Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/31
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–The prefabricated pool that will be used for the swimming and water polo events at Taipei 2017 Universiade has been announced by event officials to have been ready for competition.

Members of Taoyuan City swimming team have tried out the pool. The swimmers said that the water quality is good and the pool is good to swim in.

The prefabricated pool was assembled over 60 days from March 3 to May 5 and has been successfully tested and formally opened, the event organizer said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/31
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, May 31 (CNA) Hypermarket chain RT-Mart announced on Wednesday that as

part of efforts to promote environmental protection, beginning on July 1, it will stop selling plastic shopping bags at its 22 stores around Taiwan.

It is estimated that the policy will prevent 7.3 million plastic bags from reaching the market each year, reducing carbon emissions by the equivalent of planting 34,000 trees a year, RT-Mart said.

In terms of carbon emissions reduction that is higher than the offset achieved by Da’an Forest Park in Taipei in one year, the company noted.

Kuo Chien-chi (郭建志), a publicist for the hypermarket chain, said the company calculated that people in Taiwan use and dispose of 18 billion plastic bags a year.
[FULL  STORY]

STOP WAITING:It is going to take time to decide how changes to the Civil Code are to be handled, but there is no need to wait for them, the Executive Yuan said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 01, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

The Cabinet plans to ask all local governments to recognize household registrations

by same-sex couples before same-sex marriage is fully legalized, even as the Executive Yuan remains undecided on how to legalize such marriages.
Following the Council of Grand Justices’ landmark ruling last week that a ban on same-sex marriage in the Civil Code is unconstitutional, the Executive Yuan has formed an interministerial task force to study how many laws would be affected by the legalization of same-sex marriage and what modifications are required to the legal definition of kinship and inheritance, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) said yesterday.

The task force cannot decide how same-sex marriage should be legalized — by amending the Civil Code, by establishing a special section of the Civil Code or by creating a special law — until it conducts further assessments, Chen said.

“I cannot set a timetable [for proposing legislation], but we understand that the Legislative Yuan is not willing to wait and will pressure us,” she said.

“If there are local governments that refuse to comply — which they are legally entitled to do, as household registration is within local governments’ authority — I will ask the Ministry of the Interior to accept household registration for same-sex partners,” she said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: May 31, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Air quality was good or fair around Taiwan on Wednesday with

northern areas seeing moderate air quality, according to the Environmental Protection Administration’s Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Network.

As of 10 a.m, air quality flashed yellow at monitoring stations in several districts of Greater Taipei and Taoyuan, the northern counties of Hsinchu and Miaoli, and island groups of Kinmen and Matsu, indicating moderate air quality, according to the network (http://taqm.epa.gov.tw/taqm/en/).

Air quality flashed green, meaning good, in the rest of the country, the data shows.

The EPA’s six-color scale takes into account ozone, PM2.5 and PM10 particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide concentrations in the air.
[FULL  STORY]

Public information campaign poster in Taipei MRT informs passengers that toilet paper can indeed be flushed down the toilet.

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/30
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A poster in the Zhongshan Elementary MRT station informs

passengers of the fact that toilet paper can be flushed down the toilet, as part of Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) public information campaign ahead of next month’s “toilet paper flushing policy.”

The sign reads:

“The answer to a big mystery!! Toilet paper can be flushed down the toilet, did you know that?”

About 45 percent of Taipei citizens are still not used to flushing toilet paper down the toilet despite previous public information campaigns by the EPA, according to Taipei City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Many still toss their used toilet paper into trash bins instead of the commode out of fear that it will clog the toilet and/or the septic system. However, EPA head Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said that experiment results show that toilet paper degrades in water.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/30
By: Hau Hsueh-ching and Christie Chen

Taipei, May 30 (CNA) Rockslides that caused the Suhua Highway in the east to close

down since Sunday have created massive traffic jams on other highways connecting the east coast of Taiwan, as travelers sought out other routes to return home before the end of the four-day Dragon Boat holiday.

Many people traveled to Hualien, a popular tourist spot, for the four-day holiday weekend, but found themselves stranded in the county after continuous rockslides since Sunday blocked the only road connecting the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung with northern Taiwan.

Beginning Monday afternoon, travelers hoping to return to the north were forced to detour from the south or cut across the central mountain range, causing massive traffic jams on the south-link highway and the central cross-island highway.
[FULL  STORY]

DEFENSIVE WEAPONS:Cory Gardner underlined the importance of high-level bilateral exchanges, while expressing hope of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: May 31, 2017
By: Lee Hsin-fang / Staff reporter

Taiwan hopes to hold more frequent negotiations and discussions with the US on

purchasing defensive weapons, which not only helps to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait, but also benefits the US and other nations that cherish similar values, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday during a meeting with US Senator Cory Gardner.

Gardner, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy, told Tsai that he would reassert the Taiwan Relations Act when pursuing legislation of an Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) aimed at bolstering ties with US allies in the region.

Gardner also underlined the importance of high-level exchanges between Taiwan and the US, while expressing the hope to normalize US arms sales to Taiwan, thereby consolidating bilateral collaboration.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: May 30, 2017
By: The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Malaysian web celebrity Lin Min-chen held her first ever concert

Sunday, calling the Taipei event “the most nerve-wracking experience” of her life.

The 26-year-old hit viral fame last year thanks to her resemblance of a character in the manga “One Piece.” She moved to Taiwan shortly afterward to build a career in showbiz and last year even acted in a Hong Kong film.

During Sunday’s concert, Lin introduced fellow Malaysian Abin Fang as one of her special guests. Both were born on the Malaysian island Penang, where Lin said she and her family still return to regularly.

As Fang still resides in Penang, Lin told her fans that Fang would often play host to Lin and her family during their visits, taking them to restaurants that serve popular Malaysian cuisine.    [FULL  STORY]