The China Post
Date: August 30, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Students and parents occupied a school near the Sixth Naphtha refinery on Monday

morning, defying a Cabinet order which closed the institution over carcinogen exposure fears.

Research conducted by the National Health Research Institutes earlier this month revealed students at the Syucuo Branch of Ciatou Elementary School (橋頭國小許厝分校) in Yunlin County were being exposed to hazardous levels of toxic petrochemical compounds.

The government later ordered the closure of the school on health grounds, citing research from the International Agency for Research on Cancer linking exposure to petrochemical compounds to increased risks of liver and lung cancer.

After temporarily moving a test group away from the school, located within a kilometer of the refinery, to another 6 kilometers away, researchers detected lower levels of toxic residue in urine samples taken from the students.

In light of the potential damage to student’s health, on Aug. 22 the Cabinet ordered all 62 students at the Syucuo Branch of Ciatou Elementary School to start this school term at Fong Rong Elementary School — approximately 9 kilometers away.     [FULL  STORY]

MV controversy: ‘If you want to hold someone responsible, then let it be me alone.’

The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/29

Malaysian rapper Wee Meng Chee, better known as Namewee, said he should be solely held

responsible for his controversial “Oh My God” music video.

This was after Malaysian police said it will seek Interpol’s help to question the Taiwanese band which performed in the music video.

“‘Oh My God’ was an original sound track for the film ‘The Big Power.’ I was solely responsible for it, including the lyrics, song and content of the music video.

“The Taiwanese band Nine One One (Jiu Yi Yi) was only responsible for singing and performing in the music video.

“If you want to hold someone responsible, then let it be me alone,” he said in a Facebook posting.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-29
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

This year’s first “OhBear Smile” tourist train pulled out of Shulin Station at 10:45 a.m. on Monday after a ceremony on the platform to mark the launch of the special train, which is dedicated to serving the railway stretch from Chiayi Station to Pingtung Station in southern Taiwan as a daily local train, according to a joint statement by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) and Tourism Bureau.

The train covered with paintings of OhBear and two TRA mascots pulled into Shulin Station at 10:15 to a swarm of waiting journalists on the platform who was busy taking pictures of this year’s first OhBear train.

After a short launching ceremony, the train left for Taipei. Taiwan tourism ambassador OhBear was on the train to interact with passengers and reporters. Children were especially fond of OhBear and tagged along after him on the train.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/29
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Aug. 29 (CNA) Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Monday issued a travel alert for

Singapore based on the latest reports on the transmission of the Zika virus there.

As of Aug. 28, the number of confirmed infections of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Singapore was 41, the CDC said, citing data provided by that country’s health authorities.

The cases were all confined to the Aljunied Crescent and Sims Drive areas in the city state, with 34 of them having recovered and seven still hospitalized, the CDC said.

However, it is feared the virus will spread from those two clusters as some of the patients have been to Khatib Camp and Sembawang Drive recently, the CDC said.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 29, 2016
By: Christine Chou, Jill Huang, Coral H. Wang

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Ministry of Culture grant program has sparked intense criticism after five pop

groups were awarded funding.

Many, especially those working in the cultural scene, expressed outraged following the release of the grant results.

Anger was focused on both the fact that all five recipients were contracted to either major record labels or event corporations, and also that the ministry had insisted on keeping decision process and the names of reviewers a secret.

The contentious annual program, in its seventh round since its launch in 2011, rewarded each recipient sums falling between NT$4 million to NT$8.3 million in grants.

Most of the recipient projects were either for concert productions or theater collaborations.

The combined sum of grants given out this year accounted for approximately NT$32.3 million.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The historic Taipei Post Office located close to the North Gate will become an attention getter for an urban regeneration plan on Taipei City’s west side, according to a city government plan.

The Taipei City Government has planned to turn Taipei Post Office, which is listed as a grade three historic site, into a draw of a urban renewal project, which is estimated to need an investment of between NT$27 billion (US$850 million) and NT$30 billion. Recruitment of investment for the project, which is scheduled to complete in 2020, will begin next year, according to the plan.

Chunghwa Post Co. said after the urban renewal is completed, two new high-rises of 50 stories and 30 stories, respectively, will be erected behind the existing historic building, the structure of which will be kept intact. The company estimated the benefit to be created from the project at two to three times of the investment value at the least.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/28
By: Chiang Yuan-chen and Elizabeth Hsu

Seoul, Aug. 28 (CNA) Several visiting Taiwanese history and geography teachers have said they were

impressed by the actions taken by and determination of South Korea to defend its sovereignty over a disputed group of islet in the Sea of Japan after touring there.

Twenty-seven teachers from Taiwan set foot on the Liancourt Rocks — also known as Dokdo in Korean — Saturday as part of a tour organized by the Taipei-based Korean Academy.

Before the journey, the group had visited the National Geographic Information Institute and a museum of maps during their stay in South Korea, according to some group members.

The wide coverage about Dokdo in Korean textbooks, the institute’s emphasis on mapping their homeland, and the tour of Dokdo, as well as the South Korean government’s and people’s attention to and love for their territories and sovereignty were all very impressive, said Chang Sheng-ling (張聖翎), a geography teacher at Taipei First Girls’ High School.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 29, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — At an international forum on paediatric dentistry on Friday, experts elaborated on

the importance of oral health maintenance, while also suggesting that there is more that people can do in their daily lives to prevent tooth decay. Tooth decay is currently one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide.

Organized by International Association of Paediatric Dentistry (IAPD) and the Taiwan Academy of Paediatric Dentistry (TAPD), the IAPD Regional Meeting ran from Aug. 26 to Aug. 28.

Main topics at the forum included the modern perspective on the management of cavities, sugar-free gum and the maintenance of oral homeostasis and the prevention of dental trauma.

The forum is the first IAPD Regional Meeting to be held in Taiwan.

According to IAPD President Tsai Tzong-Ping (蔡宗平), IAPD is the largest international body in the area of paediatric dentistry, with members from more than 64 countries around the world and representing over 15,000 dentists working with children, adolescents and patients with special needs.     [FULL  STORY]