Mithril’s big hairy audacious goal is to become ‘the WeChat of everything’ or be bought out by Mark Zuckerberg.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/22
By: David Green

Sitting down with Jeff Huang (黄立成) in the three-story Taipei office of his live-steaming app empire, 17 Media (17 hereafter), it’s hard not to be swept away.

The man is raw energy, ideas bubbling with such intensity that they often burst into a haphazard mix of English, Taiwanese and Mandarin. The onus is on his audience to keep up.

Under his stewardship, 17’s growth has been nothing short of spectacular, and the 45-year-old is candid in confirming that it is all over the news that the company is planning to IPO this year.

Since its founding in July 2015, 17’s team has grown from a single office of a dozen people to more than 700 staff, spun off new operations like the lascivious live-streaming service, Swag, raised US$10 million in Series A funding, and merged – in 2016 – with the online dating app service Paktor. Huang is now chairman, having stepped aside as CEO during the Paktor deal.    [FULL  STORY]

 

Taiwan’s cabinet passed an childhood care amendment bill on Thursday, seeking to ban corporal punishment in kindergartens and child care centers across Taiwan and to reveal the names of offenders and child molesters

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taiwan’s cabinet passed an Early Childhood Education and

Care Act amendment bill in a meeting on Thursday, seeking to ban corporal punishment in kindergartens and child care centers across the country and to reveal the names of offenders and child molesters.

The amendment was drafted by the Ministry of Education, and will be sent to the country’s legislature for review and approval.

Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟) told reporters following the meeting that if the amendment becomes law, corporal punishment in kindergartens and child care centers across the country will be banned. Violations will be punishable by fines ranging from NT$60,000 to NT$300,000, and the names of offenders and their institutes will be revealed, according to Lin.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/22
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, March 22 (CNA) Taiwan and the European Union (EU) concluded their first annual

human rights consultations in Taipei Thursday, discussing such issues as abolition of the death penalty and promotion of equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.

The delegation from the EU was led by Mercedes Garcia Perez, head of the Division for Human Rights in the European External Action Service, the union’s diplomatic service, while the Taiwan delegation was headed by Minister without Portfolio Lo Ping-chen (羅秉成).

In a joint press release issued by the European Economic and Trade Office, the EU’s representative office in Taiwan, the EU said that consultations were held “in a friendly, open and constructive atmosphere.”    [FULL  STORY]

OPEN CASE: Prosecutors are investigating whether Kuan Chung-ming broke the law by teaching in China immediately after leaving an official post, the justice minister said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 23, 2018
By: Wu Po-hsuan and Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA

National Taiwan University (NTU) president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) yesterday

said the Ministry of Education must make a decision on his appointment by the end of the month.

Kuan, who was originally scheduled to take office on Feb. 1, has been embroiled in several scandals since word of his selection by the university’s election committee at the beginning of January.

While he was cleared of initial conflict of interest claims during the selection process and plagiarism complaints, he is now being investigated for potential breaches of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法).

“It has been more than two-and-a-half months since NTU’s presidential election committee on Jan. 5 elected me as president and submitted a request to the ministry for my appointment,” Kuan said in a statement, asking the ministry to make a decision about his appointment by the end of the month.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/21
By: Matt Fulco, Taiwan Business TOPICS Magazine

An ongoing study suggests environmental factors in Taiwan are contributing to a rising number of cases in otherwise healthy non-smokers.

After four doctors at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) had suddenly collapsed on the job during the previous two years – with one of them failing to recover – the hospital in the second half of 2013 ordered all staff physicians 45 years of age and older to take a physical examination.

The comprehensive health checks included low-radiation computerized topography (CT) scans of the lungs. The results were chilling. Of 300 physicians tested, 12 (4 percent) were found to have a small lung nodule (less than 1 centimeter), which subsequent testing confirmed as lung carcinoma.    [FULL  STORY]

Beginning April 1, Taipei City senior courtesy card holders can use the free points for YouBike rides

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/21
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei (Taiwan News)–The Department of Transportation (DOT) of Taipei City Government

has introduced a number of incentives to encourage the use of the public transport system and YouBike.

Beginning April 1, Taipei City senior courtesy card holders can use the free points for YouBike rides, the DOT said, adding that the measure is designed to extend the use of the senior courtesy card.

In addition, the agency has also designed new incentives to encourage more use of the public transportation. YouBike users can enjoy a NT$ 5 discount when they transfer to the MRT or bus within one hour after returning the bike and completing rental fee payment, the agency said. Passengers who use YouBike service within one hour after getting off the MRT train or bus can enjoy a free YouBike ride for the first 30 minutes, the agency said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/21
By: Yang Su-min and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, March 21 (CNA) European Union (EU) officials concluded a visit to Taiwan on Wednesday to review the country’s efforts to curb illegal fishing and will report in a month’s time on whether a “yellow card” warning should be lifted, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Wednesday.

It has been two and a half years since the EU issued a “yellow card” warning to Taiwan for insufficient cooperation on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, according to the COA.

Over the past two years, the COA said, it has fulfilled the EU’s requirements on improving regulations, regulatory enforcement, and management of Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry and has maintained frequent contact with EU via video conferencing and document sharing.    [FULL  STORY]

TAIWAN TRAVEL ACT: Chen Ming-tong said that it was too soon to tell how China would react to a US official’s visit, as several multilayered incidents are likely to follow

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 22, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Newly inaugurated Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) yesterday

urged the public to stop fixating on the so-called “1992 consensus,” saying that cross-strait issues should be dealt with through laws.

At his first question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei during a meeting of the Internal Administration Committee, Chen, who took office on Monday, was pressed by several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers about his stance on the “1992 consensus.”

Due to the refusal of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to acknowledge the “1992 consensus,” cross-strait exchanges have come to a standstill, leaving “staff at the council and the [semi-official] Straits Exchange Foundation with almost nothing to do,” KMT Legislator Sra Kacaw said.

Asked by Sra Kacaw how he intended to further cross-strait ties without embracing the “1992 consensus,” Chen said: “The content of the ‘1992 consensus’ has been debated in Taiwanese society. The public and I are perfectly aware of the KMT’s support for the concept of ‘one China, different interpretations,’ but there are also people who do not believe it exists.”    [FULL  STORY]