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Rescued puppies wait for adoption at Taipei shelter

Tipei Times
Date: Dec 05, 2015
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The Taiwan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Taiwan SPCA) is scheduled to hold six puppy adoption events at the Taipei Animal Shelter in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) this month, as it seeks to find homes for the 200 puppies rescued from an illegal pet breeding farm.

The Taiwan SPCA and police last month found 349 puppies at an illegal breeding facility in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投). Following the puppies’ rescue, the society held six adoption events at the Taipei Animal Shelter last month, finding homes for 149 puppies.

As the weather is getting colder, the society hopes that the 200 puppies still living at the shelter would soon be adopted, and six more adoption events have been organized for today and tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday next week, and Dec. 19 and 20, Taiwan SPCA spokesperson Liu Tzu-yu (劉子瑜) said.

Liu said that since the puppies have been kept in locked cages for a long time, they might demonstrate odd behavior in the early stages of living with adoptive families and might require special care.     [FULL  STORY]

NTU professor slams “Ting Hsin excrement”

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – National Taiwan University law professor Chen Chih-lung has

NTU professor slams “Ting Hsin excrement”. Central News Agency

NTU professor slams “Ting Hsin excrement”. Central News Agency

unveiled an alliance to “refuse eating excrement produced by Ting Hsin International,” reports said Saturday.

The move was the latest indignant reaction to the November 27 not-guilty verdict at the Changhua District Court for former Ting Hsin Chairman Wei Ying-chung, the businessman at the core of an adulterated cooking oil scandal uncovered last year.

The judges had seen “black” but said it was “white,” Chen said about the court ruling, adding it had moved him to stand up and speak out, because otherwise, people studying and practicing law would no longer be able to discern right from wrong.

The legal expert rejected the theory that the Changhua District Prosecutors Office had not worked hard enough on its charges, for which it had requested the court to sentence Wei to 30 years in prison. After the verdict, the prosecutors said they would file an appeal with the Taiwan High Court.     [FULL  STORY]

Pengjia Islet lighthouse designated as historic site

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/05
By: Wang Shu-fen and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) A century-old lighthouse located on Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼), which lies 12871620about 56 kilometers off Taiwan’s northern coast, has recently been designated as a historic site by the Keelung City government.

Known formally as the Pangchia Yu Lighthouse, which uses a different romanization of the islet’s name, was built in 1909 and survived several air strikes during World War II, according to the Maritime and Port Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

Standing 26.2 meters high, the lighthouse is currently manned by five workers, the bureau said.

Because Pengjia Islet is a military restricted zone and does not have open transportation links with other regions, the lighthouse is not open to visitors, the bureau said.     [FULL  STORY]

Students boycott ‘outdated’ anthem

PROPAGANDA PIECE:National Chengchi University’s anthem, written in the 1940s by a Chinese Nationalist Party member, has survived nine attempts to abolish it

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 06, 2015
By: Wu Po-hsuan and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

National Chengchi University students yesterday boycotted the university’s controversial

Chengchi University students attending a protest at the school yesterday to demand that the school anthem be abandoned because it contains the words “my party” and “revolution,” which they say are outdated. Photo provided by Lin Pei-yu

Chengchi University students attending a protest at the school yesterday to demand that the school anthem be abandoned because it contains the words “my party” and “revolution,” which they say are outdated. Photo provided by Lin Pei-yu

school anthem at the university’s Culture Cup choir competition, in which the school anthem is a required song.

The school anthem’s lyrics, panned by critics as a propaganda piece for “party-state ideology,” was written in the 1940s by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member Chen Kuo-fu (陳國府) and contains passages such as: “Implementing the Three Principles of the People is our party’s mission,” and “Building the Republic of China is our party’s responsibility.”

At least four departmental choirs boycotted the school anthem by singing a vowel in lieu of certain lyrics, or by not singing at all. One department’s choir omitted the word “party” from its rendition of the anthem.

Several choirs held banners bearing the slogan, “Hey, give us back the school anthem we made,” referring to an alternative anthem that the university’s administration rejected.     [FULL  STORY]

Legislature in recess from Dec.21

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-04,
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Legislative Yuan decided Friday it would go into

Legislature in recess from Dec.21. Taiwan News

Legislature in recess from Dec.21. Taiwan News

recess beginning December 21 ahead of the January 16 presidential and legislative elections.

