Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/28/2020
By: Chen Chun-hua and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) Seven foreign professionals, including an American executive at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), have been approved for naturalization in Taiwan without surrendering their original citizenship, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said Wednesday.

Taiwan amended its Nationality Act in 2016 to allow high-level foreign professionals to obtain Republic of China (Taiwan) citizenship without relinquishing their original nationality, as part of the government's efforts to attract and retain top talent from around the world.

On Wednesday, the MOI announced that it had approved the applications of seven new candidates — four working in education and one each in fields related to culture, technology and economics — bringing the total number of people naturalized under the program to 164.

Among the new citizens is Min Cao (曹敏), an American who serves as a vice president for research and development at TSMC, the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 29, 2020
By: Chen Feng-li and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Nantou District Prosecutors’ Office on Monday charged a suspect in the killing of a four-year-old girl and asked a court to sentence him to life in prison or death.

The girl’s abandoned body was found last month.

The girl’s mother, surnamed Peng (彭), 29, and her boyfriend, surnamed Chen (陳), 37, were detained by police on Sept. 4 on suspicion of murder and abandonment of a corpse.

Police found bruises and other injuries on the girl’s body, and an autopsy found amphetamines and Rohypnol, a tranquilizer, in her system.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 27 October, 2020
By: Paula Chao

Starting late November, human rights education will be part of a basic training program for new civil servants.

On Tuesday, the National Academy of Civil Service unveiled the training program, which is being conducted with the National Human Right Commission under the Control Yuan, Taiwan’s highest watch-dog body.  Beginning November 30, training for new civil servants will include Control Yuan case studies involving human rights.    [FULL  STORY]

BBC News
Date: Oct. 27, 2020
By: Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

Is China preparing to invade Taiwan? It's a question being discussed with feverish intensity on many China forums right now. And what should be one of the top geopolitical concerns for the incoming US president.

The temperature was raised further last on 13 October when China's President Xi Jinping visited a People's Liberation Army (PLA) Marine Corp base in southern Guangdong province and told the marines there to "prepare for war".

In response some newspapers ran headlines suggesting an invasion is imminent.

It almost certainly isn't. But there are good reasons for the urgency with which China experts are now discussing the future of Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Where to go to have a rollicking good time over the holiday

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/27
By: Lyla Liu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – With Halloween just around the corner, Taiwan News has selected 10 exciting events to help you party through the spooky weekend:    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/27/2020
By: Yu Hsiang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Oct. 27 (CNA) The decennial national population and household census will begin in November, with 16,000 census workers set to visit more than 1.2 million households around Taiwan, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Tuesday.

The data collected on regional population distribution, household and family structure, long-term care and childcare services, education, employment, language use and housing conditions will aid policy-making by central and local governments and provide them with a more accurate understanding of the population in Taiwan, said DGBAS Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民).
[FULL  STORY]

UNDERLYING CONDITIONS: Adverse events caused by the flu vaccine have been sporadic, and were not caused by a single batch of immunizations, a CDC physician said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 28, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Four deaths have been reported to the vaccine adverse event reporting system this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, but added that its advisory specialist panel considered the causes to be associated with underlying health conditions, so the government’s flu vaccination program would continue.

CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and Vaccine Injury Compensation Program meeting was held on Monday evening to discuss the death of dozens of people in South Korea following the beginning of a seasonal flu vaccination program there.

The meeting also discussed several serious adverse events in people who received flu shots in Taiwan, after the government-funded flu vaccination program began on Oct. 5, he said.

Chuang said 76 claims of flu vaccine adverse events had been reported to the adverse event reporting system as of Monday, including 25 serious cases, 13 of whom involved prolonged hospital stay, life-threatening conditions or death.    [FULL  STORY]

rthk.com
Date: 2020-10-25

Taiwan authorities have evicted a Hongkonger and banned him from visiting for a period of time, after he participated in the tailing and photographing of Hong Kong teen activist Tony Chung during his visit to the island last year.

Immigration authorities said Lee Pun-ho violated his terms of stay, and hired local private detectives to tail the ex-convenor of pro-independence group Studentlocalism.

They said he then provided the photos to pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong.

Lee was working in Taiwan but but his residence permit was revoked by the Immigration Department in April this year because his employer terminated his job.   [FULL  STORY]

What's On Netflix
Date: October 25, 2020
By: Kasey Moore

Netflix will be distributing a new Taiwanese drama weekly starting from October 25th, 2020. Here’s what you need to know about the series. 

The series will be carried as a Netflix Original globally (outside of Taiwan) and counts as an “Exclusive International Original”.

Taiwan Television will be airing the series weekly starting October 25th but seemingly then take a week to hit Netflix internationally.

To date, this is the first title Netflix has acquired from the network the series airs on with the majority of other Taiwanese titles coming from Public Television Service (in the case of On Children and A Taiwanese Tale of Two Cities).

The series will be available in Mandarin audio but is not expected to be dubbed. Instead, a myriad of subtitle options will be available including English and Spanish.    [FULL  STORY]

People who try to catch the reptiles advised to watch out for their tails and bites

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/258
2By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Invasive green iguanas continue to plague southern Taiwan, wreaking havoc on agricultural produce, irrigation ditches, and ecological balance.

More than 5,000 of the creatures were caught in Pingtung County alone from January to September, according to a CNA report.

Pingtung Department of Agriculture Director Cheng Yung-yu (鄭永裕) said that the county government has put in place a program to reward people who catch green iguanas with agricultural produce as a reward. The program has yielded a staggering haul of 5,480 iguanas in the first nine months of this year, which is the most in the country and a significant increase compared to the 4,182 caught in all of 2019.

The size of the green iguana problem in the region is difficult to estimate, according to Cheng.
[FULL  STORY]