The KMT had been talking about reforms when in power, but her government was pushing them through: Tsai

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday

lashed out at the Kuomintang (KMT) for trying to block her reforms, comparing the main opposition party to someone who dropped trash on the ground and then complained that the cleaners were working too slowly.

Tsai was speaking to reporters after a visit to a computer gaming event in Kaohsiung.

The president, who also chairs the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said that her administration had been working hard to push through reforms, but that the opposition, despite claiming to want reforms as well, had been boycotting many of her policies.

“The people who produce trash or drop it (on the ground), are really not qualified to complain about the people picking up the trash too slowly,” the Central News Agency quoted Tsai as saying.

Taking the example of pension reform, she said that when the KMT was in power, it talked about reforms but never brought them about, while her government really did complete true reforms.    [FULL  STORY]

People carrying the DOK5 gene are less likely to gain weight

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/09
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Half the population in Taiwan are blessed with a gene that helps control weight and thus allows them to indulge in the pleasure of eating while keeping obesity at bay, reports said.

A study conducted by Taiwan Epidemiology Association involving researchers from Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Academia Sinica looked into 10,000 samples provided by Taiwan Biobank and concluded that 50 percent of Taiwanese people have the gene of DOK5, which reputedly affects the sensitivity of insulin, reported Apple Daily.

At the influence of DOK5, insulin, which regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats, tends to increase the amount of glycogen stored in the muscles and liver, thereby helping the human body burn fat, according to researcher Shen Chi-yang (沈志陽).

Individuals who carry the gene are more likely to maintain weight, even if they have developed the habit of late-night snacking while showing little interest in doing regular exercise, the results indicated.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 11, 2018
By: Lo Tien-pin and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) has submitted plans to give

combat troops additional seniority-based bonuses to the Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Personnel Administration, a source said yesterday.

The ministry is lobbying lawmakers and members of the Cabinet to support the scheme, which is designed to boost morale, increase troop retention and improve combat proficiency, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The law defines combat troops as service members deployed with a Category I or II unit, who receive a monthly combat arms bonus.

Combat arms bonuses this year are to cost the government an estimated NT$3.71 billion (US$120.4 million) and the implementation of the new scheme would increase that budget by NT$1.26 billion to NT$4.95 billion, assuming that combat troop strength remains at 75,000, a report prepared by the ministry for the Executive Yuan said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 09 November, 2018
By: Jake Chen

An ongoing flu outbreak in Taiwan has so far killed two people. The Centers for Disease

Control (CDC) has advised the public to get flu shots as soon as possible.

More and more members of the public, especially parents with children as well as seniors, are heading to clinics and hospitals to get flu shots.

The ongoing flu outbreak in Taiwan has so far claimed two lives. In one case, an eight-year old girl died just two days after she was infected. The CDC said the girl had not been vaccinated and the virus led to encephalitis, which proved fatal.

The CDC said children, seniors, pregnant women and people with a weak immune system are particularly vulnerable to the virus and should get inoculated as soon as possible.    [FULL  STORY]

10 activists and industry leaders will talk at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Taipei on Nov. 10, the first time in Asia

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/09
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Describing Taiwan as a thriving and successful democracy, Russian democracy activist Vladimir Kara-Murza said Friday that there is no better place than Taiwan to hold the first Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) in Asia.

A platform for activists and leaders from industries to give talks and exchange ideas about promoting human rights, freedom, and democracy, OFF will open its satellite event on Saturday in Taipei after its debut 10 years ago.

Dedicated to promoting democratic values and fair elections in Russia, Kara-Murza said at a press conference on Friday that in terms of holding the first OFF in Asia, there is no better place than Taiwan, a country that has a “thriving and successful democracy.”

Kara-Murza said the democratization of Taiwan has proven that democracy is not just a western concept and that it can take roots in Asia. “Taiwan has managed to travel a remarkable journey to [become] a full-fledged constitutional democracy.”
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/09
By: Liu Shih-yi, Yu Hsiao-han and Elizabeth Hsu 

Taipei, Nov. 9 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Friday passed a new law aimed at resolving disputes between employees and employers, and which the government hopes will better protect workers’ rights in Taiwan’s judicial system.

The Labor Dispute Act stipulates that all levels of courts must set up “labor courts” presided over by judges specializing in labor laws to address lawsuits related to employer-workers’ disputes, said Judicial Yuan officials at a press conference after the act cleared the legislative floor.

The new law, made of 53 articles in five chapters, emphasizes professional judicial proceedings, the expansion of the definition of labor dispute, the formation of a labor arbitration committee for civil appeals, and the removal of obstructions facing workers as they take legal action against the management.

Other aspects of the law include accelerating judicial procedures, reinforcing arbitration procedures, and protecting the rights of those concerned efficiently, according to the Judicial Yuan, the highest judicial organ in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

PRIVATE SECTOR: Another change gives students in collaborative internships the option to suspend their studies and apply for a job as part of an associate degree

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 10, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to the Degree Conferral Act (學位

授予法), with one to allow graduate or doctoral students pursuing a degree in sports, the arts or applied science to present their work, certificates and a written report, or a technical report instead of writing a dissertation.

The act previously allowed the exceptions only for graduates seeking an arts or applied-science degree.

The amendments stipulate that the criteria to be met in the work, certificates and reports are to be defined by each university at faculty meetings.

An amendment to the act to allow intercollegiate recognition of credits was also passed.

Universities may confer a degree upon students who have earned enough credits to graduate if they have passed courses in fields related to their major that are offered by colleges other than their own, the amendment stipulates.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 08 November, 2018
By: Jake Chen

Taichung City in central Taiwan saw some of its worst pollution on Wednesday morning. A code red air quality warning was issued and the government resorted to cutting power plant output to lessen the problem.

The residents of Taichung City woke up to grey skies and poor visibility on Wednesday morning. Heavy smog loomed over the city, and many had to wear facemasks as they commuted to work.

Most of the air quality monitoring stations placed at various locations has detected Air Quality Index (AQI) figures of above 151, the threshold for a code red air quality alert. This air quality could cause harm to one’s heart and respiratory system.

The Taichung City Government said they have reduced the output of the city’s main coal-fired power plants by 150 megawatts, and they are looking to reduce it even further. The government also claimed that a number of atmospheric factors, such as high humidity and low wind speed, have made it hard for smog to disperse.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s 17 remaining official allies, along with its larger unofficial friends, make for strange bedfellows.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/08
By: Stellina Chen

On Oct. 28, Brazil elected far-right firebrand Jair Bolsonaro to its presidency. In the aftermath, Twitter was full of messages of grief, concern, and condemnation from observers around the world fearful that the populist, who has expressed his support of torture and his disdain for democratic norms, would threaten Brazil’s democratic society. However, there was a notable exception:

We congratulate @jairbolsonaro on his victory in #Brazil’s presidential election. The government and people of #Taiwan look forward to stronger relations across the board with the world’s 4th-largest democracy.

Of course, congratulating the victors of foreign elections, as Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) did following Bolsonaro’s triumph, is a perfectly normal and time-honored tradition.

U.S. President Donald Trump, when under pressure for congratulating Russia’s Vladimir Putin following his March 2018 victory in an election judged by international observers to be unfair, notably pointed out that his predecessor, Barack Obama, did exactly the same in 2012.    [FULL  STORY]