The News Lens
Date: 2016 / 05 / 24
By: Edward White

Fewer than 10 dental clinics across Taipei are willing to treat people with HIV, the head of a local NGO says.

Ivory Lin is the secretary general of Taipei-based Persons with HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association of Taiwan (PRAA).

Lin told The New Lens that some dentists and doctors in Taiwan are reluctant to treat people with HIV as misconceptions surrounding the disease still run deep in Taiwanese society.

People with HIV often experience oral health problems related to the disease. Lin notes a dental clinic in Taipei’s Ximending area, which runs a session for HIV patients, can only find one dentist willing to cover the shift each week.

While it is understood to be illegal for doctors or dentists to refuse to see patients with HIV, Lin says people are not willing to the take the matter through what would likely be a difficult and costly legal process.

Misconceptions

PRAA assesses the HIV treatment systems at hospitals across Taiwan, and helps people with HIV and AIDS through legal issues – among a range of other patient support, prevention and advocacy work.

Lin believes fears in the medical community relating to HIV, in part, stem from the 2011 case at National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei – organs from an HIV carrier were mistakenly transplanted into five recipients.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan Land Development Corporation Chairman Chiu Fu-sheng has expressed an interest in the troubled Taipei Dome project, reports said Tuesday.

Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je said Monday that if no agreement was reached with the current developer, Farglory Group, within three months, the city would end its contract with the company.

Work on the complex, which is dominated by a 40,000-seat stadium, was ordered halted by the city last year amid concerns about safety and financial issues. Amid the disputes, it is still not clear whether work will eventually continue or if the Taipei Dome will face demolition.

TLDC said Tuesday that Chiu found it hard to believe that the complex was just lying there, while the capital needed an extra sports stadium.

However, at a news conference later in the day, Chiu said he was mostly interested in helping the project move ahead, rather than in taking control with TLDC.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/24

Taipei, May 24 (CNA) More than 80 percent of workers in Taiwan think that an advanced degree does not guarantee a good job, the online job bank yes123 said Tuesday, citing a poll it conducted recently.

According to the poll, 83.7 percent of workers think it not that easy for people with master’s degrees or higher to land a good job since more and more people are earning such qualifications in Taiwan, the job bank said.

This is an indication that the value of postgraduate degrees is depreciating in the local job market, the job bank said.

The poll showed that only 20.6 percent of workers with undergraduate degrees are interested in pursuing postgraduate studies as a means of securing a better job.

Among workers with master’s degrees, only 12.5 percent plan to pursue a doctorate as means of increasing their competitiveness in the job market, according to the poll.     [FULL  STORY]

Source: Taiwan Today
Date: May 24, 2016

Taiwan and Japan agreed to set up a marine cooperation dialogue mechanism under the

framework of Taipei City-based Association of East Asian Relations and Tokyo-headquartered counterpart Interchange Association, Japan, with the first round of talks scheduled for July and expected to cover issues of mutual interest spanning emergency rescue, environmental protection and scientific research, according to Cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan May 23.

“The two sides should not take any action that would add to tensions but should engage in constructive dialogue and promote cooperation in marine affairs,” Tung said. “Maintaining friendly ties with Japan is very important to Taiwan’s overall foreign relations.”

The Tsai Ing-wen administration will respect the decision of the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf regarding the international legal status of Okinotori and does not take a specific legal position on the issue, Tung added.

Regarding patrols in the waters surrounding Okinotori by two Coast Guard Administration vessels and one Fisheries Agency vessel, the CGA said they would continue until the end of the month and—depending on future developments—the area may be included in its annual patrol mission.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-23
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Premier Lin Chuan was quoted as saying on Monday that the revocation of the toll-free night hours on national highways during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday is a trial measure and is enforced to reduce the threat to life inherent to night driving.

Cabinet spokesperson Tung Chen-yuan quoted the premier as saying that the purpose of the revocation of the toll-free night hours during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday is not to boost the national coffers, but instead to solve the issue of the threat to life posed by night driving. The premier said the increased revenues will be used on public transportation, Tung said.

The premier also said the traffic during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday is comparatively lighter than other long holidays, and therefore it is easier to assess the measures’ preliminary effectiveness, Tung said. If effective, the measures will continue; however, the revocation of nighttime toll-free hours during long holidays is not yet a done-deal policy to be enforced continuously in the future.

The premier also directed the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) to closely evaluate the effect of the measures, Tung said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/23
By: You Kai-hsiang and Y.F. Low

Taipei, May 23 (CNA) Prosecutors on Monday sought the death penalty for a man who

killed a 4-year-old girl in a gruesome knife attack in Taipei two months ago.

The killer, identified as 33-year-old Wang Ching-yu (王景玉), was indicted on homicide charges, according to the Shilin District Prosecutors Office.

The attack occurred on March 28, when the girl, nicknamed “Little Light Bulb,” and her mother were on their way to a metro station in the city’s Neihu District to meet other family members.

Wang grabbed the girl from behind and beheaded her with several blows to her neck with a cleaver, shocking society.     [FULL  STORY]

NO TOLERANCE:Chiu Tai-san said that the ministry would remove prosecutors and judges who have abused their positions or demonstrated questionable behavior

Taipei Times
Date: May 24, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) yesterday said he would not allow the judiciary to

be manipulated by any political party, adding that he was seeking ways to institute changes to restore the public’s faith and trust in the judicial system.

“I will not allow the judiciary to become a tool for political manipulation,” he said in a media interview. “The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] has always opposed any political interference in the nation’s judicial system.”

Chiu said he wanted to make assurances to all Taiwanese that there is no political motivation behind cases related to former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and that any proceedings that are brought against Ma would be conducted according to the law.

Ma is facing 24 lawsuits and a pending judicial probe on allegations of corruption, leaking state secrets, failure to declare assets, and other charges.

“People have said that they had heard from some prosecutors and judges, who worried that the judiciary would become a political tool after the new government took over,” Chiu said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Ku Chin-shui, Taiwanese aboriginal decathlon silver medalist of the 1990 Asian Games, is

still battling cancer after he was rumored by the media to have died of leukemia on Saturday, former Olympian medalist Chi Cheng said in a letter published on Sunday.

However, Chi, Hope Foundation Chairwoman, said that it can be foreseen his life is coming to an end.

When Ku was diagnosed with leukemia at the end of 2014, Chi visited him at the hospital and helped him transfer to another hospital for further treatment. Since then, Chi has paid much attention to Ku’s conditions and pleaded with the public to pray for his recovery.

After his incredible feats in the realm of track and field athletics, Ku was projected into the media spotlight again after a Uni Air flight on-board explosion incident in 1999 that implicated him and made his life miserable thereafter, Chi said in her letter.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Dated: 2016/05/22
By: Hsiao Po-yang and Kay Liu

Taipei, May 22 (CNA) The Nantou Forest District Office urged visitors to the Aowanda

National Forest Recreation Area to fold in the side-view mirrors on their cars to protect local birds in breeding season.

The appeal announced on Sunday was made after volunteers working in the area in Nantou County noticed a gray-chinned minivet attacking its image in a mirror, mistaking itself for another bird.

The forest district office said mountain birds like the gray-chinned minivet are very sensitive to changes in the environment and some of them are very territorial, especially during breeding season, which is currently underway.

The office also reminded bird watchers not to get too close to bird nests, which could cause adult birds to desert their nests with the chicks still inside.     [SOURCE]