KMT criticizes minister over traffic
The criticism came after drivers, especially those on the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. Vehicles line up in congested traffic on the northbound lanes of the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. Photo: Lin Ching-lun, Taipei TimesThe KMT said that traffic diversion measures are obviously lacking, but Lin showed an arrogant attitude in responding to the issue. Traffic conditions tomorrow, the last day of the holiday and when many people will be returning home, must improve, the KMT said. KMT Legislator Lu Ming-che (魯明哲), a member of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee, yesterday said that the congestion on Freeway No.
Source:Taipei Times
June 26, 2020 15:56 UTC
Guardians’ Hu demoted after post sparks ruckus
Guardians’ Hu demoted after post sparks ruckusINFIGHTING? “Though the message was not posted by Hu himself, it was on his [Line] account and it has harmed the club. Hu is being demoted to the farm team effective today. The message, originally posted by “clhu15,” allegedly Hu’s Line account, was widely circulated on social media on Thursday. Hu and his representatives issued an apology, saying that Hu had apologized to Hong in person, while condemning whoever had “leaked” the message for the purpose of inciting disputes among Guardians teammates.
Source:Taipei Times
June 26, 2020 15:56 UTC
Bin Laden ‘martyred’: Pakistani PM
Bin Laden ‘martyred’: Pakistani PMAP, ISLAMABADPakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that the US “martyred” former al-Qaeda leader and mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks Osama bin Laden, a term that is mainly used for honorable figures slain in battle. The special operations force swooped into Pakistan’s military garrison town of Abbottabad in the middle of the night on May 2, 2011, killing bin Laden and several of his operatives. They openly held us responsible because they did not succeed in Afghanistan,” Khan said. Opposition lawmaker Khwaja Mohammed Asif criticized Khan for calling bin Laden a martyr, saying that the al-Qaeda chief had brought terrorism to Pakistan. “He [bin Laden] ruined my country, but he [Khan] is calling him a martyr,” Asif said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 26, 2020 15:56 UTC
Designing ‘green’ and healthy ice cream
Designing ‘green’ and healthy ice creamEco-friendly, all-natural ice cream maker shines at the A. Miky Wu is the founder of 1982 de glacee, which produces eco-friendly and additive-free ice cream using organic ingredients. “We took apart ingredients that appear in local dishes and reconstructed them in ice cream,” Wu says. She’s even created a savory ice cream using edamame beans, seasoned with black pepper and olive oil. And in recent years, she’s also been coming up with ways to add color to the ice cream using whole ingredients such as dragonfruit.
Source:Taipei Times
June 26, 2020 15:56 UTC
Japanese student’s contacts face more tests
She tested positive for the virus upon arrival at Narita Airport on Saturday last week. The 123 people who had close contact with the woman, including teachers and former roommates, have been ordered to isolate at home. As of yesterday, Taiwan had reported 447 cases, with seven fatalities, CECC data showed. In related news, eight foreign students arrived yesterday at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and began 14 days of isolation, the Ministry of Education said. Seven travelers from the Philippines arrived at the airport yesterday on transit stops before flights to three cities in the US.
Source:Taipei Times
June 26, 2020 15:56 UTC
Sex industry should be given legal foundation
Sex industry should be given legal foundationBy Jeng Shann-yinn 鄭善印The Council of Grand Justices’ in Constitutional Interpretation No. According to the interpretation, Article 239 of the Criminal Code and a proviso clause in the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) for the crime of adultery are unconstitutional and were to be considered null and void, effective immediately. The person visiting the prostitute could argue that it is a matter of sexual autonomy, both for the client and for the prostitute. This examplifies Taiwanese’s attitude to the sex industry: They turn a blind eye to private and informal premises, but legal establishments are still considered taboo. Many problems in secret and informal sex businesses remain unresolved, such as exploitation, armed bodyguards, poor hygiene and corruption.
Source:Taipei Times
June 25, 2020 16:05 UTC
Fu Kun-chi sentenced to three years, 10 months
Fu Kun-chi sentenced to three years, 10 monthsBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe Taiwan High Court on Wednesday ruled on three separate cases against independent Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁), handing out a combined sentence of three years and 10 months. Fu last month reported to Hualien Prison to start serving a two-year-and-10-month sentence for insider trading and stock manipulation. Though nominally an independent legislator, Fu, a former Hualien County commissioner, is closely aligned with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), despite leaving the party in 2009. Independent legislator Fu Kun-chi, a former Hualien County commissioner, is pictured in an undated photograph. Fu and Hsu received prison sentences of six months and four months respectively or fines of NT$540,000 and NT$360,000.
Source:Taipei Times
June 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
Undocumented migrants arrested
Undocumented migrants arrestedStaff writer, with CNAA dozen undocumented migrants were arrested during a sweep of Taichung’s ASEAN Plaza over the weekend, police said on Tuesday. The authorities launched the operation on Saturday by visiting a number of dance clubs on the plaza’s sixth floor, where they arrested five undocumented Vietnamese men before conducting spot checks on the seventh floor, the statement said. Undocumented migrants are found hiding in a small room by police during a sweep of Taichung’s ASEAN Plaza on Saturday last week. Police will continue to conduct weekly spot checks in the area and encourage undocumented migrants to proactively contact the NIA for assistance to be deported back to their country of origin, Chou said. There are a total of 49,859 undocumented migrants in Taiwan, NIA statistics as of the end of April showed.
