Radio Taiwan nternational
Date: 10 September, 2020
By: Paula Chao

[Cute Pet ALERT][/caption][Cute Pet ALERT][/caption] Natalie’s new cat Felix joins us on set! He’s not interested in celebrating Taiwan Dog Day (which was Sept. 9), but he’s happy to join us for our show on the Power of Pets. Join us for a trip to the Taipei Pets Show and for a closer look at Felix, who’s conquering the hearts of Natalie and her family, one purr at a time. 

The Straits Times
Date: September 10, 2020

TAIPEI (AFP) – Taiwan condemned the "serious provocation" by China on Thursday (Sept 10) after its military jets penetrated the island's air defence zone for two consecutive days this week.

Taiwanese authorities said multiple Chinese planes, including Su-30 fighter, J-10 fighter and Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, intruded into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) during China's large-scale military exercises on Wednesday and Thursday.

"Military maneuvers by China's government constitute a serious provocation to Taiwan and a grave threat to regional peace and stability," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Today, the PLA has chosen to conduct exercises near Taiwan; tomorrow it may engage in similar threats near other countries."    [FULL  STORY]

Couple questioned, charged with violating Counter-Terrorism Financing Act

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A naturalized Taiwanese citizen originally from Iran and his wife have been charged with funding an Iranian group listed as banned by the Ministry of Justice, reports said Thursday (Sept. 10).

Prosecutors questioned the couple and charged them with violating the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act before they were released on bail of NT$200,000 (US$6,800) and NT$100,000 respectively, CNA reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/10/2020
By: Wu Hsin-yun and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Sept. 10 (CNA) Taiwan's Central Emergency Operation Center for African swine fever (ASF) said Thursday that it would begin screening the luggage of all arrivals from Germany, after the country reported its first case of ASF.

The German agriculture ministry confirmed Thursday that a wild boar found in the Spree-Neisse district of the state of Brandenburg had ASF, the first case the country has ever confirmed, the center quoted German media as saying.

The Spree-Neisse district borders Poland, which is dealing with a serious ongoing outbreak of ASF, the center said.

Although Germany has not officially reported the case to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the center has decided to include Germany in its list of countries that have had an ASF outbreak in the past three years.    [FULL  STORY]

‘LOOKED DELICIOUS’: A 51-year-old man accused of starting the gossip said that he was not politically motivated and just wanted to share it with friends

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 11, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

A Taichung-based music teacher on Wednesday was questioned for allegedly spreading rumors online that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other officials at a Cabinet meeting had eaten extravagant lunchboxes that cost nearly NT$7,000 each, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday.

The 51-year-old man surnamed Liao (廖) faces charges of contravening the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) by “spreading rumors in a way that is sufficient to undermine public order and peace,” CIB Seventh Investigation Corps Deputy Captain Hsu Chao-pin (徐釗斌) said.

Investigators reviewing social media records to determine where the rumor had started found that Liao’s post on Facebook on Friday last week was the earliest to claim that Tsai and Cabinet officials had eaten the luxury seafood lunch, Hsu said.

A screen grab of the post showed a photograph of a tree-layer wooden lunchbox packed with seafood items, accompanied by text allegedly written by Liao.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 09 September, 2020
By: Katherine Wei

The black-bellied hornet is a species of hornet native to Taiwan. It is one of the most dangerous species of hornet on the island, with a sting that can be fatal. The hornets become more active and sensitive to their surroundings each year when summer turns to fall, so beware when you chance upon a hornet’s nest on your walk. 

This is Bunun hunter Gianu’s 15th hornet’s nest this year, and the biggest he’s had to help remove so far, this time, after locals complained it was too scary to walk past the nest. 

It weighed over 60 kilos, and while half of it broke up and fell into a gorge when Gianu was working to dislodge it, there were still over 20,000 hornets trapped under the netting in the remaining half.     [FULL  STORY]

Official: Taiwan worried it will be the next Hong Kong

CNN
Date: September 9, 2020
By: James Griffiths, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN)Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen wants to create an alliance to defend "freedom, safety, human rights and democracy" in Asia, as the self-ruled island faces renewed pressure from neighboring China.

Though she did not mention China explicitly in her speech, given at a security forum in Taipei, Tsai left little doubt over who she was referring to, saying Taiwan was at the forefront of "defending democracy from authoritarian aggression."

Tsai's speech came as a Chinese state-backed tabloid reported that foreign officials who visit Taiwan, as well as international companies that do business on the self-ruled island, could face sanctions from Beijing — the latest potential move by China to rein in Taiwan's growing stature worldwide.    [FULL  STORY]

Over 500 deaths reported due to drowning in Taiwan last year

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/09
By: Saloni Meghnani, Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In 2019, Taiwan recorded its highest number of drowning accidents ever, according to data released by the Fire Department of the Ministry of the Interior.

Based on ministry figures, there were 948 water-related accidents in 2019. These cases are categorized based on outcomes of either survival (361), death (558), or missing (29).

Drowning accidents occur in streams or rivers 41 percent of the time, while the ocean accounts for 21 percent. Keelung River, Dawulun, and the Longdong caves have all in the last year been the sites of drowning accidents.

Data suggests that drowning accidents, which peak in July, are more likely to occur during hotter months when people tend to go swimming, such as from May to September. The summer in Taiwan has been the hottest on record this year, according to the Central Weather Bureau.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/09/2020
By: Hung Hsueh-kuang and Chiang Yi-ching

Kaohsiung, Sept. 9 (CNA) The owner of a company in Tainan was detained Wednesday for allegedly selling falsely labeled non-medical grade masks from China and Vietnam, according to the Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office.

The company owner, Huang Chao-yu (黃朝玉), is suspected of repackaging the masks in boxes and plastic bags labeled "Three-layered medical grade masks, Made in Taiwan, Approved by the Food and Drug Administration," prosecutors said.

Some of the boxes also bore the counterfeit trademark of another Taiwanese company, they said.

On Wednesday, a Kaohsiung court granted prosecutors' request for Huang to be held in detention after he was summoned for questioning the previous day, the prosecutors' office said.
[FULL  STORY]

AGAINST DISCRIMINATION: “King & King,” gifted by the Ministry of Education to first graders, would help children understand unfamiliar matters, the book’s translator said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 10, 2020
By: Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter

Several LGBT rights, gender equality and parents’ groups yesterday held a press conference in support of the Ministry of Education’s selection of a book for elementary-school readers about two princes falling in love with each other.

As part of its program to promote reading among students who are entering their first year of elementary or junior-high school — the first and seventh grades, respectively — the Ministry of Education this year gifted each first grader one book from a list of 100 selected titles, including the Mandarin edition of the picture book King & King (國王與國王) by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland.

However, the selection of the book has been protested by some groups over its LGBT content.

At a news conference outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, repregsentatives from several groups, including the Taiwan Equality Campaign, the Taiwan Tongzhi (LGBTQ+) Hotline Association, the Awakening Foundation, the Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association, the Garden of Hope Foundation and the Kaohsiung Holistic Education Parents’ Association, as well as other groups and individuals, such as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Fan Yun (范雲), spoke in support of the inclusion of the book.    [FULL  STORY]