Taipei Times
Date: Apr 17, 2015
By: Jake Chung  /  Staff writer, with CNA

Farglory Construction is to be fined NT$12.4 million (US$397,000) for violating various rules governing the construction of Taipei Dome (台北大巨蛋), the Taipei City Government said yesterday.

The city government said the company had failed to complete the construction within the contracted period and failed to obtain the permit to use the land on which the construction is being built as stipulated in clause 1 of article 7.1.1 of the contract.     [FULL  STORY]

FOR PROFIT:Hospitals prefer to treat patients with minor conditions or those needing expensive surgeries, a foundation for health reform said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 16, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

It is estimated that more than 3,700 people with first-degree injuries each year are stuck in emergency units for two days before they are transferred to inpatient beds in hospitals, the Taiwan Health Reform Foundation said yesterday.

That figure is five times the time needed for an Australian hospital to make the same transfer, the foundation said.

“After cross-analyzing national emergency room monitoring data and National Health Insurance statistics, the foundation discovered three vital concerns stemming from the constant overcrowding in the emergency departments of most of the nation’s hospitals,” foundation chairperson Liu Mei-chun (劉梅君) told a press conference in Taipei.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 16, 2015
By: Lii Wen  /  Staff reporter

The Garden of Hope Foundation yesterday announced the launch of its annual fundraising campaign for people affected by domestic violence.

This year’s campaign aims to raise NT$5 million (US$159,600) to aid the construction of an emergency shelter for abused women and their children in Nantou County, foundation chief executive officer Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) told a news conference in Taipei.

The shelter, which would house up to 200 people affected by domestic violence, would cost about NT$40 million to build over a course of three years, the foundation said.

With the annual charity drive in its sixth year, the foundation has joined with women’s fitness franchise Curves to raise funds and supplies for the shelters, calling upon donors to purchase supplies such as powdered milk, tissues, laundry detergent and personal hygiene products.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/15
By: Wang Shwu-fen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 15 (CNA) Water supplies to industrial users in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan were cut by 10 percent from Wednesday, up from the 7.5 percent reduction already in place, as the country continues to grapple with its worst drought in decades, according to Taiwan Water Corp. (TWC 台灣自來水公司).

The water company takes 890,000 tons of water per day from the Kaoping River and another 300,000 tons from groundwater and underflow water for household use, while relying on the Donggang River for water supplies for industrial use, said Hung Wen-cheng, deputy chief of the TWC’s seventh branch.

Kaohsiung-based China Steel Corp. (CSC), Taiwan’s largest steelmaker by capacity, said that the new measure will not affect its operations because the company can draw 142,000 tons of water per day from the water company, but has reduced its daily consumption to 125,000 tons by implementing water conservation measures.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 15, 2015
By: Chen Hui-ping and Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Several pro-localization groups yesterday urged former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) and DPP member and former Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Hung Chi-chang (洪奇昌) to stop meddling in the DPP and the younger generation’s pursuit of Taiwanese independence.

They said that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), following its bruising defeat in last year’s nine-in-one elections and to secure its chances in next year’s presidential and legislative elections, has been playing up the so-called “1992 consensus” in an attempt to divert public attention from the failures of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration and focus on cross-strait relations.

The consensus refers to a supposed tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both Taiwan and China acknowledge there is “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.”     [FULL  STORY]