

Professional drivers of large commercial vehicles aged 65 or older can drive no more than eight hours per day after amendments to the Transportation Management Regulations (汽車運輸業管理規則) and Road Traffic Security Rules (道路交通安全規則) take effect today.

The changes allow drivers of large commercial vehicles to keep their licenses up to the age of 68, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, adding that the changes were intended to address a shortage of professional drivers resulting from an aging population.

The amendments would allow the number of people driving large commercial vehicles to increase by about 3,000 per year, the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

Legislative Yuan occupation may exceed 3 days: KMT caucus whip

KMT legislators occupy building for over 12 hours in protest of Tsai's nomination for Control Yuan presidentTaiwan News

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/29
By: Kelvin Chen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

KMT legislators occupy Legislative Yuan in protest of DPP’s Control Yuan president nomination. (Facebook, Linweijo photo)

2:38 p.m. Update: At 12:20 p.m., Legislative Yuan President Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) entered the Legislative Yuan under the protection of DPP legislative councilors and called for the convening of a legislative committee meeting to discuss the proposal to hold an interim party congress. After the council members read out the proposal, they immediately proceeded to vote on a possible interim meeting.

Among the 74 people present, 46 were in favor of an interim meeting while 28 were against it. The legislators decided on holding an interim meeting lasting from June 29 to July 22.

After a series of other votes, Yu announced the ending of the committee meeting. However, DPP legislators continued to stand at the rostrum to avoid it being occupied by the KMT again.

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — More than 20 Kuomintang (KMT) legislators broke into the Legislative Yuan on Sunday (June 28) and occupied the building in protest of President Tsai Ing Wen’s (蔡英文) nomination of Chen Chu (陳菊) as the head of the Control Yuan, the nation’s government watchdog.    [FULL  STORY]

U.S. warplanes spotted flying over waters near Taiwan

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/29/2020
By: Matt Yu and Ko Lin

A C40A Clipper / CNA file photo

Taipei, June 29 (CNA) Several American warplanes were observed flying over the Bashi Channel near Taiwan at separate times on Monday, according to posts by several aircraft tracking accounts on Twitter.

The Bashi Channel is situated between southern Taiwan and Mavulis Island (or Y'ami Island), the northernmost island of the Philippines, and is a strategic waterway connecting the South China Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

On Monday, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) declined to confirm the tweets, except to say that air activities over waters surrounding Taiwan are constantly monitored by the military.

The South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), run by the Peking University Institute of Ocean Research, posted a tweet of an EP-3E electronic warfare plane and a RC-135U reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Bashi Channel on its Twitter page Monday morning.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei warns of male suicide risk

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 30, 2020
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Nearly one-quarter of suicides reported in the capital last year involved middle-aged men, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday, urging people who have negative emotions or suicidal thoughts to seek professional help.

Citing Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics, Mental Health Division head Tseng Guang-pei (曾光佩) said that 339 Taipei residents committed suicide last year, including 212 men, with men aged 45 to 64 accounting for 24.5 percent.

The top three reasons for suicide among middle-aged men last year were mental health problems and substance abuse (54 percent), relationship or family issues (32 percent), and work or financial problems (29 percent), Tseng said, citing a Taipei Suicide Prevention Center report.

About half of the cases involved a combination of reasons, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

Mainland giant panda delivers second cub in Taipei

Shine News
Date: 2020-06-28       

Giant panda Yuan Yuan, one of a panda pair from the Chinese mainland, gave birth to her second cub at Taipei Zoo at 1:53pm Sunday, the city zoo said.

The newborn cub sounds healthy, but its gender has not yet been identified as the mother has been shielding it since birth, Taipei Zoo spokesman Eric Tsao said, adding that it took Yuan Yuan more than five hours to deliver the cub.    [FULL  STORY]

Recent graduates join political campaigns amid job uncertainty, postponed opportunities

Daily Trojan
Date: June 28, 2020 
By: Mia Speier

A few weeks ago, Nayanika Kapoor graduated from USC in an unprecedented virtual ceremony. Though the recent political science and journalism graduate was set to pursue a Fulbright Fellowship in Taiwan — an opportunity which has since been postponed until January 2021 because of the pandemic — Kapoor’s next step is just as exciting and uncertain: moving to Montana.

“I feel like I am going to a different world than the one I have been living in for the last three months,” she said. 

Kapoor is moving to Helena to join Montana Governor Steve Bullock’s campaign for the U.S. Senate — a campaign that has attracted national attention as a key race in the Democratic Party’s attempt to capture a Senate majority in November.

“I don’t think there is any other situation beside the campaign in which I could see myself moving somewhere completely new, on my own, with no one else that I know,” Kapoor said. “But from what I’ve talked with people about, that is the best part of the campaign — everyone is coming in new and fresh, and you immediately build these super strong relationships … It is definitely still nerve-wracking because you don’t know anyone.”   [FULL  STORY]

School principal from S. Taiwan seeking ‘wonton mama’

Man visits Taipei yearly looking for kindly stranger from almost four decades ago

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Shih Shi-zhi (Shih Shi-zhi photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An elementary school principal from southern Taiwan came all the way to Taipei City to look for a woman who ran a noodle stall and always gave him extra wontons 35 years ago during his student days.

Pingtung County Jien Guo Elementary School Principal Shih Shi-zhi (施世治) came to Taipei's Nanchang Park (南昌公園) during the Dragon Boat Festival with a picket that read, "Looking for my benefactor who sold noodles here 35 years ago." He also went door to door asking furniture store owners and elderly people in local temples whether they knew the whereabouts of the "wonton noodle mama" who ran a noodle stall near the park, CNA reported Sunday (June 28).

Shih told CNA that he visited the store of his landlord from when he attended a cram school in Taipei, but the owners he knew have passed away, and their children have no memories of the wonton mama.

Shih first posted the story about him and the wonton mama three years ago. He wrote that after he failed the joint college entrance exam, his father spent his savings to enable him to attend a well-reputed cram school in preparation for the following year's test.  [FULL  STORY]

Northbound traffic smoother than expected as holiday ends

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/28/2020
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

CNA photo June 28, 2020

Taipei, June 28 (CNA) Northbound traffic was better than predicted on the nation's freeways Sunday evening, as the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday concluded, Freeway Bureau data showed.

According to the bureau's 1968 online traffic service, travel speeds were generally over 60 kilometers per hour, including on Freeway No. 5, which links Taipei and Yilan.

The freeway, which recorded record congestion at the beginning of the holiday drawing much criticism, showed improved traffic conditions Sunday evening, the website showed.

As a result, the bureau said, it had lifted high-occupancy vehicle controls at 6 p.m. ahead of schedule.    [FULL  STORY]

Hair-pulling disorder likely linked to stress

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 29, 2020
By: Wu Liang-yi / Staff reporter

A rare mental disorder called trichotillomania that manifests itself in people pulling out their own hair is most likely triggered by stress, Taipei Medical University Hospital psychiatrist Tsai Shang-ying (蔡尚穎) has said.

Citing a patient of his as an example, Tsai said that the university student said that he had been ostracized by his peers since junior-high school, and that he would pull out his hair whenever he felt anxious, to the point that his head has bald patches.

The syndrome has an incidence rate of about 1 percent, which translates into one teenager per three to four classrooms, he said.

The syndrome is not limited to the scalp and can sometimes involve the removal of eyebrows, and in extreme cases can become so severe that it affects a patient’s social life, he added.
[FULL STORY]