The new Legislature to emerge from the elections is expected to be completely different, with even a majority for the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and its allies likely to occur. The ruling Kuomintang is expected to lose ground, while the Taiwan Solidarity Union might disappear completely and a limited number of small parties might win seats, according to opinion polls and observers.

The various existing caucuses at the Legislative Yuan concluded negotiations Friday morning with an agreement to end work before December 21. Extra sessions from December 14 through 18 should complete the third reading of the central government budget for 2016, but if that is not possible, the work might be extended, reports said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to ease regulations on hiring foreign professionals

Taiwan Today
Date: December 4, 2015

Taiwan will ease restrictions on the hiring and retaining of foreign

Taiwan is easing restrictions on the hiring and retaining of foreign professionals in order to boost its labor force. (UDN)

Taiwan is easing restrictions on the hiring and retaining of foreign professionals in order to boost its labor force. (UDN)

professionals commencing January 2016, according to the Cabinet Dec. 3.

Through the relaxation of the regulations, the ROC government is seeking to add up to 8,000 skilled professionals per year to the country’s workforce in order to help make up for the average annual outflow of 20,000 to 30,000 local white-collar workers over the last decade.

Premier Mao Chi-kuo said the regulatory easing will strengthen the nation’s talent pool without affecting the local job market. “Taiwan is facing a major brain drain and demographic changes through the steady export of high-end professionals, as well as a rapidly aging population and low birthrate.     [FULL  STORY]

Chen Deming’s tour of Taiwan beset by protests

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 04, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS)

A woman is dragged away by police yesterday in Yilan County after protesting against the lastest visit by China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming. Photo: CNA

A woman is dragged away by police yesterday in Yilan County after protesting against the lastest visit by China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming. Photo: CNA

Chairman Chen Deming’s (陳德銘) tour of the nation continued to be marked with protests yesterday.

In a visit to Jinan Temple (進安宮) in Yilan County’s Nanfangao (南方澳) — accompanied by Want Want Group (旺旺集團) chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) — Chen was greeted from across the road by Falun Gong protesters, who held a banner and signs behind barriers in a designated protest zone.

Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance legislative candidate Wu Shao-wen (吳紹文) and independent candidate Sun Po-yu had earlier been hauled away from the temple’s entrance after they attempted to protest the negotiations on a cross-strait trade in goods agreement.     [FULL  STORY]

Cool, wet weather in store for Sunday: weather bureau

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/04
By: Chen Wei-ting and Jay Chen

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) Temperatures will rise during the day Friday after a 56000159chilly morning but the weather is expected to turn cool and wet again Sunday, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

The northeastern seasonal winds that have been affecting northern and eastern Taiwan since late Wednesday will give way to warmer weather later Friday, with highs of between 19 to 23 degrees Celsius in the northern and eastern parts of the island, the bureau said.

Highs in central and southern Taiwan will range between 25 and 28 degrees, it said.

Activists stage protests in Ilan against agricultural pact

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-03
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Protests against the ongoing visit by China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan

Protesters in Ilan against agricultural pact. Central News Agency (2015-12-03 12:05:22)

Protesters in Ilan against agricultural pact. Central News Agency (2015-12-03 12:05:22)

Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Deming rages on as the latter headed to Ilan on his fourth day tour around the island, reports said Thursday.

More than a dozen police had set up a perimeter around the Angong Matsu temple in Yilan County’s Nanfangao for fear of a clash between protestors and Chen’s entourage.

Green Party’s Ilan County legislative candidates Wu Shao-wen and Sun Bo-yu had arrived at the scene earlier to stage their protest but were later escorted away by local officers.

More than a dozen protesters shouted slogans protesting plans to allow the opening of various Chinese agricultural produce into the country, including rice, green onions, garlic, cabbages, carrots, celeries, mushrooms, spinaches, and so forth.     [FULL  STORY]

Moderate earthquake jolts southeastern Taiwan

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/03
By: Wang Shwu-fen and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit eastern Taiwan

(From the Central Weather Bureau website)

(From the Central Weather Bureau website)

Thursday night, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

The tremor took place at 10:31 p.m., with the epicenter located at sea about 35.1 kilometers southeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 19.4 km.

The strongest temblor posted an intensity of 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tiered intensity scale was felt in the outlying Green Island. Meanwhile it measured an intensity of 3 in Taitung City; 2 in cities of Pintung, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Chiayi and Hualien; 1 in Nantou and Changhua counties.