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Agencies still charge steep fees, migrant workers say

‘FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT’: The labor ministry and the president claim that workers no longer pay ‘service fees,’ but agencies charge up to NT$80,000, a labor group said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 17, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

About 100 migrant workers and labor rights advocates yesterday protested outside the

Taiwan International Workers’ Association members and migrant workers protest outside the Ministry of Labor in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: CNA

Ministry of Labor, demanding that it eliminate illegal service charges collected by employment agencies.

Migrants seeking jobs in Taiwan are typically charged a service fee of NT$80,000 to NT$150,000 by labor agencies, even though such fees are banned if a worker has completed their previous contract or is renewing their contract, Taiwan International Workers’ Association director of policy research Chen Hsiu-lien (陳秀蓮) said at the protest.

The practice is so pervasive that “if they do not pay the fee, they will not get a job,” she said.

While a provision in the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) requiring foreign blue-collar workers to leave the nation every three years was abolished in October 2016 to prevent foreign employees from being repeatedly charged service fees, many are now charged even more by agencies that know exactly how to avoid getting caught, she said.
[FULL  STORY]

Flu Vaccines to Run Out by End of Month

ICRT Radio News
Date: 2018-12-15

Officials say government-subsidized flu vaccines could run out by the end of
the month.

The Centers for Disease Control say several incidents of abnormalities in the
vaccines have caused supplies to become limited this year.

The CDC says there are currently 200-thousand doses of the shots for those
over 3 years of age, and those who still haven’t been innoculated may have to
wait until the middle of January next year for the next round of supplies.

For children under 3, 75-thousand doses are left, and supplies are expected
to last until the end of January.

The CDC says government data indicates that most elementary and middle school
students have received their vaccinations, but high school students in 8
cities and counties will have to go without for now.    [SOURCE]

British mother and son camping illegally on Taiwan’s Mount Hehuanshan

The son spent four months inside the national park

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Hehuanshan in winter. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A British mother and son who spent four months camping illegally inside the national park including Mount Hehuanshan (合歡山) were removed and fined, reports said Saturday.

The area, which reaches up to an altitude of 3,400 meters, is famous as a spot to watch the sunrise, but visitors need to apply for a permit to enter and they can only walk around, not spend the night in tents, the Central News Agency reported.

A 26-year-old British citizen of Chinese origin first entered the area in August, and later left before bringing back his 60-year-old mother, who reportedly found it hard to adapt to urban life.

In October, visitors told the authorities they had seen someone camping on the north peak of Hehuanshan, but a first search failed to turn up anybody, according to CNA.
[FULL  STORY]

Memoirs of ex-president to be published Dec. 20

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/15
By: Liu Li-jung and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Dec. 15 (CNA) A memoir of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) time in office

CNA file photo

will be published Dec. 20, in which Ma touts achievements he made in national development and recognizes the mistakes he committed during his eight years as president from 2008-2016.

The memoir, published by Taipei-based Commonwealth Publishing Co., is written by Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑), former deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office during the Ma administration, based on Ma’s oral accounts.

In the preface, Ma says was so lucky to be elected twice as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan), showing the trust of the people of Taiwan.

During the past more-than two years since leaving office, Ma said that he has faced both enthusiastic sympathy and serious criticism from the public while visiting different places around the nation, which prompted him to record what he experienced during the presidency as a form of self-reflection, as well as to assume responsibility for history.
[FULL  STORY]

Hospital, lab collaborate on sepsis-detection AI

EARLY WARNING: A system introduced last year can predict sepsis about four hours before its onset, but with AI, the hospital hopes to automatically detect it earlier

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 16, 2018
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Taipei Medical University Hospital on Dec. 7 signed a contract with Taiwan AI Labs to

Taipei Medical University Hospital superintendent Chen Ray-jade, left, and Taiwan AI Labs founder Ethan Tu on Dec. 7 hold up a collaboration agreement introducing artificial intelligence at the hopsital in Taipei.  Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times

collaborate on introducing an artificial intelligence (AI) system that would provide an earlier warning for sepsis in its intensive care units (ICUs).

The five-year contract with the research organization was signed by hospital superintendent Chen Ray-jade (陳瑞杰) and Taiwan AI Labs founder Ethan Tu (杜奕瑾).

The first phase of the collaboration aims to improve the hospital’s “electronic dashboard” ICU (TED-ICU) by integrating an AI system that could automatically predict the early development of sepsis and alert the resident medical team.

