President Tsai plagiarized her own piece from a university publication: US attorney

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/03
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

President Tsai Ing-wen (second from left) receiving sports stars at the Presidential Office Thursday October 3.
President Tsai Ing-wen (second from left) receiving sports stars at the Presidential Office Thursday October 3. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Despite the Presidential Office having presented its case about President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Ph. D. dissertation, a prominent media personality still took his doubts about its authenticity to the top government watchdog Thursday (October 3).

Yang Sen-hong (楊憲宏) told the Control Yuan that Tsai had “plagiarized” her own work from a National Chengchi University publication to put into her dissertation without revealing the fact to the LSE, the United Daily News reported.

The content and even the footnotes in both pieces were completely the same, but the university periodical had been published first, in June 1983, while the dissertation had been submitted in October of the same year, said New York attorney Tung Wen-hsun (童文薰), who accompanied Yang Thursday.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/03
By: Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) More young people in Taiwan have eye problems because of their increasing use of electronic devices such as smartphones, with the rate of teenagers suffering from dry eyes almost quadrupling in 2019, according to the results of a survey released Wednesday by the Ophthalmological Society of Taiwan (OST).

The survey, covering 1,088 people of different ages, shows that Taiwanese people stare at electronic screens for 10.7 hours on average per day, compared with 9.9 hours in 2018.

This means that people spend 66 percent of their waking hours squinting at screens, according to the survey results.

Although television screen time has decreased from 2.4 hours to 2.2 hours, the use of computers and smartphones has increased from 4.2 hours to 4.9 hours and from 3.3 hours to 3.6 hours, respectively, the survey shows.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 02 October, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

Will a planned high speed rail extension to Pingtung be worth the cost involved?

On paper, the plan to extend Taiwan’s high speed rail southward to the city of Pingtung looks like a real time saver for local people. Though the city is on the conventional rail network, plugging it into the high speed line will give residents much faster access to major urban centers across the island.

But on the ground, people seem skeptical.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan officials denounced an attack on Denise Ho in Taipei and said it would deport Chinese nationals who deface Lennon Walls.

The Diplomat
Date: October 02, 2019
By: Nick Aspinwall

Taiwan’s weekend solidarity protests supporting Hong Kong’s ongoing pro-democracy movement,

People walk past slogans from a “Lennon Wall” exhibition supporting Hong Kong’s ongoing pro-democracy protests Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, in Taipei, Taiwan.
Credit: AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying

Both the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and opposition Kuomintang (KMT) condemned the attack, which came days after several incidents involving Chinese nationals vandalizing “Lennon Walls” at Taiwanese universities and allegedly assaulting Hong Kong and Taiwan students.

Taiwan officials condemned Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework in a press conference on October 1, China’s National Day. On Wednesday, a National Immigration Agency (NIA) official said Chinese nationals who damage Lennon Walls face deportation and will not be allowed to return to Taiwan.

Police identified the culprit behind the paint attack on Denise Ho as CUPP chairman Hu Chih-weh. The CUPP, which is chaired by the notorious former gang leader Chang An-le, or the “White Wolf,” is a fringe party with links to funding from China which was searched by Taiwanese investigators in August.    [FULL  STORY]

Woman has spent 18 of her 27 years in the UK, studied in Cambridge and was working at a hospital in Liverpool

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/02
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Chiang Mu-chun (left) with her friend Mina Mesri (screenshot from Chiang’s Facebook page).

Chiang Mu-chun lived in Scotland with her parents from 1997 to 2002 and went on to study medicine at Cambridge in 2006. She has been working at a hospital in Liverpool, where she is completing her training as a doctor.

However, the British authorities sent her a letter telling her to leave the country or face detention and removal. “If you do not leave voluntarily and removal action is required you may be subject to a re-entry ban of up to 10 years. You may also be prosecuted for the offense of overstaying, the penalty for which is a fine and/or up to 6 months imprisonment,” the Daily Mail quoted the letter as saying.

Chiang described the letter as “threatening” and “hostile,” and felt like packing up and leaving, The Independent reported. The case started due to a minor administrative issue.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/02
By: William Yen

Taipei, Oct. 2 (CNA) The body of a fifth migrant fisherman who died after being trapped under a collapsed bridge in Yilan County on Tuesday has been found by rescue workers, leaving one fishing worker still missing, according to the authorities Wednesday.

The National Immigration Agency's Yilan County Brigade identified the body, which was found at 2:27 p.m., as that of 28-year-old Indonesian national Mohamad Domiri.

Domiri is one of six migrants — three Indonesian and three Filipinos — employed by Taiwanese fishing boats who became trapped when the bridge above the entry to the port of Nanfang'ao suddenly ruptured and collapsed Tuesday morning, crushing three fishing boats.    [FULL  STORY]

COMMITTEE NEEDED: Joanna Feng called on the government to resolve inherent systemic problems instead of simply making excuses and citing existing regulations

Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 03, 2019
By: Rachel Lin and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Signature figures for the Humanistic Education Foundation’s online petition calling for the creation of a national committee to investigate sexual assaults on children are displayed on the National Development Council’s Public Policy Network Participation Platform Web site yesterday.
Photo courtesy of the Humanistic Education Foundation

According to the Guidelines for the Implementation of the Public Policy Network Participation Platform, relevant agencies must issue a response by the end of next month.

Foundation executive director Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭) said that the proposed policy received considerable support in such a short time — it was proposed on Tuesday last week — indicating that the public was concerned about the issue.

The foundation’s proposal was based on the concluding remarks of a panel of judges from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Feng said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 01 October, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

The Nanfang’ao bridge collapsed on Tuesday morning (CNA photo)

Yilan County Magistrate Lin Zi-miao sent the armed forces and rescue crews in right away. They rescued at least 10 fishermen. At least ten crew members like him were injured by the collapse and have been sent to the hospital.    [FULL  STORY]