Page Two

‘The Great Buddha +’ grabs 10 Golden Horse nominations

The China Post
Date: 2 October, 2017

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — “The Great Buddha +” led the pack Sunday with 10 nominations, including best feature film and best new director, for next month’s Golden Horse Awards.

The movie is about a security guard at a factory who watches the dash camera footage of his boss’s car for fun. He gets more than he bargained for when his rich boss’s misdeeds begin to unravel in front of him. Originally a documentary filmmaker, “The Great Buddha +” director Huang Hsin-yao shot the movie in black and white, and wanted to highlight Taiwanese social issues with the film.

Trailing behind with seven nominations are three films, including the family drama “Love Education,” the suspense thriller “The Bold, the Corrupt and the Beautiful” and the comedy “See You Tomorrow.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan navy personnel jailed for fatal missile misfire

The Straits Times
Date: October 1, 2017

TAIPEI (AFP) – Three naval personnel have been jailed for up to two years for mistakenly launching a missile towards China that killed one person and triggered a stern response from Beijing last year.

They were convicted of causing death by negligence while on duty over the misfiring of the Hsiung-feng III (Brave Wind) supersonic missile, the district court in the southern city of Kaohsiung announced over the weekend.

The missile, dubbed “Aircraft Carrier Killer”, flew about 75km before hitting a trawler on July 1, 2016, in waters off Penghu, a Taiwanese-administered island group in the Taiwan Strait.    [FULL  STORY]

EPA minister hopes Taiwan can be an “island without plastic”

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-10-01

Environmental Protection Administration Minister Lee Ying-yuan says he hopes that one day Taiwan can become an “island without plastic.” His comments came on Sunday during an event the EPA held to promote upcoming changes to Taiwan’s regulation of plastic bags.

The new rules which go in place in January will expand a ban on free plastic bags at seven more categories of stores. Those include pharmacies, medical equipment shops, electronics stores, bookstores, dry cleaners, drink shops, and bakeries. Some 80,000 stores will be affected by the new rules. Lee said that the move is expected to decrease the number of plastic bags used in Taiwan next year by 1.5 billion.

However, Lee said that’s only the tip of the iceberg. That figure represents only one tenth of the annual consumption of plastic bags in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

An amazing trip to Taiwan’s Penghu County in three days

And all I could conclude about the visit is that this place far surpassed my expectations.

Taipei Times
Date: 2017/10/01
By: George Liao,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–I decided to give myself a bit of time, which was only three

When I was boarding the boat back to Budai Harbor, I was sure of one thing—I will visit Penghu again

days, to explore the Penghu archipelago after I had heard so much about its beauty. So there I went in early summer this year, and all I could conclude about the visit is that this place far surpassed my expectations.

The Penghu archipelago, located in the middle of the Taiwan Strait and consisting of 90 islands and islets, collectively forms Penghu County of Taiwan.

As my time was very limited, I couldn’t traveled to all the places I wanted to visit. Therefore, I decided to tour around the main island of Penghu County, also named Penghu, Baisha Township (白沙鄉), and Xiyu Township (西嶼鄉), located respectively to the north and northwest of the main island and connected to the main island by bridges, as well as the offshore island of Qimei (七美島).
[FULL  STORY]

Canister LPG price to hit 33-month high

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/10/01
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Oct. 1 (CNA) As global prices of crude oil continue to rise, state-run petroleum supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan said Sunday that it will raise the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by NT$3.6 (US$0.119) per liter, or an increase of NT$72 for a 20-liter canister of LPG, hitting a 33-month high.

The price hike will be effective from 12 a.m. Monday, the company announced.

The price adjustment is expected to cost an eatery that consumes 15 20-liter canisters of LPG per month an additional NT$1,080.