The health conditions of ICU patients can change drastically, and sepsis is a life-threatening condition that occurs in about 437 patients per 100,000 globally, Chen said, adding that studies suggest that sepsis causes about one-third of all deaths in US hospitals.    [FULL  STORY]

Winter’s first continental cold air mass to hit Taiwan

Date: December 15, 2018
By Wang Shu-fen and Y.F. Low

Pedestrians walk across an intersection in downtown Taipei. According to Central Weather Bureau, the first continental cold air mass for this winter will arrive in Taiwan Sunday afternoon, with temperatures as low as 12 degrees Celsius expected in northern regions early next week. (NOWnews)

TAIPEI (CNA) – The first continental cold air mass for this winter will arrive in Taiwan Sunday afternoon, with temperatures as low as 12 degrees Celsius expected in northern regions early next week, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.

On Monday, the mercury will drop significantly in northern Taiwan as well as in Yilan and Hualien and bring cold temperatures at night and in the early morning to central and southern Taiwan as well as Taitung in the east, the bureau said.

In the early morning of Tuesday, temperatures are forecast to dip to 12-13 degrees in northern and northeastern Taiwan, 14-15 degrees in the central parts of the island and Hualien, and 16 degrees in the south and Taitung, according to the CWB.

The weather will warm up later in the day on Tuesday and Wednesday, with temperatures expected to reach over 20 degrees, the bureau said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan government to roll out free HPV vaccinations from the end of this year

Vaccinations will be mandatory for girls entering junior high school

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/14
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

HPV vaccine (Pan American Health Organization/Flickr)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The government is to roll out free HPV vaccinations for girls in junior high school from the end of this year.

According to a report from CNA, the national health service announced today (Dec. 14) that the first batch of 80,000 imported vaccines had been tested and packaged. Health centers in one or two city and county areas will begin offering the vaccination towards the end of this year, before the service is opened up to girls in the first year of junior high school across the country.

Statistics published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare indicate that cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women, with over 4,000 in Taiwan suffering from the disease each year. Those who contract HPV are more at risk to cervical cancer, with up to 70 percent of cases found to be caused by sustained type 16 or 18 HPV infections.

The national health service said it has budgeted NT$250 million (US$8 million) and plans to make inoculation against virus types 16 and 18 mandatory for girls in the first year of junior high school across Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Cabinet Secretary-General Cho nominated for DPP chairmanship election

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/14
By: Wen Kui-hsiang, Wu Rui-chi and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) Cabinet Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) has been

Cho Jung-tai (CNA file photo)

nominated by a group of young Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members to run for the chairmanship of the party.

The group, led by Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), on Thursday put forward Cho’s name, saying they will accompany him Friday afternoon to register as a candidate at the DPP’s headquarters in Taipei.

Cho, 59, could not be reached for comment on the issue.

If he accepts the nomination for the Jan. 6 election, he will be competing for the leadership of the DPP against the party’s former secretary-general You Ying-lung (游盈隆) and Kuo Tai-ling (郭泰麟), who was deputy chief of the now-defunct Kaohsiung County.
[FULL  STORY]

‘Yongkang Street Mugger’ denied bail after alleged attack

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 15, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

A man known as the “Yongkang Street Mugger” has been charged with committing a violent robbery on Yongkang Street in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) on Nov. 25, in which a woman received knife cuts to her face, just after his release from prison, where he served a four-year sentence for a similar crime.

Taipei prosecutors charged 58-year-old Hu Tong-wen (胡同文) with robbery and assault causing physical harm, saying that he followed the woman, slashed at her face with a box cutter and ran away with her purse.

The incident was captured by surveillance cameras in the area.

Witnesses who ran after the assailant helped to capture Hu a few hours later and police identified him based on the video footage and found a box cutter on him.
[FULL  STORY]

Mercury in N. Taiwan to plunge down 11 degrees by Monday

Next cold air wave will cause temperature in northern Taiwan to drop down to 11 degrees Celsius by Monday

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/14
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

NOAA animated GIF of NW Pacific.

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — While a northeast monsoon is bringing cold and wet weather to northern Taiwan today, a new cold air wave will cause the mercury to plummet down to 11 degrees Celsius by Monday, according to Meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮).

Wu said that the daytime highs in northern Taiwan will only reach between 18 and 19 degrees. As for low temperatures, Wu pointed out that the lowest temperature in Taipei was 16.7 degrees this morning and 15.5 degrees yesterday morning, while New Taipei City’s Sanzhi District saw a low of 14.2 degrees this morning and recorded a low of 13.4 degrees yesterday morning.

Wu said that the coast and mountainous areas in the north and northeast will see heavy rain today, while there will also be local showers in the greater Taipei basin. He said the main cause is that the northeast monsoon has been affected by topographic uplift.

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) today has issued a heavy rain advisory for four counties and cities in northern Taiwan, including Taipei city, New Taipei City, Keelung City, and Yilan County. At the same time, it has also issued a strong wind advisory (over land) for all of Taiwan, except for Nantou County and Chiayi City.   [FULL  STORY]