Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/02
By: Wen Kui-hsiang and S.C. Chang

Taipei, June 2 (CNA) A French expert questioned the wisdom Tuesday of Taiwan

CNA file photo

Power Co.’s (Taipower’s) plan to ship some of Taiwan’s nuclear waste to a French company for processing, warning that the company could be throwing huge sums of money into an abyss.

The French company, AREVA, is on the brink of bankruptcy, although it was the sole foreign company to bid for and win a contract with Taipower to process its nuclear waste, said Yves Marignac during a public hearing hosted by an opposition lawmaker in Taipei.

In addition to AREVA’s own problems, French law bans the storage of foreign nuclear waste, including that already processed outside of France, Marignac told the hearing, including Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin, who hosted it.

No Taiwanese government agencies can guarantee that none of the highly toxic plutonium or uranium it ships abroad for processing will not be shipped back to Taiwan, he added.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-02
By: CNA

Smoking causes about 20,000 deaths in Taiwan each year, with the annual smoking-attributable economic costs estimated to account for 1.06% of the nation’s gross domestic product, Health Promotion Administration (HPA) Director Chiou Shu-ti said Sunday.

The total social cost that can be attributed to smoking reaches NT$144 billion (US$4.7 billion) each year, while annual smoking-attributable health-care costs covered by the national health insurance program exceeds NT$50 billion (US$1.6 billion), according to Health Promotion Administration statistics.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) May 31 every year, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.

For World No Tobacco Day 2015, the WHO has called on countries to work together to end illicit trade in tobacco products, while highlighting how the illicit trade is a means of amassing great wealth for criminal groups to finance other organized crime activities, including drugs, human and arms trafficking, as well as terrorism, Chiou said at an event marking WNTD.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 03, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and the Taipei City Police Department yesterday

Police officers yesterday patrol in front of Keelung Municipal Cheng Kung Elementary School. Photo: CNA

denied a city councilor’s allegations that a “child protection plan” had been removed from police duty assignments in March.

Ko faced questions about the issue at the Taipei City Council following criticism from New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member.

KMT Taipei City Councilor Chin Hui-chu (秦慧珠) quoted Hou — a former director-general of the National Police Agency (NPA) — as saying that Taipei’s decision in March to cancel a “child protection plan” was a contributing factor in an attack on an elementary-school student on Friday last week.

The eight-year-old, surnamed Liu (劉), was attacked and her throat cut in a Wenhua Elementary School restroom in Beitou District (北投). She died at Taipei Veterans General Hospital the following day.      [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/01
By: Ted Chen

Taipei, June 1 (CNA) The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP, 廢死聯盟) on Monday apologized for its refusal to “march to the beat of the ongoing media frenzy,” as public outrage against the group’s cause mounted following a random attack that resulted in the death of an eight-year-old girl last week.

The alliance said in a statement Monday that much like its vocal detractors, its members were also deeply affected by the murder and hoped to see their children and loved ones grow up in a safe and just society.

In light of six random killings in Taiwan in the past eight years, the organization reiterated that the focus must be placed on the factors leading to the murders, as capital punishment has been found to be ineffective in deterring future crimes.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-01
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

A 34-year-old Taiwanese man suspected of having the deadly Middle East

CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw, right, gives a press conference in Taipei, May 31. (Photo/Liu Tsung-lung)

Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), who traveled to Dubai and Vietnam earlier this month, has tested negative for the illness, health authorities said Sunday.

After South Korea reported more than a dozen MERS virus infections, sparking fears of the spread of the virus to Taiwan. Neihu district in Taipei reported a suspected MERS-CoV case involving the man a day earlier, but it turned out to be type B influenza, according to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw.

The man went on a business trip to Dubai May 23-25 before heading to Vietnam May 26-29. He fell ill and began suffering from fever and a sore throat May 28 and sought medical attention at a hospital the following day.

The hospital then took samples from him and reported his case to health agencies.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 02, 2015
By: Chung Li-hua  /  Staff reporter, with CNA

The Control Yuan yesterday released its review of the political donations received by

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je yesterday gestures during a question-and-answer session in a meeting of the Taipei City Council. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

mayoral candidates in the six special municipalities in the elections in November last year, and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) received the most donations — NT$139.8 million (US$4.52 million), beating his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival Sean Lien (連勝文) by NT$30 million.

The Control Yuan report showed that independent Ko received more than NT$115 million from members of the public, NT$14 million from anonymous donors and NT$8.6 million from private companies.

Lien received about NT$112 million in donations, of which NT$58.8 million came from the private sector, NT$25 million from political parties and NT$27.9 million from the public, the report showed.

According to accounts submitted by his campaign office, Ko spent most of his money on advertising, about NT$64.9 million, followed by NT$33.3 million in salary payments to campaign staff.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-31
Editorial

Governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have been encouraging startups in

The controversial Taipei Dome under construction. (File photo/Keye Chang)

recent years, though the warm reception afforded to the pep talk of Chinese premier Li Keqiang during recent meetings with startup founders in Zhongguancun in Beijing and in Wuhan presented a sharp contrast to the wait-and-see response to the plan rolled out by Taiwan’s premier Mao Chi-kuo to make Taiwan a center of innovation and startups.

While critics may attribute the contrast to the different political systems, which mean the former was an arranged show and the latter a case of democratic divergence, the truth is that Beijing has been able to see through the execution of its economic policies with strong backing from the private sector, eclipsing the stagnation in Taiwan caused by the constraints of political strife and wavering in government policies.

To take an example, the Long-Term Care Law, which just cleared Taiwan’s Legisltive Yuan after being stuck for years, may turn out to be useless in facilitating the setup of a much needed long-term care system for Taiwan’s aging society due to scant funding sources as the government can only appropriate NT$15 billion (US$490 million) without any tax increases over a five-year period for the project, according to the final version of the law. “With Taiwan gradually approaching northern European nations in social welfare, the local tax rate still averages only 12.6%, a far cry from the latter’s 40%, an unsustainable state for the national finances in the long run,” finance minister Chang Sheng-ford lamented following the enactment of the law.     [FULL  STORY]