Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/06
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Oct. 6 (CNA) The Tang Prize Foundation signed an agreement Monday with

Tasuku Honjo (left)

prominent Japanese scientist Tasuku Honjo on the disbursement of a NT$5 million fund for his cancer immunotherapy research, which was part of his award for winning the first Tang Prize in biopharmaceutical science last year.

The agreement was signed at Kyoto University in Japan between Honjo and Chang Herng-yuh (張恒裕), director of the foundation’s Planning and Development Department.

Under the agreement, Honjo will receive NT$5 million for his research project, titled “Improvement of PD-1 Antibody Cancer Immunotherapy.” In 2014, Honjo and James P. Allison of the United States won the first Tang Prize in biopharmaceutical science, which earned them a shared cash prize of NT$40 million (US$1.23 million) and a research grant of NT$10 million to be used over five years.

A professor at Kyoto University, Honjo discovered PD-1 (programmed cell death protein-1) in 1992, and later established it as an inhibitor of the T-cell, a type of lymphocyte that plays a central role in cell-mediated immunity. In 2014, anti-PD-1 antibodies nivolumab and/or pembrolizumab were approved in Japan and the United States to treat patients with advanced melanoma or melanoma that could not be removed by surgery.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-05
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Finances for the National Health Insurance (NHI) have remained adequate for the month

NHI reserve fund hits NT$200 billion. Central News Agency

in July, with an estimated NT$200 billion (US$6.6 billion) reserve funds capable of withstanding Taiwan’s growing health expenditure, according to Chu Tong-kuang, director of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Department of Social Insurance.

The reserve fund has recorded an all-time high since the inception of the universal insurance program, he said, noting that the ministry will discuss the feasibility to reduce the monthly NHI fee for the next fiscal year.

According to Chu, the fund will be kept in reserve to balance out any deficit should there be a surplus of expenditure in the future.

The proposed plan to reduce the monthly NHI charges per person will be carved out by the end of October for further review by the MOHW in November, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/05
By: Wang Ching-yi and Christie Chen

Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) High school romance “Our Times” (我的少女時代) has taken Taiwan’s

Photo courtesy of Hualien Media International Co.

box office by storm, becoming the fifth highest-grossing Taiwanese film ever in the domestic market as of Sunday.

The blockbuster film has grossed over NT$400 million (US$12.25 million) around Taiwan since its release on Aug. 13, the film’s distributor, Hualien Media International Co., said Monday.

Among local box office hits, “Our Times” trails only the romantic comedy “Cape No. 7” (NT$530 million); historical drama epic “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale Part 1” (NT$472 million); comedy “David Loman” (NT$428 million); and romance “You Are the Apple of My Eye” (NT$410 million).

The directorial debut of Frankie Chen (陳玉珊), “Our Times” looks back at the first love of a woman, who met a mischievous boy when she was in high school.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-05
By: CNA

The Kinmen county government is promoting internationally certified products from 19

Bullet-shaped cookies, one of the products presented at the conference in Kinmen, Oct. 1. (Photo/Li Chin-sheng)

local enterprises as part of a campaign to enhance their brand images, while improving product and service quality.

The products, announced during a news conference Thursday, include porcelain and pottery, artisan quality damascus steel knives made from old artillery shell casings, beef jerky, peanut candy, very fine Chinese longenivity noodles, black garlic, sorghum-flavored egg rolls and yi tiao gen (Radix moghania, which, according to traditional Chinese medicine, can ease muscle pain and relieve rheumatism).

These products are being promoted as important souvenirs that tourists can buy before leaving the island.

Since 2013, these enterprises are recognized by such international certification bodies as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001, and with the aid of the Kinmen local government, rigorously adhere to such management systems as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points and Good Service Practice.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-04
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Taiwan launched its annual hot spring festival on Friday in one of the island’s four main

The Sichongxi Hot Springs Park in Pingtung, Sept. 30. (Photo/Chou Ling-yun)

hot spring areas — Sichongxi in the southern county of Pingtung — as the government and industry officials hope that the four-month fair celebrated across the country will boost tourism.

Despite its relatively small size, Taiwan has one of the highest concentrations and greatest variety of thermal springs in the world, due to its location next to an oceanic trench and volcanic system in a tectonic collision zone. There are more than 100 thermal springs in the country, ranging from hot springs to cold springs, mud springs and seabed hot springs.

The island’s former colonial rulers from Japan developed Taiwan’s hot springs in the early 1900s and brought with them the onsen culture of spring soaking. Although the hot spring culture was not promoted after the Republic of China took over Taiwan in 1945, the government began promoting hot springs in 1999, seeing it as a way to attract domestic and overseas tourists.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/04
By: Flor Wang

Taipei, Oct. 4 (CNA) Record numbers of Chinese tourists are expected to visit Taiwan during China’s weeklong National Day holiday which started on Oct. 1, Taipei-based China Times reported on Sunday.

More than 90,000 Chinese tourists are likely to visit during the week, a major increase on last year’s level of nearly 80,000, according to the report, which cited statistics compiled by the National Immigration Agency.

A record single-day high of 16,171 independent tourists from China arrived in Taiwan on Oct. 1, outpacing the 14,000 recorded last year, while 8,587 Chinese tourists came to Taiwan as part of tour groups on the same day, the report indicated.

The Tourism Bureau estimated that the number of Chinese tourists arriving in Taiwan during the “Golden Week” would increase by 10 percent this year, generating NT$500 million (US$15.17 million) in tourist dollars, according to the report.     [FULL  STORY]