Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-30
By: Wendy Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Thailand on Friday confirmed two cases of Zika-linked microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with small heads.

This is the first time in Southeast Asia that such birth defect had been linked to Zika virus infection, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Health authorities in Thailand had been investigating four cases of microcephaly, including three new born babies and a 36-week unborn baby, and on Wednesday ruled out Zika as the cause of two of them.

The Southeast Asian nation has one of the highest numbers of Zika cases across the region. So far, 349 Zika cases have been confirmed since January, including 22 pregnant women, while Singapore has recorded 393 cases, with 16 of which being pregnant women.

The WHO has shown increasing concern over the spread of the mosquito-borne virus in Southeast Asia, which could affect local populations in the area.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/30
By: Christie Chen and Sabine Cheng

Taipei, Sept. 30 (CNA) Taiwanese American director Ang Lee said Friday that cutting-edge technologies, such as the ones used in his latest film “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” could revolutionize moviegoers’ relationships with film, making the movie-viewing experience much more intimate and personal.

“When a film is shot at over 60 frames per second, especially in 3-D format, you will feel as if this is no longer someone else’s affair, but my affair now. You can no longer stay out of the affair and look at it as a bystander. You feel as if you have walked into it,” Lee said at a press conference.

The biggest breakthrough of the film is not the sharpness or fineness of its images, but its potential to change people’s basic attitudes toward cinema-viewing, and their relationships and interactions with the story, Lee said.

“That has been the biggest inspiration and challenge for me,” said the 61-year-old filmmaker, who is in Taiwan to promote the film.     [FULL  STORY]

LEGAL WRANGLE:While the KMT believes Hsu Tzong-li’s appointment as Judicial Yuan president would be unconstitutional, the DPP said many academics disagree

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 01, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Lawmakers yesterday quarreled over a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) proposal — which it later

passed using its legislative majority — to change the legislative agenda so that the review process of the president’s nominations for Judicial Yuan president, vice president and five grand justices could begin.

DPP lawmakers arrived in the chamber early to make sure that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers could not occupy the speaker’s podium, a scenario the former had been expecting.

The KMT has been insisting that the review of Hsu Tzong-li’s (許宗力) nomination for Judicial Yuan president be suspended because Hsu is a former grand justice — a post he left in 2011 — which the party says disqualifies him from holding the post.

The KMT caucus said whether Hsu can be appointed should be resolved by a constitutional interpretation before the nomination process could proceed.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 1, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank Art & Cultural Foundation donated a high-end ultrasound

scanner to the Department of Traumatology of the National Taiwan University Hospital on Sept. 26.

The donation ceremony was attended by Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank Art & Cultural Foundation’s Secretary-general Chou Ching-shyong (周慶雄) and Director-General Lu Yu-Ching (呂毓卿) as well as NTU Hospital’s Traumatology

Department Chief Chen Jin-shing (陳晉興) and attending physician Lin Yu-feng (林裕峰) at the NTU Hospital.

The great mobility of the NT$2.7 million scanner donated by the foundation enables physicians to provide more timely scans for patients in the increasingly crowded emergency rooms at the department.

The foundation also donated two ambulances to the hospital in 2015 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank.     [FULL  STORY]

EDITORIAL
Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-29
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

September has been a rough month for Taiwan. While the typhoon season is nearing its end, at least three of them still hit the island, Meranti, Malakas and Megi.

Each time a typhoon approaches, there is speculation as to which regions are going to be hit hardest. While the Central Weather Bureau is usually relatively accurate when it comes to the general route of the eye of the storm, the calculation of which areas will face the strongest winds and the heaviest rain has turned out to be a key problem.

If the winds and rain are strong enough, the local government can decree that schools and offices can remain closed, allowing students, teachers and other workers to stay safely at home instead of having to brave the elements.

Since weather forecasting is not a precise science, and since local political officials are in charge of deciding when the schools and offices are closed, those decisions have often proved wrong and elicited protests.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/29
By: Liu Li-jung and Christie Chen

Taipei, Sept. 29 (CNA) Life expectancy in Taiwan reached a record high of 80.2 years in 2015, up from

79.84 years in 2014, according to statistics released Thursday by the Ministry of the Interior.

In 2015, the life expectancy of Taiwanese males averaged 77.01, while that of females reached 83.62, both of which were record highs, according to the statistics.

The data predicted that 81 percent of males and 92 percent of females will live past the age of 65.

Half of the males will live longer than 80 years, while half of the females will live longer than 85 years, the statistics show.

Upon reaching the age of 65, Taiwanese men and women tend to live for a further 18.15 and 21.7 years, respectively, according to the statistics.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 30, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Alishan Forest Railway in southern Taiwan will again suspend service on its main

line, on Friday and Saturday to repair damaged tracks, after the line was reopened Thursday following two days of closure due to Typhoon Megi.

The operator of the forest railway said Thursday that several sections of the rail between Chiayi and Fenqihu stations had been damaged by rockfalls.

The task of clearing the tracks of rocks is slow and difficult, therefore, the main line cannot remain in service during the repair work, the operator said.

However, all three branch lines of the alpine railway, through Zhushan, Chaoping and Shenmu stations, will remain open, the railway administration said.

Passengers holding unused tickets for the forest railway during the period of suspension will be eligible to refunds up to one year after the scheduled date of travel, the railway administration said.

Passengers holding unused tickets for the forest railway during the period of suspension will be eligible to refunds up to one year after the scheduled date of travel, the railway administration said.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 29, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A young sperm whale was found dead on Nanao Beach, Kenting, Pingtung County on Wednesday, after the typhoon warning was lifted. Several wounds were discovered on the body of the whale and officials identified the cause of death as sickness.    [SOURCE]