Taipei Times
Date:  Jul 29, 2015
By: Lin Liang-che and Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

To prepare for the typhoon season and prevent injury from falling palm branches, an

elementary school in Changhua County denuded all but one of the branches of each of the campus’ royal palms, wrecking the appearance of the ornamental trees and endangering their survival, residents said.

The grove of five-story-high palms towering over the campus used to boast lush plumes, but the over-pruning has made them look like roosters stripped of their combs, residents said.

Saying they were saddened by the sight of the misshapen trees that are estimated to be more than 50 years old, residents called on the county government to monitor the pruning of plants at local schools.

Changhua County Councilor Lin Shih-hsien (林世賢) said that although the government had passed rules concerning tree conservation that regulates pruning, the regulation is only a general rule rather than a species-specific directive.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/28
By: Yang Sz-ruei and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 28 (CNA) Between July 21-27, 78 suspected cases of the mosquito-borne dengue fever had been reported in Tainan, according to statistics released Tuesday by the municipality’s Public Health Bureau.

The number of new dengue fever cases reported during that week was three times the number of the preceding week and the outbreak has spread from the Yanping market area in the north to other areas of the municipality, according to the bureau.

The bureau also said it discovered 3,657 containers with accumulated water, 526 of which contained mosquito larvae.

Dengue fever is spread via mosquitoes. It is a painful and debilitating disease that can be fatal, the bureau noted.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-28
By: CNA

A financial reform program aimed at saving Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) from

potential bankruptcy got its start Monday, when the system’s BOT (build, operate, transfer) era came to an end.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications signed two agreements with THSRC on Monday to terminate the original BOT contract that the debt-ridden private company was working under to build and operate Taiwan’s only high-speed rail line.

The deal signaled a new for Taiwan’s high-speed rail line connecting Taipei and Kaohsiung, in which the government will become THSRC’s majority shareholder but the company will be privately managed, THSRC chair Victor Liu said.

Under the new plan, government-controlled institutions will increase their stake in the company from 22.1% to 63.9%, while the holdings of large private shareholders will fall from 37.4% to 17.4%.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 29, 2015
By: Chen Yan-ting and Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

While People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) is yet to announce a

presidential bid, the party’s legislative candidates are eager to use campaign billboards with photographs of them posing with Soong to boost their electoral prospects.

PFP Deputy Secretary-General Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), who is running for a legislative seat in Keelung, said he had a photo shoot with Soong two weeks ago and would put up boards featuring the photographs as soon as Soong announces his candidacy next month.

Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Chang Sho-wen (張碩文), who withdrew from the KMT and is competing in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) for the PFP, said he is looking for places to put campaign posters.

Chang said he would first put up posters with only his image, while billboards with Soong would go up later, as they need more space.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-27
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin is poised to be nominated as the Kuomintang’s legislative

candidate in Keelung after public polls on Sunday showed him leading the other KMT contenders.

In the polls conducted on July 24 and 25 by the KMT-leaning United Daily News and TV news channel TVBS, Hau had 45.53% support, way ahead of Keelung city councilor Han Liang-chi with 33% and Lin Pei-hsiang, son of legislator Hsu Shao-ping, with 21.46%.

The winner of the primary polls is expected to be nominated by the KMT. Party officials said Hau, a vice chair of Taiwan’s ruling party, will be officially nominated by the party’s Central Standing Committee as soon as July 29.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/27
By: Claudia Liu, Lu Hsin-hui and S.C. Chang

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) Education Minister Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) said Monday he cannot make public the names of members on a committee that revised high school curriculum guidelines and the comments they made because it would have a “huge impact” on the whole government system.

“That’s why we have filed an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court” against the High Administrative Court’s ruling asking the Ministry of Education (MOE) to release all relevant data regarding the committee’s decision to modify the guidelines, Wu said in a report to the president on the controversy.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-27
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

President Ma Ying-jeou expressed his disappointment over China’s recent military drill

codenamed “Stride 2015 Zhurihe,” an exercise which drew huge criticism over its simulated invasion of Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army.

“We have to be well-prepared to defend against China’s aggression,” Ma told the BBC during an exclusive interview at the presidential office on Monday.

When asked by the BBC if Ma was uncomfortable with the idea of China’s simulated attack on the Presidential Office, he said although he is displeased over the exercise, both sides have always carried out drills simulating the other side as foes.

“The primary objective is to reduce the risk of a conflict. However, we have to be well-prepared for any potential conflicts across the strait.”     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-27
By: CNA

Initial test results showed that the South Korean boy who was quarantined at a hospital earlier

in the day for developing a fever does not have Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the Tainan city government said Sunday afternoon.

The boy, a member of the South Korean U-12 baseball team, arrived in Taiwan on July 22 for the 2015 U-12 Baseball World Cup of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) in Tainan, the city’s Department of Health director Lin Sheng-che told reporters.

The young player developed a cough and sore throat two days ago and his cough worsened on Saturday after he went swimming then was in an air-conditioned room for quite a while, Lin said.

By Sunday morning, the boy had developed a fever of 38 degrees Celsius and was taken to Tainan Sin-Lau Hospital in the southern Taiwan city, where he was put in a negative pressure isolation room as a precautionary measure, Lin said.     [FULL  STORY]