eTaiwan News
Date: 2015-06-25
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) Taiwan researchers have found that Ganoderma lucidum, known locally as lingzhi mushrooms, can prevent obesity, as well as discovering a weight-loss gut bacterium.

The results, achieved by a team led by Lai Hsin-chih, a professor at Chang Gung University’s Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, have been published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Communications.

Lai said experiments were conducted on obese patients suffering from hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes, in which some of them were given a water extract of Ganoderma lucidum mycelium for three months.

The patients were divided into six groups: A — regular diet without Ganoderma lucidum; B — regular diet with Ganoderma lucidum; C — high-fat diet without Ganoderma lucidum; and D, E, F — high-fat diet with different concentrations of Ganoderma lucidum.     [FULL  STORY]

Reuters
Date: Jun 25, 2015

China’s Defence Ministry expressed anger on Thursday after the U.S. Senate passed a bill which would encourage self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, to take part in U.S. military exercises.

Under the Taiwan Relations Act, enacted in 1979 when Washington severed formal ties with the island in favour of recognising the People’s Republic of China in Beijing, the United States is obligated to help Taiwan defend itself.

The Senate bill, passed last week, says that Taiwan “should be encouraged to participate in exercises that include realistic air-to-air combat training”, as well as advanced training for its ground forces, attack helicopters and surveillance aircraft.

“We resolutely oppose any country developing any kind of military relationship with Taiwan,” ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a monthly news briefing. “This position is clear and consistent.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 25, 2015
By: Staff writer, with CNA

More than 200,000 Taiwanese living in China are likely to return in January next year to cast their votes in the joint presidential and legislative elections, a leading Taiwanese investor in China said.

Kuo Shan-hui (郭山輝), president of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland, said after a closed-door meeting with Straits Exchange Foundation officials in Taipei on Monday that Taiwanese investors in China are more interested in next year’s elections than last year’s nine-in-one elections.

He estimated that more than 200,000 Taiwanese businesspeople would return to vote in January, more than the number who did so for the polls in November last year.

Many China-based businesspeople said during the meeting that they hoped the government would help facilitate their travel to exercise their civil rights, including offering preferential air fares, Kuo said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date:  Jun 25, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Promised “performance pay” for Taipei City government workers will not be implemented, with the city instead introducing a new evaluation system for departments, Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Chairman Chen Ming-shiun (陳銘薰) said yesterday.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/23
By C.W. Chen and Lillian Li

Taipei, June 23 (CNA) The National Development Council (NDC) said Tuesday that

CNA file photo

residents in Kinmen can request the return of land requisitioned by the military prior to 1971 for seeding with landmines.

With the ending of the military confrontation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense instructed the Kinmen Defense Command to trace, defuse and remove all landmines deployed in 154 sites around the island between 1956 and 1992.

According to the NDC, the minefields, mostly in coastal regions, covered 307 hectares of land, and by June 2013, all had been removed.     [FULL  STORY]