‘WORST’ BILL:Protesters said the proposal would raise the cap on the number of consecutive work days while lowering the minimum rest time between shifts

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 10, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

Hundreds of workers and representatives of dozens of labor rights groups yesterday

rallied in front of the Executive Yuan in Taipei to protest proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), which they said would set back working conditions by 30 years.

The proposal is the “worst” piece of labor legislation as it would raise the ceiling on the number of consecutive working days from six to 12 days, while allowing industries to lower the minimum rest time between shifts from 11 hours to eight hours, they said.

The amendment runs counter to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) pledges to lower overall working hours while increasing salary levels, protesters said.

Medical Industries Union chairperson Chen Yu-feng (陳玉鳳) said medical professionals are regularly overworked and sleep-deprived as they are rarely allowed proper rest time between shifts, and the amendment would worsen their working conditions.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 9, 2017
By Shih Hsiu-chuan

TAIPEI (CNA) – A controversial bill aimed at allowing “flexible” use of work hours was

approved by the Cabinet Thursday amid protests outside the Executive Yuan by labor unions blasting the government for backsliding on labor rights.

One of the major revisions in the Cabinet-sponsored amendment to the Labor Standard Act (勞動基準法) is a change to the current rule that stipulate one mandatory day off and one flexible rest day per week and bars employees from working more than six consecutive days.

The amendment allows employees to work 12 days in a row once they take a mandatory day off either side of the 12-day period.

It further stipulates that a business sector proposing such a change must seek the consent of the government agency supervising the sector and approval from the Ministry of Labor, while an individual enterprise needs to secure the consent of workers or labor unions.    [FULL  STORY]

Following the withdrawal of the U.S. in January, the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement looked dead in the water. Yet with talks among the 11 remaining nations restarting in Japan and Vietnam, could a revised TPP leave the door open for Taiwan to join?

The News Lens
Date: 2017/11/08
By: Adam Hatch

The 11 remaining nations involved in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations met last

week in Japan to discuss the possibility of launching the agreement without the United States, but eventual Taiwanese involvement is still a slim possibility.

What is the TPP?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, known as the TPP, is a large, multinational trade agreement intended to lower trade barriers and open markets for its signatories. Similar in structure to North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the agreement promises economic benefits for member nations and, at least before the United States’ withdrawal, a mechanism for counterbalancing Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific.

The U.S. withdrew from the proposed trade bloc in January, leaving Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam to continue negotiations.    [FULL  STORY]

Suspect had no stolen valuables on him: reports

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Turkish police intercepted a Colombian man suspected of

forming part of an 11-member international gang which made off with NT$200 million (US$6.6 million) from a jewelry fair in Taiwan, reports said Wednesday.

On Monday night, as the 2017 Taiwan Jewellery and Gem Fair in Taipei was closing down, a group now believed to have numbered 11 members stole a bag containing a sapphire brooch, three loose diamonds and three jade rings.

Initially, the suspects were believed to hail from South Asia or the Middle East, but police announced Wednesday most of the group came from Colombia and Mexico. At least five had been confirmed as having left Taiwan the same day as the theft, the Central News Agency reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/07
By Lee Hsin-yin, CNA staff reporter 

Whenever Jimmy Yen (燕君迪) opens the door of his dimly lit fourth-floor apartment in Taipei, he is greeted with a buzz that only grows louder as he steps out onto his balcony. Sometimes he emerges wearing a white jacket, gloves, a broad-brimmed hat and a veil.

Yen, however, is not an eccentric celebrity but rather a hobbyist in the growing niche of urban beekeeping.

“The relationship between bees and human beings is amazing,” he says, as he looks at the three buzzing hives on his balcony, in which he keeps some 150,000 bees.

