Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-21
By: Xinhua and Staff Reporter

Hong Kong Youth Music Festival 2015 will kick off on June 6 at Hong Kong

Convention and Exhibition Center, bringing the exhilarating singing and dancing performances to the city.

In addition to famous singers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, musicians and singers from South Korea will also perform at the festival, such as popular artist Kim Jong Kook, the hosts of the festival told reporters on Wednesday.

Other performers scheduled to take the stage are Hong Kong artist Kenny Bee, Adason Lo, Vincy Chan and others.

As the festival also wants to establish a platform for Asia’s youth to achieve their singing dreams, many young singers from Hong Kong and mainland China will be invited to take part in a singing contest during the festival.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-20
By: Xinhua (Communist controlled China News Service)

Taiwan’s food and drug authority has suspended medical use of a batch of sodium chloride solution suspected of having been contaminated by bacteria.

Twelve patients in a hospital in Taipei had adverse reactions after receiving an intravenous sodium chloride solution as of Tuesday. Eight remain under treatment, in a stable condition.

Two of 17 samples were found to be contaminated with Ralstonia pickettii, said the food and drug authority, which ordered immediate withdrawal of all 54,400 vials of the batch with the serial number 273A79D.

It is not clear whether the solution made by Taiwan’s Y F Chemical Corp was contaminated during production or after. The food and drug authority is working on samples and the source is expected to be determined in seven to ten days.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/20
By: Kuo Chu-chen and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) A 77-year-old man and his 66-year-old wife, who have raised four Formosan black bears, were attacked by one of the animals at their home in Changzhi Township in Pingtung County on Wednesday.

Lee Teng-cheng (李籐正) and wife Chen-Lin Pao-kuei (陳林寶貴) were bitten and clawed in the face and on their arms and legs by a bear called “Pipi” (皮皮) and were both hospitalized.

They were taken to Pingtung Christian Hospital but Lee was later moved to Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital because he required plastic surgery.

The couple was attacked while they were feeding the bears, which have been in their care for more than 20 years.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-21
By: CNA

Taiwanese researchers have developed a system that uses microalgae

cultivated in partially treated wastewater as a feedstock for biomedicine and biofuel production, providing huge business opportunities.

It took a research team at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology five years to develop the microalgae cultivation and biodiesel production system, which took top prize in the university category in a national energy innovation competition last year. The technology has also begun attracting attention from the academic and business sectors from home and abroad, said Tsai Wen-tien, director of the university’s Graduate Institute of Bioresources and the team leader.

Microalgae are a group of unicellular or simple multicellular fast-growing photosynthetic microorganisms that live on carbon dioxide (CO2) from different sources, including industrial exhaust gases and soluble carbonate salts, according to Tsai.

The team cultivated the microalgae by coupling a wastewater treatment process with an algal photobioreactor for nutrient removal and biomass production, using enriched CO2 from industrial exhaust gases, according to Tsai.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 21, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

The legislature’s Constitutional Amendment Committee yesterday reviewed

draft proposals calling for a voting age of 18. Outside the Legislative Yuan complex in Taipei, social groups accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of hijacking the voting age amendment draft by tying it to such draft proposals as absentee voting and the legislature’s power to approve the premiership.

The committee’s second review yesterday fiercely debated proposals to lower the voting age.

Whether the voting age should be lowered to 18 was not the stumbling block, but the procedure for reviewing amendment proposals and whether the committee should first achieve resolutions over the issue blocked progress.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said the nature of the disputes showed that the KMT was not inclined toward lowering the voting age.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/19
By: Hsieh Chia-chen, Huang Tzi-chiang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) Taiwan looks forward to participating in dialogue and mechanisms related to South China Sea issues and working with other countries in the area to settle disputes through peaceful means to maintain regional peace and stability and promote regional development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.

The ministry was responding to a media report that a scholar from the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said Taiwan’s participation in negotiations aimed at resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea will be beneficial for the parties concerned.

The Republic of China has unquestionable sovereignty over the Dongsha, Nansha, Xisha and Zhongsha islands in the South China Sea and their surrounding waters, from the perspective of history, geography and international law, said MOFA spokeswoman Anna Kao (高安).

The government is willing to cooperate with neighboring countries in exploring resources in the region, in line with the principles of “safeguarding sovereignty, shelving disputes, pursuing peace and reciprocity, and promoting joint exploration and development,” according to Kao.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 20, 2015
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The government held a 21-gun salute yesterday to welcome King Mswati III of

Swaziland, one of the nation’s three diplomatic allies in Africa.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) officiated at the welcoming ceremony in Liberty Plaza in Taipei for the king, who is on his 15th visit to Taiwan.

Ma said the Republic of China (ROC) and Swaziland have maintained cooperative projects ranging from agricultural assistance to medical services, and he hoped bilateral relations would advance in the future.

The king said he hoped the 45-year-long relationship between his nation and Taiwan would continue, adding that cooperation with the ROC has helped improve the kingdom’s economy and infrastructure, citing a new international airport as an example of bilateral cooperation.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-19
By: CNA

Taiwan’s Ministry of Education added 15 universities in 11 countries and

regions to the funding list of its “Taiwan Studies” project on Monday, seeking more international partnerships to promote worldwide research interest in Taiwan.

The 11 new locations include six nations and regions that have never offered Taiwan Studies courses or exchanges–Belgium, South Korea, Israel, Vietnam, India and Macau–the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry signed up 30 universities in nine countries between 2003 and 2014 to receive funding to promote Taiwan studies, which is defined as “interdisciplinary or academic research and teaching with institutional oversight on topics germane to the study of Taiwan.”

Qualified universities with disciplines including but not limited to Sinology, East Asian Studies, and/or Chinese Studies are invited to submit proposals, the ministry said.     [FULL  STORY]