After being detained for a year by the Taipei District Court, former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.3 million) bail this Monday. As he left the courthouse, Ko said he was “wrongfully imprisoned” and criticized President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) for sowing division in Taiwanese society.

Guess who's back, back again!  Emma has returned to tell us all about her life after RTI!  Listen to where she's been and where she's headed!

This week, we'll learn some poetic lines in Tâi-gí from the lyrics of The Usual (同款) by Pei-Yu Hung (洪佩瑜). The track is the theme song of the movie "Day Off," which tells the touching story of a barber and her client. Let's sing a long to the lines together!

Welcome to Status Update! I am once again joined by David and Thao, who will share about their life in Taiwan and help me read some of the letters and emails from our listeners.  If you want to contact us and have your message read on air, you can send a letter to P.O. BOX 123 199 Taipei, Taiwan English@rti.org.tw or reach us on social media, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, @Rtienglish 

In this episode, we explore No Other Land, a powerful Oscar-winning documentary on Palestinian displacement, and connect it to Taiwan’s recent debates on aiding Israel in a medical project. How do films and humanitarian discussions extend across borders? Stay tuned to find out! If you would like to share your feedback, please send your words or voice notes to: wanson@rti.org.tw You can also find Wanson on Instagram (@wansonscafe) and YouTube (阿善Café/Wanson's Café)

Many people have eaten sharks without even realizing it. “Rock salmon," with an unsuspecting name for a kind of shark, has been a staple in British fish-and-chip shops for decades. The name-switching was part of a rebranding exercise aimed at persuading more people to eat the sharks that industrial fishers were beginning to catch a lot of. According to Helen Scales, around the world various other shark species have been marketed under different, non-sharky names, including flake in Australia, whitefish and steakfish in the United States, saumonette in France, and vitello di mare, “veal of the sea” in Italy. Formosa Fauna is back this week to entertainingly educate you about animals both in Taiwan and abroad! Spend the next 20 minutes listening to this episode and feeding your noggin with fun facts about the animal kingdom so you can become smarter than all of your friends. In this episode we talk about:  – Dolphins in Taiwan  – Climate change  – Taiwanese turtles  – ...

Whether you're a student or it's been a while since you were, have a listen to some school inspired tunes!