The China Post
Date: June 25, 2016
By: Yuan-Ming Chiao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — In an age when environmental conservation and sustainable technology

are increasingly relevant to our daily lives, the manufacturing process of products we take for granted often needs to start from the ground up.

The famous sculptor Auguste Rodin once said, “I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need.” Had he lived in the current era, he would probably be amazed to discover how those leftover marble remains can be transformed to craft new possibilities.

The approach used by Taiwan Lung Meng Technology Company (TLM) exemplifies using no frills materials in an unconventional way to create cutting edge products that we use daily, such as paper.

TLM, a company based in the southern city of Tainan that employs 300, has pioneered a process that takes marble waste and converts it into high quality paper. This stone paper, which uses a mixture of 80 percent calcium carbonate and 20 percent non-toxic resin is not only recyclable, but its manufacturing process is also eco-friendly in that the paper does not come from the trees that our Earth desperately needs.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese hacking skills are helping to preserve global fish stocks.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/06/23
By: Yuan-ling Liang

Taiwanese hacking team Akubic scored a great catch at a U.S. competition earlier this month

aimed at boosting the world’s languishing fish stocks.

The team was declared the winner at the annual Fishackathon held by the U.S. State Department and was awarded US$10,000 in prize money.

Fishackathon is a coding competition that seeks to use computer hacking to find solutions to sustainable fishery challenges. The 2016 event was held in more than 40 cities around the world. According to the American Institute in Taiwan, this year’s competition attracted more than 2,000 engineers and 100 fishery consultants.

The team’s water-sensor system monitors the temperature and water flow in the Great Lakes, one of the world’s largest freshwater systems but home to a large number of invasive Asian carp. The carp, which can eat up to 40% of its body weight each day, endanger the survival of native species by threatening local food supplies.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-23
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Flight attendants at China Airlines have decided to go on strike, floods and power breakdowns

have hammered the nation’s major airport, the Mass Rapid Transit rail line between the capital and the airport has become known mostly for its delays, and trains have derailed during hot weather.

At first sight, it would look like Taiwan’s transportation sector is being shaken to its core and nothing works anymore. Actually, the public discussion of the issues such as the aspirations of airline employees and the progress of major construction projects should be welcomed, since they can provide solutions for the future.

Tension between CAL, Taiwan’s largest carrier, and the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union has been brewing for weeks, with an initial strike threat made for the start of the June 9-12 Dragon Boat Festival holiday.

At the origin of the dispute is the move by CAL management to request workers to report for work at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport instead of at Taipei Songshan Airport, a change likely to lead to fewer logged working hours for staff and therefore to less time to rest.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/23
By: Wang Shu-fen and S.C. Chang

Taipei, June 23 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL) announced Thursday that it will cancel eight flights

by noon Friday as its flight attendants will launch a strike beginning at midnight, affecting nearly 1600 passengers.

CAL said the eight flights are: CI601/602 Taoyuan to Hong Kong, CI909/910 Taoyuan to Hong Kong, CI160/161 Taoyuan to Incheon, CI170/171 Taoyuan to Toyama, CI701/702 Taoyuan to Manila, CI110/111 Taoyuan to Fukuoka, CI300/301 Kaohsiung to Taoyuan and CI278/279 Taoyuan to Takamatsu.

A total of 1,590 passengers have booked a seat for these flights, according to CAL.      [FULL  STORY]

Can one young entrepreneur reboot the Kuomintang and change the face of politics in Taiwan?

The News Lens
Date: 2016/06/22
By: Edward White

Jason Hsu (許毓仁) has gone from his parents’ night market food stall in Kaohsiung, to Silicon Valley startups and founding TEDxTaipei.

Like many young Taiwanese, he was inspired by the 2014 Sunflower Movement to get into politics. But rather than side with the then-opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), he joined the Kuomintang (KMT) as it faced a landslide defeat in the polls.

Now, in opposition as one of Taiwan’s new young legislators, he is trying to change the system from within. From, redesigning the KMT’s “ridiculous” uniforms to hosting regular cross-party talks, he says he is not only a fresh voice for the KMT, but is creating a new model for Taiwan’s parliament.

Critical of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), former president and KMT leader Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the deadwood in his own party, Hsu, 38, promises to leave his mark on Taiwan politics.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/22
By: C.C. Wang and Flor Wang

Taipei, June 22 (CNA) A law amendment to allow foreign workers to save making trips overseas after they have worked for over three years in Taiwan passed its first reading at the legislative Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee Wednesday.

The amendment to the Employment Service Act will allow all types of foreign workers who have worked in Taiwan for more than three years to be re-hired directly without them having to leave the country first, a move designed to benefit both Taiwanese employers and foreign workers.

Workforce Development Agency Director-General Huang Chiu-Kuei (黃秋桂) said the law revision marks a noticeable improvement in the country’s history of human rights protection.

In the future, all types of foreign workers can extend their work years in Taiwan without having to leave the country and apply for a new visa to enter the country, as required in the past, she said.     [FULL  STORY]