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

Donations from Taiwan to relief efforts for quake-hit Nepal have reached

NT$47.6 million (US$1.54 million), the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday, two weeks after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit and devastated large swaths of the Himalayan country.

The donations include US$300,000 from the Taiwan government and €20,000 (US$22,400) from Taiwan’s representative office in the Vatican, the ministry said. Others were collected from several private groups and individuals who made donations to accounts set up by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Taiwan’s Red Cross Society, it said, as donations continued to flow in.

In addition to monetary donations, more than 190 people in 14 teams from Taiwan — including government officials and members of several charity, religious groups and hospitals — have so far been dispatched to assist with the rescue efforts, help care for the survivors and deliver relief supplies, the ministry said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/10
By: Shen ru-feng and Ted Chen

Taipei, May 10 (CNA) A man on Sunday was saved from a brush with death by

a fisherman after being swept out to sea while surfing at Toucheng Township in Yilan.

The Central Weather Bureau Sunday morning issued a sea warning as Typhoon Noul approached Taiwan.

However, officials said that a number of tourists had visited beaches despite the warning.

At 4:20 p.m. a local fire department was alerted of a man who had been swept out 500 meters away from the coast by large waves. Rescue workers were dispatched and the coast guard was also notified.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 09, 2015
By: Ho Yu-hua  /  Staff reporter, with CNA

Dozens of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) New Taipei City councilors

yesterday clashed with police at city hall after they were stopped on the way to New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) office to discuss a controversial public housing complex.

The DPP city councilors demanded a meeting with Chu at his office on the 18th floor after their request for Chu’s presence at a city council meeting over issues regarding the complex in Fujhou (浮洲), in the Banciao District (板橋), was rejected by the city government.

Police in the lobby of the building blocked all of the entrances to upstairs offices when the first wave of clashes broke out, with New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Kao Chung-cheng (高宗正), who was there to tell the DPP city councilors led by Deputy Speaker Chu Wen-chih (陳文治), that Chu was not in the office.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/08
By: Huang Li-yun, Ku Chuan and Lilian Wu

Taipei, May 8 (CNA) A Taipei committee on Friday decided to refer President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to the Ministry of Justice for alleged violations of the law in the Taipei Dome project when he served as Taipei mayor.

Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍), a lawyer who represented former President Chen Shui-bian and a member of the Clean Government Committee, alleged that Ma and Lee Sush-der (李述德) changed the parameters of the project in ways that unlawfully provided financial benefits to the main contractor Farglory Land Development Co. (遠雄).

Lee, who is currently chairman of the Taiwan Stock Exchange, headed Taipei’s Department of Finance when the changes to the build-operate-transfer (BOT) project were made.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-08
By: CNA

Taiwan urged the Philippines on Thursday to release the Taiwanese fishing boat

and fishermen on board once it completes a necessary investigation on whether the boat was operating illegally in waters off the Philippines.

“The Philippine authorities have notified us of the incident,” said Anna Kao, spokesperson for Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when asked about the incident.

“Our representative office in the Philippines has been following the developments of the incident,” she said. “We urge the Philippine authorities to release the boat and the fishermen as soon as the necessary investigation has been completed.”

The boat remains intact and the crew on board is safe, she added.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/07
By: Elaine Hou and Kuo Chih-hsuan

Taipei, May 7 (CNA) Taiwan urged the Philippines on Thursday to release the

Taiwanese fishing boat and fishermen on board once it completes a necessary investigation on whether the boat was operating illegally in waters off the Philippines.

“The Philippine authorities have notified us of the incident,” said Anna Kao (高安), spokeswoman for Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when asked about the incident.

“Our representative office in the Philippines has been following the developments of the incident,” she said. “We urge the Philippine authorities to release the boat and the fishermen as soon as the necessary investigation has been completed.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 07, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

A group of authors and professors of literature yesterday gathered outside the

Legislative Yuan in Taipei to protest against the new high-school Chinese language curriculum which reincorporates a high percentage of classical Chinese material while neglecting Taiwanese and contemporary literature.

Na Su-phok (藍士博), one of the founders of the Alliance of the Young Safeguarding Taiwanese Literature and History, said that while concerns have been raised against the adjustments made to the history and civil education curriculum guidelines, there have been relatively few objections made public against the adjusted curriculum for Mandarin Chinese-language study.     [FULL  STORY]