Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/21/2020
By: Liu Chien-pang and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, June 21 (CNA) A worker has been found dead after he was excavated from fallen steel bars and concrete blocks late Saturday at a construction site in Taipei where the 19-story Core Pacific City shopping center was being torn down to make way for an office complex.

At around 11 p.m. the body of the worker was dug out, eight hours after the unexpected cave-in occurred on the eighth floor of the building during demolition work, said Wang Cheng-hsiung (王證雄), who heads a fire-fighting squad at the city's Fire Department.

He said the rescue mission began soon after the collapse but their efforts were challenged by big chunks of reinforced concrete.

Given that the worker was found in a crashed small excavator alongside another excavator and a small pick-up van, they suspected that the worker was operating the machine on the ground floor when the cave-in occurred at around 3 p.m., Wang said.

An investigation by police and prosecutors is underway.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 22, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Dajia Matsu returned to her home temple, Jenn Lann Temple (鎮瀾宮) in Taichung’s Dajia District (大甲), late on Saturday following a nine-day annual “inspection tour” of temples in central and southern Taiwan.

The grand Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage, the nation’s largest annual religious procession, ended shortly before midnight after three statues of Matsu, the goddess of the seas, were carried out of their separate palanquins and placed on the altar at the temple.

“Dajia Matsu has returned!” people shouted as the procession, joined by hundreds of followers, arrived in Dajia on Saturday afternoon, concluding a 340km journey that took the Dajia Matsu through Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties.

The district, packed with Matsu believers, was inundated in a thunder of firecrackers as the procession moved toward Jenn Lann Temple, and later in the night, fireworks lit up the sky over the temple.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/20/2020
By: Chiu Chun-hsin and Ko Lin

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) A married couple in Taoyuan was ordered to be detained and held incommunicado by a local court Saturday pending further investigation into the death of their seven-month old daughter.

The decision was made because there was a possiblity the two could collude to destroy evidence, the Taoyuan District Court said.

Although the couple admitted to their wrongdoings, the court added that the statements given by them did not entirely match.

According to the Taoyuan Police Department's Yangmei Precinct, the 24-year old Indonesian father, who is married to his Taiwanese wife, confessed that on June 14, he beat their daughter to death because both were fed up with her constant crying.
[FULL  STORY]

New meme created to show solidarity between two countries counters China's military aggression

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/20
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Inspired by a meme showing Hong Kong's pro-democracy activists supporting India, Taiwan News has created a meme expressing Taiwan's solidarity with India, as both countries stand against the recent aggressions of communist China.

On Tuesday, a melee broke out between Indian and Chinese troops on a disputed stretch of border in the Ladakh region, with the Indian side suffering 20 dead and the PLA allegedly reporting 43 dead and wounded. The incident sparked outrage across India, prompting many to call for a boycott of Chinese-made products, burn effigies of Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平), and create a flurry of anti-China memes on social media.

An illustration showing Rama, the seventh avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, drawing a bow and preparing to shoot a huge arrow into a Chinese dragon posted on Hong Kong social media site LIHKG and reported on by Taiwan News spread like wildfire in India on Wednesday (June 17).

Hong Kong Twitter user HoSaiLei on Wednesday created a meme showing two burly men arm wrestling with the hashtag #HKstandswithIndia and the flag of India and a yellow and black banner, symbolizing the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong at the bottom.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/20/2020
By: Stacy Hsu and Frances Huang

Washington, June 19 (CNA) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated on Friday in the third Copenhagen Democracy Summit that the United States supports Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA), saying Taiwan's presence will be "useful" to the global community at a time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After addressing the summit through video conferencing, Pompeo took questions from Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the host of the summit, on whether Taiwan will be allowed to participate in international organizations like the WHA.

Pompeo said it was both appropriate and important for Taiwan to join the WHA at least as an observer.

Taiwan has "a great deal of knowledge to handle the coronavirus very very well. They have high end technology, high end pharmaceutical capability, and high end scientists," Pompeo said.    [FULL  STORY]

Indian spring 'festival of colors' to be held in Taipei on June 21

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/20
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Due to its extraordinary handling of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), Taiwan will on Sunday (June 21) be the only country so far this year to hold an "Indian Holi Taipei" festival.

The festival, hosted by Mayur Indian Kitchen (MIK), is titled "Taipei Holi2020 @ Thanking Taiwan for Helping India Charity Event." It will take place at Taipei's Dajia Riverside Park.

Attendees from more than 20 nations will enjoy food, drinks, music, dance, watercolors, and cultural performances, according to the organizer and owner of MIK restaurants, Mayur Srivastava. "Most importantly (there is) a COVID-19 free environment because of the wonderful efforts by the various bodies of the Taiwan government to contain the virus."

The Holi festival is a "festival of colors" when participants throw colored dye and powder at each other. The festival is normally held in March, but due to the pandemic, it was canceled in India and by overseas Indian communities across the globe, including Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 19 June, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

Economics Minister Shen Jong-chin has been appointed as the country’s vice premier. The Cabinet announced Shen’s appointment on Friday.

The role of vice premier became vacant when Chen Chi-mai resigned from the position to run for Mayor of Kaohsiung in a by-election scheduled for August.    [FULL  STORY]

Straits Times
Date: Jun 19, 2020
By: Jan Lee

Veteran Taiwanese variety show host Jacky Wu will soon have a new member in his family – a new son-in-law.

The 57-year-old's daughter Vivian is set to marry her boyfriend Wilson Chiang, the nephew of Kuomintang politician Eric Chu, who ran for the presidency in 2016 but lost to Ms Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Pary.

Vivian, 27, is currently working in her father's entertainment company Easy C&C; Chiang is 29 and has a master's degree from Peking University, according to Taiwanese newspaper United Daily News. He is a founder of a web start-up as well, Taiwanese media reported.

Vivian is the second of Wu's four children and is reported to have attended an art institute in Seattle.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan companies spend on average less than 18 minutes making hiring decisions in interviews

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/19
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — New Taiwan graduates have just a 6 percent acceptance rate when applying for their first job, while most companies spend less than 18 minutes on average to determine whether to make a hire.

According to a recent poll conducted by Taiwan's online job bank Yes123, only 41.4 percent of the resumes uploaded on the website are considered "acceptable." The poll results showed that companies are most dissatisfied with applicants who do not provide complete general information, personal photos, or use the same resumes for job vacancies in different fields.

As many as 95.6 percent of corporations indicated they would invite applicants who provided photos to interviews first.

Yes123 spokesman Yang Tsung-bin (楊宗斌) pointed out in an interview Friday (June 19) the majority of employers want to gain a better understanding of their candidates before engaging in a face-to-face interaction. He added that applicants should always pursue the principle of professionalism, instead of being over the top in their interview application photos.    [FULL  STORY]