Terminal cancer patient hopes to make it to election day, urges Taiwanese to vote

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/10
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Video surfaced this week showing a terminally ill cancer patient given just days to live expressing his hope that he can live long enough to cast a vote on Saturday (Jan. 11) and calling on viewers to follow his lead and head to the polls.

On Wednesday (Jan. 8), Facebook user Mimi Liu uploaded a video showing a terminally ill cancer patient giving an update of his status. He said that he was told by the doctor that 96 percent of his body is covered with cancer cells, he is in the terminal stages of Leukemia, and only has a few days to live.

The young man said that because all hope was lost, he had checked out of the hospital. However, after leaving the hospital, he found that his fever had subsided.

In the video, he said that his present his blood oxygen level was normal. He said that his goal now is to make it to election day and cast a vote.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/10/2020
By: Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is seeking her second term, urged her supporters at an election eve rally in Taipei to go vote and safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty and democratic system.

"Vote to safeguard Taiwan," Tsai called out loudly at a mass rally on Ketagalan Boulevard outside the Presidential Office on Friday night.

Waving flags and light sticks to demonstrate their loyalty to Tsai, rally participants chanted the slogan" "Ing-Te Victory" as Tsai and her running mate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) walked on the stage at around 9:30 p.m.

Addressing the rally, Tsai emphasized that the ballots voters will cast in Saturday's election will decide if Taiwan can keep its freedom and democracy intact.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 09 January, 2020
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen has directed the government to ensure Taiwan’s national security and energy supply amid tensions in the Middle East. Tsai called a national security meeting Thursday, a day after Iran fired missiles at air bases housing US forces in Iraq.

The president said that the finance ministry and other government agencies must continue monitoring fluctuations in the stock and forex markets and ensure their normal operation. She also said that the market stabilizing mechanism should be activated immediately if necessary.
[FULL  STORY]

KMT official Alex Tsai has denied the allegations of threatening Chinese Defector Wang Liqiang to retract his story about spying for China and blaming the DPP for having bribed him to do so.

The News Lens
Date: 2020/01/09
By: Daphne K. Lee

Australian newspaper The Age reported on Wednesday that the Chinese defector Wang Liqiang was allegedly threatened to retract his story about spying for China and influencing Taiwan's elections. 

Kuomintang Deputy Secretary-General Alex Tsai, who was suspected of attempting to coerce Wang into recording a video against the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), promptly dismissed the allegations in a press conference today. 

"I've never asked him (Wang) to release any statement," Tsai said to the press, declining that he has ever conducted any inappropriate behavior. 

Tsai, along with a China-based businessman Sun Tianqun, has allegedly sent Wang a script to accuse the DPP of bribing him to lie about China's influence campaigns in Taiwan. If such a video was publicized, it could be detrimental to both the DPP and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen in the January 11 elections.     [FULL  STORY\]

Taiwan’s National Communication Commission may introduce world's first video streaming laws

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/09
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's National Communication Commission (NCC) is taking cautious steps toward establishing the first streaming service regulations in Taiwan and the world.

Video streaming services, including over-the-top media services (OTT) that bypass traditional cable and satellite TV platforms and offer video content directly to viewers via the internet, have been growing in popularity. Media service providers such as Netflix, Prime Video, iQiyi (愛奇藝), have been warmly received by TV show lovers in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/09/2020
By: Worthy Shen and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) With less than 36 hours left before the polls open, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Thursday night called on her supporters not to doubt choosing the path of reform or to underestimate her rivals.

Tsai of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is running for a second term against Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Kuomintang (KMT) and James Soong (宋楚瑜) of the People First Party.

Addressing a DPP rally for Tsai and legislative candidate Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) in Yilan County, Tsai noted that Han's camp recently bought a series of TV commercials and made numerous phone calls to push for votes, which she said demonstrates the KMT has huge resources and betrays Han's self-styled image as an "average Joe."

She urged her supporters to continue to believe in their own choice at a time when the KMT is trying to drown out the voice of reform.    [FULL  STORY]

CULTURE IN FOCUS: A National Taipei University of Technology exhibit showcases student art that draws inspiration from Taiwanese musical and literary figures

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 10, 2020
By: Dennis Xie  /  Staff writer, with CNA

A comic on the songwriting process of the father of Taiwanese folk music, Teng Yu-hsien (鄧雨賢),

is to be featured at a National Taipei University of Technology exhibit starting on Sunday, the university said yesterday.

The Cultural Vocation Department’s graduation exhibition “Re-creation,” which runs until Jan. 19 at the Bopiliao Historic Block (剝皮寮歷史街區) in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), includes the comic art from student Huang Yu-ting (黃郁婷), as well as 33 additional pieces from other students, the school said.

The exhibition’s theme is the endless flow of life, and would showcase everyday objects, craftsmanship and various forms of human interactions, university president Wang Hsi-fu (王錫福) said.

Huang’s comic work Spring Breeze, Strings’ Talk (春風弦語) drew inspiration from Teng, whose popular songs, such as Spring Breeze (望春風) and Flowers in the Rainy Night (雨夜花), are sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese).    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 08 January, 2020
By: Jake Chen

Researchers at National Tsing Hua University have unveiled a new AI-powered technology that can create content for advertisements.

The research team showcased the technology at the culture ministry on Wednesday. They say the technology is capable of deep-learning a large volume of information and analyzing the needs of different online communities. They say it’s capable of generating ad content after a client provides information on a given product and on the environment in which the product is intended to be used.
[FULL  STORY]