Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/07
By: Wang Chao-yu and Christie Chen

Taipei, Oct. 7 (CNA) Twenty-six Taiwanese nationals allegedly involved in telecom fraud operations

Wang Ya-chiao (王亞樵)

targeting Chinese citizens were charged with aggravated fraud Friday.

The 19 male and seven female suspects, led by a 28-year-old man surnamed Liu, were arrested in June and were now officially indicted by prosecutors in the northern port city of Keelung.

The fraud ring is a “fairly large” one and has defrauded at least 44 victims and accumulated illegal gains of over NT$11.23 million (US$356,985), said Wang Ya-chiao (王亞樵), spokesman of the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office.

The prosecutors found the accused “totally unrepentant” and were not cooperative with the investigators. The prosecution therefore asked the court to give Liu and four other defendants a relatively lenghty sentence of 10 years in prison and force them to work during their jail terms.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/06
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Oct. 6 (CNA) Employees in Taiwan worked an average of 2,104 hours last year, the fourth longest in the international community, according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Labor.

According to the ministry, this represented a fall of 31 hours from the previous year as a result of which Taiwan fell from third to fourth place in the international rankings.

The data showed that both overtime and regular working hours in Taiwan fell in 2015, with the cut in overtime hours as high as 3.5 percent.

Employees in Asian countries such as South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan tend to work longer hours than their contemporaries in Europe and the United States.    [FULL  STORY]

MISSION:The PFP chairman shrugged off concerns about his and Tsai’s conflicting opinions on the so-called ‘1992 consensus,’ saying he ‘would know how far to go’

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 07, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday said that President Tsai Ing-wen

People First Party Chairman James Soong yesterday speaks at a news conference at the Evergreen Laurel Hotel Taipei about his selection as special envoy to APEC leaders’ summit next month. Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times

(蔡英文) selecting him to be her special envoy at this year’s APEC leaders’ summit was a demonstration of her “maximum goodwill” to Beijing, acknowledging that he had communicated with China about the matter prior to the announcement of his appointment.

Soong made the remarks at a news conference at the Evergreen Laurel Hotel Taipei, where in March the PFP chairman had his first meeting with Tsai after her victory in the Jan. 16 presidential election.

“By appointing me, Tsai has shown a high level of goodwill. If Beijing cannot accept a person like me, how would there be any hope of peaceful cross-strait development?” Soong said.

Soong said Tsai asked him to represent her at the annual summit during a meeting at the Presidential Office on Aug. 4, but he did not accept the offer immediately due to the importance of the mission.

He decided to take up the challenge after careful deliberation, Soong said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 7, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred off the East Coast late Thursday night, centered in waters only kilometers from Green Island.

The temblor, which was felt at a magnitude of 5.0 on the island, struck at a depth of 20 kilometers and shook buildings as far away as Taipei.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2016-10-06

The Cabinet has passed amendments to a national long-term health care bill. The changes increase

Deputy Health Minister Lu Pau-ching discussed the amendments on Thursday. (Photo/CNA)

inheritance and cigarette taxes to pave the way for what is being called Long-Term Care 2.0, to begin on January 1, 2017.

The program aims to meet the needs of a rapidly aging society. It involves the establishment of nearly 500 integrated community service centers, about 830 daily care centers for seniors, and more than 2,500 neighborhood care stations.

Deputy Health Minister Lu Pau-ching discussed the amendments on Thursday, when they were passed. She said the tax increases will generate enough revenue in the first stage of the program to pay for long-term care facilities and personnel. Lu said, “Increasing [inheritance tax] from 10% to 20% will generate about NT$6 billion (US$190 million). And by increasing the cigarette tax by NT$20 (US$0.64) per pack, that will generate about NT$15.8 billion (about US$190 million). Together that will help reach our budget goal of NT$33 billion (a little over US$1 billion) for the first stage.”

Lu said that after the program is implemented for a year or two, the budget can be reevaluated to decide whether more funding is needed.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-06
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

An immigration official said Wednesday that a single-digit number of foreign workers are on a

The file photo shows National Immigration Agency Director General Ho Jung-chun.

Taiwanese intelligence agency’s watch list for supporting ISIS activities. The statement came after a local media’s disclosure of an “ISIS kill list” in which 69 Taiwanese are targeted.

Asked by Democratic Progressive Party legislator Chen Chi-mai during a legislative interpellation session Wednesday if there are any foreign workers in Taiwan involved in supporting or sponsoring the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, extremist activities, National Immigration Agency (NIA) Director-General Ho Jung-chun replied the National Security Council (NSC) does possess a watch list of less than 10 people.

The Chinese-language Mirror Media recently disclosed a “kill list” of 69 Taiwanese named as IS assassination targets, which was initially released by a pro-ISIS hacker group earlier in June and was later made known to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to media reports, the officials said that the authorities have conducted a probe into the information but have found it to be widely inaccurate with half of the names on the list correspond to nonexistent people.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/06
By: Wu Che-hao and Frances Huang

Taipei, Oct. 6 (CNA) A group of employees of Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp.’s (台化) Changhua plant staged a protest in front of the Changhua county government building Thursday and clashed with police when they tried to break through a police cordon.

More than 1,000 workers from the plant surrounded the Changhua county government building again after a similar rally staged earlier in the week, expressing their anger about a rejection by the county authorities to extend permits for operations of the plant’s three power generators by a deadline of Sept. 28.

Without the renewed operating permits, the plant is expected to completely shut down Oct. 8, which will leave the workers out of their jobs.

The protesters demanded to meet Changhua Magistrate Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), and many of them attempted to break through the police cordon, clashing with police and leaving some of them injured.     [FULL  STORY]