CPC will also raise prices of industrial propane, butane and propane-and-butane mixtures by NT$3.6 per liter, reflecting the fact that the international contract price of LPG for October was set far above that for September, while the price of vehicle-use LPG will be increased by NT$1.9 per liter.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP lawmakers hit southbound policy spending

IMPLEMENTATION:The lawmakers spoke after a report by the legislature’s Budget Center pointed out that much of the bugeted funding has not been used

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 02, 2017
By: Peng Wan-hsing  /  Staff reporter

The government’s use of its budget for the New Southbound Policy was unsatisfactory this year, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have called for a task force to improve implementation efficiency next year.

An analysis by the legislature’s Budget Center said that of the NT$4.5 billion (US$148.49 million) budgeted for the policy this fiscal year, only about NT$2.55 billion, or 56.3 percent, had been spent by the end of July, while a few agencies had spent more than half their budgets for the policy, which aims to boost the nation’s ties with South and Southeast Asian nations as well as Australia and New Zealand.

A budget of NT$7.19 billion has been earmarked for the policy for the next fiscal year, a 61.6 percent increase over this year.    [FULL  STORY]

KMT proposes absentee ballot system

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-09-30

The opposition KMT has proposed a law that would allow citizens outside of their home jurisdictions to vote by absentee ballot within Taiwan.

Under the existing electoral system, voters must cast their ballots in the district where their household registry is located. However, on Saturday, KMT caucus Secretary-General Lin Wei-chou said that this system is outdated and makes it more difficult for citizens to exercise their right to vote.

The new KMT draft bill would grant absentee ballots to election workers as well as military personnel and police officers who are on duty on an election day. It would also give absentee ballots to those working or studying outside of their home districts, those too ill to return for an election, and prisoners who have not had their voting rights taken away.    [FULL  STORY]

Six Classic Buildings in Taipei

Take a glimpse of the development of Taiwan’s history through its architecture.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/10/01
By: TNL Staff

In recent years, Taipei 101 has become an icon of Taipei’s architectural achievement. But aside from the skyscraper, the city is rich in architecture landscape — with symbolic monuments from each historical era and classic building left behind from waves of colonization.

The Dutch and Spanish imperialists left behind churches and forts; the Chinese migrants and regime introduced Chinese-style buildings influenced by Minman architecture and western modernization; the Japanese built government buildings and houses — all leaving behind their colonial legacy frozen in time.

The current Presidential Office was built during the Japanese colonial era, completed in 1919, and originally served as the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan. The building continues to be the center of civic engagement and the prime location for people to voice their appeals.    [FULL  STORY]

Financial Times names Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je as potential Taiwan president

Lack of nationwide party or network could harm his chances

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/09/30
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is a potential future

Mayor Ko (center) at a Teachers Day event Sept. 28. (By Central News Agency)

presidential candidate thanks to his blunt style, the Financial Times of London wrote in a profile this week.

The Kuomintang (國民黨) has fallen out of favor, especially with young people, while President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Democratic Progressive Party (民進黨) is struggling to live up to high expectations, leaving Ko as the man in the middle, the article says.

“He has called protesting pensioners “bastards,” compared Taiwan and China to quarrelling lovers and said it is a “miracle” he has survived three years in office,” the newspaper opened its report.

Ko is described as the most popular politician in Taiwan but commentators say he would struggle in a nationwide election because of the lack of a political party or network to back him up. The next presidential ballot is expected in January 2020, but late next year, he will be facing the Taipei mayoral election.    [FULL  STORY]

Heavy congestion expected on Freeway 5 for National Day weekend

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/30
By: Wang Shu-fen and William Yen

Taipei, Sept. 30 (CNA) Freeway No. 5 is predicted to be heavily congested during

CNA file photo

certain periods of the National Day holiday long weekend, transportation authorities said Saturday.

The four-day holiday runs from Oct.7-10.

On Oct. 7 between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. and on Oct. 8 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., it will take 55 minutes instead of the usual 11 minutes on weekdays to travel from the Nangang System Interchange to Pinglin, according to the National Freeway Bureau’s website.

On Oct. 8-9 from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Oct. 10 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. it will take 111 minutes instead of the usual 15 minutes on weekdays, to travel between Toucheng (Jiaosi Bus Station) and Pinglin, the website added.    [FULL  STORY]