Source:Taipei Times
June 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
CECC reiterates policy after Japan case
Taiwan on Tuesday received notice from Japanese authorities of a confirmed case of COVID-19, a female student in her 20s who had returned to Japan from Taiwan and was asymptomatic, the CECC said on Wednesday. Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei TimesShe returned to Japan on Saturday last week and tested positive upon her arrival there, it said. Japanese authorities and the center believe that the case was unlikely to have been contagious at the time of testing, Chuang said. The center yesterday revised the number of people ordered into home isolation to 123. He was sent to a quarantine facility and did not come into contact with family members or friends in Taiwan, Chuang said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
Freeways clogged with traffic as holiday begins
Freeway Bureau data showed that the severest congestion occurred on the southbound lanes of Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5 would likely not alleviate until 8pm yesterday, whereas the amount of traffic on other freeways would gradually decrease after 4pm, it added. The southbound lanes of Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5) are pictured congested with traffic yesterday on the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend. “Congestion occurs when the volume of traffic increases by 20 percent in a short period of time, as it exceeds the capacity of the freeways.
Source:Taipei Times
June 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
Worst is over, TCFH says, eyeing better H2
TCFH chairman Lei Chung-dar (雷仲達) made the remarks after the company’s annual general meeting, when government-appointed candidates secured an overwhelming majority on the company’s board, winning 13 of 15 seats. Shareholders attend Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co’s annual general meeting in Taipei on Wednesday. Lei said that people who previously postponed property purchases might start to resume buying after the virus crisis in Taiwan began to wind down late last month. Overall, the record low interest rate would lend support to property purchases, Lei said. Shareholders at the meeting approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$1.15 per common share.
Source:Taipei Times
June 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
Tributes paid as hepatitis expert Chen dies at 76
Tributes paid as hepatitis expert Chen dies at 76By Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNAAcademia Sinica’s Chen Ding-shinn (陳定信), the nation’s leading authority on hepatitis, died from pancreatic cancer at National Taiwan University Hospital on Wednesday. Born on July 6, 1943, in then-Taipei County’s Yingge Township (鶯歌), Chen was a student of National Taiwan University College of Medicine professor Sung Juei-low (宋瑞樓), dubbed the Taiwanese father of liver disease research. Academia Sinica’s Chen Ding-shinn holds a bouquet of flowers at a book launch in an undated photograph. To overcome public resistance to the program, Chen and Sung appeared on TV and radio to promote it. Chen’s research on hepatitis B and C, and his influence on related policymaking, made Taiwan a world leader in liver disease research, Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
KMT illegally acquired land: assets committee
KMT illegally acquired land: assets committeeBy Chen Yu-fu and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said that its initial investigation found that the plots of land housing multiple Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) service centers across the nation were illegally acquired during the Martial Law era. Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee Chairman Lin Feng-jeng, center, speaks at a news conference at the committee’s headquarters in Taipei in an undated photograph. Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei TimesThe KMT in 1987 purchased the land on which it built the KMT Nuannuan Service Center from the Keelung City Government, the committee said. The KMT Gaoshu Service Center in Pingtung County’s Gaoshu Township (高樹) was built in the 1950s on a piece of township-owned land that the KMT had “occupied,” it said. The KMT in 2008 resold the land and property to Kuang-Hwa Investment, it added.
Source:Taipei Times
June 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
Team touts wood pellets as ‘green’ alternative to coal
Team touts wood pellets as ‘green’ alternative to coalBy Chiu Chih-jou and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerA Taiwanese team is to introduce natural wood pellets to the market as a low-emission alternative to coal for barbecues in an effort to recycle wood waste from local farmers and reduce air pollution. The wood pellets are 100 percent natural, as they are sourced from subtropical trees, such as lychee, pomelo, lime, wax apple and bamboo, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology department of wood science and design assistant professor Long Way (龍暐) said. Wood pellets of different trees would bring unique smoky flavors to barbecued food, Long added. From left, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology department of wood science and design assistant professor Long Way, Ynidyi Enterprise general manager Hsu Kun-yuan and deputy general manager Hung Cheng-te barbeque meat in Pingtung County on Tuesday using their natural wood pellets. The team has also developed a barbecue grill designed for wood pellets, which is to cost NT$3,000, Hsu said, adding that 2kg of wood pellets would be included with the grill.
Source:Taipei Times
June 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
DPP should start work on abolishing yuans: KMT
DPP should start work on abolishing yuans: KMTBy Sean Lin / Staff reporterThe Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should include forming a “constitutional reform committee” as a topic on the agenda of the Legislative Yuan’s extraordinary session, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said yesterday. Such a move would formally launch discussions about abolishing the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan, Lin said. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chiang Wan-an, left, and Lin Wei-chou in Taipei on Tuesday accuse the Democratic Progressive Party of dragging its feet on abolition of the Control Yuan. He accused Chen of “putting on a show,” as her party membership can be reinstated after she steps down as Control Yuan president. Following yesterday’s cross-caucus talks, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) and DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) voiced support on Facebook for abolishing the two agencies, and if the DPP is serious about moving forward, Tsai should rescind her nominations, Lin wrote.
Source:Taipei Times
June 24, 2020 15:56 UTC