The Story of the Stone gives a raw portrayal of Taipei’s LGBTI scene with a modern take on a classic Chinese love story

Gay Star News 
Date: 30 December 2018
By: Calum Stuart

It’s a Happy New Year feast for the eyes with Taiwan’s recent addition to Asia’s leading LGBTI film streaming service.

The Story of the Stone is now available on LGBTI film streaming service, GagaOOLala.

The film offers a raw take on Taipei’s LGBTI scene, delving into a life of drug abuse and orgies.

Its unflinching treatment, complemented by the film’s cast of ‘twelve hunky beaus’, leaves ‘nothing to the imagination’, the film’s promoters promised in a press release.

The Story of the Stone is a modern adaptation of the iconic Chinese classic novel, Dream of the Red Chamber. Most fittingly, the story is now set in the Red House, at the heart of Taipei’s LGBTI scene.

Beneath the debauchery, though, lies a tale of loss, despair, and importantly, hope.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/30
By:  Central News Agency

TAIPEI (CNA) — Taiwan may begin allowing HIV-positive individuals to donate organs to HIV-positive patients sometime next year, Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center Chairman Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) said Friday, hoping that the necessary legislation will be passed.

In May, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection Act that gave HIV-positive patients the choice to give their consent to receiving organs from a donor with HIV.

Before the HIV-positive organ transplants can become reality, however, the Regulation Governing the Transplantation and Allocation of Human Organs and another rule pertaining to the donor and recipient still need to be revised, according to Lee.

There are currently five HIV-positive patients on the waiting list for organs. Two of them need liver transplants, two need lungs, and the other needs a cornea, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/30
By: Joseph Yeh 

Taipei, Dec. 30 (CNA) Migrant workers will serve for the first time as crowd-managing volunteers on Taipei’s MRT system during New Year’s Eve festivities to be held Monday.

Twelve migrant workers — six Indonesians and six Vietnamese who speak fluent Mandarin — will serve as volunteers at Taipei Main Station and the Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 stations late Monday to help manage crowds, Global Workers’ Organization in Taiwan secretary-general Karen Hsu (徐瑞希) told CNA on Sunday.

The 12 underwent training at Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC), which runs the Taipei MRT, on Sunday afternoon to prepare for the big day.

TRTC assistant engineer Chang Li-wei (張立偉), who was responsible for the training, told CNA the three stations were chosen because they were expected to attract the largest crowds of people heading home after the New Year’s Eve festivities.    [FULL  STORY]

GAMBLING DEBTS: The bank robber allegedly used a toy gun to rob a Sunny Bank branch in New Taipei City’s Banciao District, making off with NT$3.34 million in cash

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 31, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

New Taipei City prosecutors yesterday named Yu Ning-chun (游甯鈞) as the sole

suspect in a bank heist that occurred on Friday last week, saying that Yu had been questioned to determine his motive for committing the robbery.

Most of the stolen money has been recovered, police said, adding that Yu allegedly carried out the robbery in the hope of paying off gambling debts.

The 29-year-old is a chef at the five-star Westin Taipei, where he heads the hotel’s Silk Road Feast restaurant.

Prosecutors said they applied to have Yu detained on the grounds that he is a likely flight risk and that evidence could be corrupted.

Yu allegedly used a toy gun to rob a Sunny Bank branch in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), making off with NT$3.34 million (US$108,677) in cash.
[FULL  STORY]

National Museum of Prehistory in Tainan City is now open for group bookings

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/29
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The third branch of the National Museum of Prehistory began its soft opening in Tainan City on Dec. 26, with the museum to fully open to the public in early 2019.

The museum showcases Taiwan’s deep prehistory, and is dedicated to displaying archeological treasures and other artifacts found during the construction of the Southern Taiwan Science Park.

During the 1990’s, 58 archeological sites were discovered during construction of the science park, and this depth of discovery led to the construction of the new museum, according to the Ministry of Culture.

The museum will display a host of artifacts from the region which looked distinctly different in the distant past. Over 3,500 years ago, the area which is now the science park was a coastal area, where seashells, stone tools, and pottery shards were found.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/29
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Dec. 29 (CNA) A biotech company has recalled its high blood pressure drug after finding that several batches of the medication contained a potentially cancer-causing substance, Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Saturday.

Chiayi-headquartered Siu Guan Chemical Industrial Co. began on Thursday to recall its 50 mg Cosar F.C. Tablets after they were found to contain N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), a substance suspected of causing cancer, but the move was first made public Saturday.

The recall, which will continue until Jan. 27, 2019, involves 3 million tablets produced over 11 batches, the FDA said.

The incident is the latest of several cases of potentially tainted high blood pressure medication available in Taiwan and around the world.    [FULL  STORY]

FUTURES AT RISK: The Ministry of Education this year began sharing data on retention rates, which union officials said would help people choose where to study

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 30, 2018
By: Rachel Lin, Weng Yu-huang and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Enrollment at nine of the nation’s higher-education institutes this year was less than

60 percent of regular enrollment, which might force closures, the Ministry of Education said on Friday.

The low enrollment rates are likely due to a declining birthrate that is beginning to affect the age group now attending universities, the ministry said.

The nine institutes were: Christ’s College Taipei (46.81 percent enrollment), Fortune Institute of Technology (47.46 percent), Kao Yuan University (47.48 percent), Ming Dao University (51.61 percent), Chungyu University of Film and Arts (51.89 percent), Chung Chou University of Science and Technology (53.42 percent), Hsuan Chuang University (54.58 percent), Huafan University (56.18 percent) and Nan Jeon University of Science and Technology (56.41 percent).

Three of those — Huafan, Nan Jeon and Fortune — also had an enrollment rate of below 60 percent last year, the ministry said, adding that they have fewer than 3,000 students each.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 28 December, 2018
By: Paula Chao

Premier William Lai on Friday called for the review of a simplified visa program for tourists from Southeast Asian countries. That’s after more than 150 tourists from Vietnam went missing shortly after entering Taiwan earlier this month. More than 130 of the tourists remain unaccounted for.

Under the visa program introduced in 2015, visitors from India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos may apply for an electronic visa provided that they join tour groups deemed acceptable by the tourism bureau.

Lai said the interior ministry must find the missing tourists quickly. He also said the government must face the issue honestly.

Vietnam’s prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, has demanded a report on the incident from his government’s tourism authorities.    [FULL  STORY]

The two countries reached agreements on issues of illegal fishing, human trafficking, drug smuggling, and scientific research, with two MoUs signed in Tokyo

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/28
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The third official meeting for maritime cooperation talks between Taiwan and Japan began on Thursday, Dec. 27 and concluded on Friday, Dec. 28 in Tokyo, Japan.

Despite several disagreements this year, including many reports of Taiwanese fishing vessels trespassing in Japan’s territorial waters, and the continued issue of the Diaoyu Islands, the two sides were able to come to mutual understandings on issues of illegal fishing, human trafficking, drug smuggling, and scientific research.

On Thursday, Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), head of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, and Mitsuo Ohashi (大橋光夫​), chairman of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, as representatives of each nation signed two memorandums of understanding (MoU) on maritime affairs.    [FULL  STORY]