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Your daily bulletin of Taiwan news, courtesy of ICRT.
Taiwan is sitting in seventh place in the overall medals table following the first full day of events at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia with one gold and three bronze medals.
Lin Ying-shin (林穎欣), 19, and Lu Shao-chuan (呂紹全), 20, won gold in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team competition after shooting a total score of 494.1 points, to beat China's 492.5 points and India's 429.9.
Martial artist Tsai Tse-min (蔡澤民) won bronze in the Wushu-Changquan event. The 23-year-old earned a total of 9.70 points in the men's Changquan competition at the Jakarta International Expo, but trailed winner Sun Peiyuan from China's 9.75 and Indonesia's Edgar Marvelo, who earned silver with 9.72 points.
Chen Ching (陳靖) won bronze in the men's individual taekwondo poomsae competition, which scores competitors on the quality of their taekwondo forms, after being bested by Iran’s Koorosh Bakthiar in the semi-final.
Chen Hsiang-ting (陳湘婷), Chen Yi-hsuan (陳以瑄) and Lin Kan-yu (林侃諭) won bronze in the women's team taekwondo poomsae event. The trio finished with a team score of 7.65 to take third place, narrowly losing to Thailand, which scored 7.95.
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President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met with Taiwanese expats in Houston, Texas, telling more than 1,000 attendees of a welcome dinner that she is working to lead Taiwan through a comprehensive transformation and hopes all overseas Taiwanese will join the effort.
Speaking during her 27-hour transit stopover on the return leg of her visit to Paraguay and Belize, Tsai said Taiwan is undergoing positive changes and she is determined to lead the country through a thorough transformation.
Tsai touted the healthy state of Taiwan-U.S. relations, hailing the U.S.' recent passage of the Taiwan Travel Act and its decision to continue arms sales to Taiwan as indications of a deepening mutually beneficial partnership between the two countries.
Tsai also visited the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, the command post for American astronauts that is part NASA.
Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said Tsai visited the space center and toured the control center and the astronaut training area.
She is the first Taiwan president to tour the space center during a stopover in the U.S.
It was Tsai's second transit stop in Houston since she took office as president, the first being in January 2017 during a trip to four of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in Latin America.
She is expected to to return to Taiwan this evening.
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The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party has held it national congress in New Taipei City -- with the party's leadership is vowing to win big in the November local elections.
Current KMT Chairman Wu Duen-yih (吳敦義) was joined by party heavyweights including Lien Chan (連戰), former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), former Taipei mayor Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) and former legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) at the event.
The KMT opted to make 'baseball' the theme of this year's congress, with the KMT chairman saying the party plans to "hit a home run" during the elections under his leadership.
Wu also touted what he said were Taiwan's great "accomplishments during" Ma Ying-jeou's presidency, and spoke of the KMT's better management og the economy, tourism, social issues, and its adherrnce to the "1992 consensus."
According to Wu, the KMT will seek to steer the economy in the right direction, promote efficient government and work in developing peaceful cross-Strait ties.
Wu also inaccurately picked out a spate of gruesome killings as indicative of a rising crime rate and falling societal morale under the Democratic Progressive Party government.
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The Taoyuan Pilots Union has said its members will not be making an announcement later today on whether they intend to take strike action over working conditions next month.
An announcement had been expected Monday on a possible strike by China Airlines and EVA Air pilots during September's Mid-Autumn Festival.
However, the union said negotiations with the two carriers are on ongoing and a third round of talks has been slated for Wednesday to discuss working conditions for the pilots.
According to union officials, an announcement about whether the pilots will strike will now likely be made after Wednesday's meeting.
Union members voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike earlier this morning following a breakdown in negotiations.
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The son of television variety show host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲 ) has been questioned by police in connection to a posting that appeared on his social media pages in which he threatened to bomb Taipei City Hall.
Police are investigating Rick Wu (吳睿軒) after he posted the threat on his Instagram page - saying he would bomb the building if his girlfriend didn't recover from an illness.
Law enforcement officials said Wu was summoned to explain the posting.
Wu has since apologized on his Facebook page, saying the threat to plant a bomb in city hall was a joke between him and some friends.
He also said the post was a "mistake" and he is cooperating fully with police.
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The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed a 19-year-old man from Kaohsiung as having malaria.
It is the second imported case of the mosquito-borne disease to have been confirmed here in Taiwan so far this year.
According to health officials, the student at a college in Hsinchu was diagnosed with the disease after he went to a Kaohsiung hospital on Aug. 17 with a fever.
He was diagnosed with tropical malaria, the most serious form of the disease, and he remains in critical condition.
The CDC says it believes the man was infected during a trip to Kenya in June.
Around a dozen other Taiwanese volunteers who also joined the trip to Kenya have not shown any signs of malarial infection so far.
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Hundreds of Indonesians have celebrated the 73rd anniversary of their country's independence in Taipei.
Indonesia's top envoy to Taiwan Robert James Bintaryo said he was also pleased to see many local people taking part in the event, which celebrated Indonesia's independence from Dutch rule on Aug. 17, 1945.
The celebrations started with a parade from Taipei Main Station to National Museum of Taiwan History, where Indonesian expats waved their country's flag and sang the national anthem.
The event also included performances of traditional Indonesian music and dance, while art, craft and food from the country were on display at stalls around the plaza.
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This news bulletin was provided courtesy of International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT), Taiwan’s leading English-language broadcaster.
Editor David Green (@DavidPeterGreen)
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