Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-08
By: Wendy Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Central Weather Bureau (CWB) on Thursday has warned of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall across the northern part of Taiwan. Taipei and New Taipei are likely to experience extremely heavy rainfall from Thursday evening through Friday, whereas Keelung, Yilan, Hualien, and south of Chiayi are expected to experience heavy rainfall, according to the latest forecast.

Heavy rain signifies rainfall of 80 millimeters in 24 hours, or 40 mm in an hour, while extremely heavy rain was defined as rainfall of 200 mm in 24 hours, or 100 mm in three hours, according to the CWB.

The bureau has reminded the public to be on guard against lightning strikes and wind gusts, and slow down while driving through heavy rains as wet roads create hazardous driving conditions.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/08
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Sept. 8 (CNA) The monthly minimum wage in Taiwan will be increased from NT$20,008 (US$639) to NT$21,009 with effect from 2017, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) announced Thursday.

The decision, which also included an increase in the hourly minimum wage, was reached earlier in the day at an MOL meeting with representatives of labor unions and business groups, the ministry said.

At a news conference after the meeting, Labor Minister Kuo Fong-yu (郭芳煜) said it took a while for the business groups and labor unions to iron out their differences and agree to the MOL’s proposal on the scope of the minimum wage increase.

It was agreed that the monthly minimum wage will be raised by about 5 percent to NT$21,009, starting Jan. 1, 2017, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

A petition to abolish priority seats in public transportation in Taiwan has been sent to government authorities, raising questions again on whether the seats fulfill the purpose of meeting the needs of certain groups.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/07,
By: Mo Tz-pin

More than 7,000 people have signed an online petition seeking the abolition of priority seats in Taiwan’s

public transportation systems.

The petition was launched on Sept. 1 and surpassed the threshold of 5,000 signatures within six days. It has been sent to the National Development Council and an official response will be announced before Nov. 11.

Priority seats in Taiwan are intended for four groups of people: senior citizens, pregnant women, mentally and physically challenged passengers and those traveling with children.

On Aug. 25, a woman posted a photo on Facebook of two high school students sitting in regular seats on the Taipei MRT. Perplexed with the students not giving up their seats to a mother who was traveling with two children, the woman said the students were “a disgrace” and “should become prostitutes.” Although the students were not occupying priority seats, the incident has become part of the debate on the issue.

A student with eyesight issues said on Sept. 3 that he was assigned to a priority seat by security, but was then pressured by a female passenger to give up his seat. The female passenger insisted that he did not seem to belong to any of the four priority groups and questioned his eyesight by waving her hands in front of his face. The student gave up his seat after the female passenger started reprimanding him for being inconsiderate.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/07
By: By: Huang Kuo-fang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) The southern county of Chiayi has launched a program that offers a government bounty to people willing to capture or kill exotic lizards, aimed at wiping out the invasive species in order to protect the natural ecosystem, the county government said Wednesday.

In light of the serious threat posed by invasive alien species to biodiversity and ecosystems in recent years, the county government launched the program to encourage the capture or killing of the brown anole and the green iguana, two invasive species in Taiwan, it said.

The county government will begin purchase of the captured reptiles, dead or alive, on Sept. 14 and then every Friday between Sept. 23 and Oct. 21.

The local government said it will offer NT$3 (US$0.096) for the purchase of each brown anole captured, NT$500 for each green iguana with a body length of 50cm or longer, and NT$150 for green iguanas with a body length shorter than 50cm.     [FULL  STORY]

TAIPEI DOME:The conglomerate said it would complete ongoing reviews on fire safety and emergency evacuation, as well as apply for a construction license change

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 08, 2016
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

With the Taipei City Government set to announce today its decision on whether to dissolve the contract it

has with Taipei Dome contractor Farglory Group (遠雄集團), the conglomerate yesterday said it would comply with the city’s requirements on completing safety reviews.

Despite Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) saying that he and Farglory chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) did not reach a consensus during a private meeting in the middle of last month, Farglory spokesman Jacky Yang (楊舜欽) yesterday told reporters that the meeting was a turning point that aligned the goals of both sides — to complete the construction of the Dome complex.

Yang said Farglory had delivered a letter of consent to the city government, stating its willingness to comply with legal requirements to which the complex had been subject.

Yang said the conglomerate would complete ongoing reviews of the complex’s fire safety and readiness for emergency evacuation being performed by the Construction and Planning Agency’s Taiwan Architecture and Building Center.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 8, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

Labor unions from 11 tourism-related industries announced Wednesday that they would take to the

streets next Monday in response to a decrease in mainland Chinese tourists.

Tourism Industry Alliance spokesperson Lee Chi-yueh (李奇嶽) said if the government did not take action to curtail the drop in tourists from mainland China since the Tsai administration took office, the situation would create additional problems for Taiwan’ s society.

The demonstration is organized by the newly-formed Tourism Industry Alliance, which comprises dozens of labor unions from 11 tourism-related sectors, including hotels, travel agencies, bus companies and tour guides.

The alliance is expecting a turnout of more than 15,000 people, Lee said.

The purpose of the demonstration is to express “in a rational manner” the difficulties the tourism industry is experiencing under current circumstances, Lee said, objecting to any form of violence or other radical tactics.

Lee said that the impact of a slump in mainland Chinese tourists went beyond travel agencies, bus companies, restaurants and hotels.     [FULL  STORY]

‘Our mission is to build the linkage between Taiwan and the world.’

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/06
By: Beyonder Times

Hipster-look people appeared from around, gathering outside the Korner nightclub, a creative space for

electronic music and visual artists. They all lined up for the international release party of White Fungus magazine’s fifteenth issue, which featured New York performance artist Whitney Vangrin’s first-ever performance in Asia. Four hundred people packed the nightclub until 5 am, enjoying performance art, live electronics, noise and techno presented by artists from both Taiwan and abroad.

In its 12th year, ‘White Fungus’ celebrated the release of its fifteenth issue
Founded by brothers Ron and Mark Hanson in Wellington, New Zealand in 2004, it has been based in Taichung, Taiwan since 2009, aiming to introduce Taiwanese artists to the world, and increase the visibility of Taiwan’s artworks in the international art scene. It finally won global recognition after being selected for the exhibition of Millennium Magazines at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2012, making it the only publication from Taiwan in the exhibition. In the next year, the independent magazine signed a worldwide distribution contract with WhiteCirc in London and started to sell in more than 20 countries.     [FULL  STORY]