While urban beekeeping has been gaining popularity in cities such as Tokyo, Seoul, Vancouver and Chicago over the past five years, Taipei has been slower to adopt the idea.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 09, 2017
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Members of the People Rule Foundation yesterday began a hunger strike outside the

Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) headquarters in Taipei, urging the DPP caucus to swiftly pass draft amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), a move they say is crucial for the nation to attain direct democracy.

Foundation members gathered in a park facing DPP headquarters before circling the building three times in what foundation chief executive Liu Ming-hsin (劉明新) described as the foundation’s brand of “nonviolent protest.”

Liu urged lawmakers to pass draft amendments to the act that have passed their first reading.

Although some like-minded civic groups have voiced objections to Article 2 of the draft amendment, which prohibits changes to be made to the nation’s territory, official title, national flag and anthem, the foundation believes that solutions to these issues would manifest themselves after the proposed changes are enacted.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 8, 20174

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Taiwanese fighter jet has gone missing while flying above the

East China Sea north of Taiwan during a routine patrol, the air force said Wednesday.

The Mirage-2000 disappeared from radar screens just over a half-hour after taking off Tuesday evening from an air base in Hsinchu, south of the capital, Taipei, according to an air force statement.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said navy ships and more than a dozen aircraft have been dispatched to search the area but with no result as of midday Wednesday. It said the pilot, Ko Tse-yu, joined the air force more than a decade ago and had 227 hours of flight time in Mirages.

Taiwan purchased 60 Mirage-2000 jets from France during the 1990s, despite stiff opposition from China, which claims the island as its own territory and threatens to use military force to bring it under its control.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 7, 2017
By: Elaine Hou, Lu Hsin-hui, Chiu Chun-chin and Elizabeth Hsu

DA NANG, Vietnam (CNA) – Taiwan’s special envoy to the upcoming Asia-Pacific

Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) summit arrived in Da Nang, Vietnam on Tuesday without an important member of his delegation because of visa problems.

James Soong (宋楚瑜) is expected to meet privately with some of the leaders of APEC countries here, and it has been confirmed that he will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on the sidelines of the summit on Saturday or Sunday, according to one of Soong’s aides.

Soong, a veteran politician who chairs the opposition People First Party (PFP), is also hopeful of meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during the summit.

He said Monday that Taiwan is keen to get along well with China and that peace and stability are desired by both sides and would “once again express this view” if the opportunity to meet with Xi arises.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-07

Premier William Lai says the Cabinet has plans in place to address a water shortage.

The shortage of water for industrial use is one of five shortages the government says is hampering Taiwan’s economy.

Lai said Tuesday that Taiwan continues to face problems of efficiency in the distribution of water as industrial demand for water grows. The premier also said sources of water have an uneven geographic distribution, while reserves of water are too small and of poor quality.

Lai said the Cabinet plans to build more reservoirs, manmade lakes, and water recycling facilities. He also said the Cabinet has plans to improve efficiency, including an initiative to cut the leakage rate in the water supply system down to 14.25% by 2020.
[FULL  STORY]

After getting too close in narrow lane, truck crushes and eviscerates female scooter driver 

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/07
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Video has surfaced on Facebook showing a female scooter

driver in Kaohsiung suddenly and mercilessly ripped in half by the massive tires of heavy flatbed truck which plowed right over her, killing her instantly.

According a police investigation reported by Apple Daily, at 12:34 p.m. on Nov. 1, a man surnamed Chang (張),34, was driving his flatbed semi-trailer laden with lumber from Kaohsiung Ferry Terminal on Zhongzheng 1st Road bound for Kaohsiung’s Fengshan District, when the path of this vehicle overlapped with that of a female scooter driver surnamed Mei (梅), resulting in the catastrophic collision. The woman’s body was tossed around like a ragdoll and was torn in half, with her internal organs splattered on the pavement, all the while as the truck kept rolling.

Despite crushing both the woman and her scooter, the truck driver was somehow oblivious to the carnage until other drivers started frantically honking their horns to alert him of his egregious act. Police are charging him with criminal negligence.
[FULL  STORY]