Suspects accused son of restaurant owner of embezzlement

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/02
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A financial dispute between members of a fraud ring was behind

the attack on a goose restaurant in New Taipei City which caused the death of an employee, reports said Saturday.

One staff member died and five people were injured during a fire at the Tucheng restaurant Thursday night.

The investigation took a new turn after three suspects were apprehended Friday afternoon trying to leave the country on a flight to Singapore.

According to a report in the Chinese-language Liberty Times Saturday, leaders of a fraud ring accused one of its members, a son of the restaurant owner surnamed Lin, of having pocketed some of their earnings. They threw paint at the establishment, but the resulting fire had not been their intention, they reportedly told police.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/02
By: Liu Lee-jung and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) A salvage mission to locate and retrieve the black box of a missing

Mirage-2000 fighter jet will resume next week pending good weather after poor weather conditions rendered an attempt this week unsuccessful, an unnamed Air Force official said Saturday.

The official revealed that Kaohsiung-based Dragon Prince Hydro-Survey Enterprise, the company that won the contract for the mission, embarked for the first marine salvage mission Nov. 27.

However, due to poor weather conditions and heavy seas, the team put in to Keelung Port Nov. 29 empty-handed, the official said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan was praised for its progressive steps towards marriage equality — but the process has stalled.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/01
By: Jennifer Creery

“Imagine not being allowed to marry the person you love. Now add 13 years to it.”

This is the case for Jason, who moved from Canada to Taiwan in 1999, where he met his partner. At the time it would have been unthinkable to embrace his partner in the street.

Things now are not entirely different now. Jason explains that even the smallest displays of affection such as holding his partner’s hand in public is still an uncomfortable experience. “Think of the added stress of having to hide your authentic self,” he said.

“This is life in our community. I just want to be married to the man I love.”

Credit: Jennifer CreeryIt’s easier to be openly gay than it was even a few years ago.
His hopes could soon become a reality in Taiwan, making it the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. But for many couples frustrated by the lack of legislative progress, this day cannot come quickly enough. “We want to have a child one day and my biological clock is ticking,” said Jason. “It is a basic human instinct that you have to suppress.”    [FULL  STORY]

A look at Taiwan’s top 10 man-made marvels, both old and new

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/01
By: David Spencer, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

Last week, I put together a list of the top ten natural wonders in Taiwan. It could easily

have been a Top 50 or longer. But for all of Taiwan’s natural beauty, there is no denying the impact that mankind has had on the island of Formosa. There is evidence of human life on Taiwan for at least 20,000 years and everyone from prehistoric peoples, through Taiwan’s various aboriginal communities, the early European and Chinese settlers, and the Japanese, to the present-day population, has left some kind of mark.

Much of the modern impact of man has been detrimental with the western plains of Taiwan, in particular, have been hugely overdeveloped. But for all that, there is also no shortage of manmade wonders in Taiwan too and in this article, I have compiled my top ten:

It might seem cliched, but no list of Taiwanese manmade marvels would be complete without mentioning perhaps the country’s most recognisable attraction; Taipei 101. It may no longer be the tallest building in the world (it is now only ranked 9th) but the views from the top are no less impressive for that there is still plenty to marvel at.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/01
By: Chu Tse-wei and Frances Huang

Taipei, Dec. 1 (CNA) The Taipei 101 mall has joined the UPlan platform operated by UnionPay, a bank card service provider in China, in a bid to attract more Chinese tourists when they visit Taipei, the owners of the landmark Taipei 101 building said Friday.

According to the Taipei 101 mall, the shopping center is the first in Taiwan to embrace the UPlan platform, which can be used at ore than 4,000 vendors in 12 countries.

Taipei 101 spokesman Michael Liu (劉家豪) told the press that with the fall in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan, the number of independent travelers now accounts for more than 50 percent of the total. In light of that development, Taipei 101 mall decided to work with UnionPay by joining the UPlan to provide discounts to boost purchases by Chinese patrons.    [FULL  STORY]

‘IMPOSSIBLE’: Premier William Lai said that daily working hours are and will be capped at 12 and it was not possible for anyone to have only eight hours of rest a day this way

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 02, 2017
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘)

yesterday said that the Cabinet’s proposed amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基本法) would undergo “subtle adjustments” next week.

Ker made the announcement following a meeting of the DPP caucus during which Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) briefed DPP lawmakers on the adjustments.

The adjustments were proposed after Premier William Lai (賴清德) met with DPP lawmakers twice this week to hear their opinions and considered the public’s attitude toward the amendment, he said, adding that the adjustments will focus on several “regulatory measures” and would “tighten the rules” in the draft amendment.

Draft regulations that would allow employers to legally make employees work up to 12 days in a row before granting them two days off and that would reduce the minimum rest time between shifts from 11 to 8 hours will not be implemented at employers’ discretion, but after only local authorities meet with sector associations and determine which sectors have “special needs” that warrant such work schedules, Ker said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-30

The health and welfare ministry’s bill on legalizing an account that helps fund

disadvantaged children’s education has cleared the Cabinet.

Earlier in June, the ministry set up a special account in order to help fund education for children from low-income and medium-to-low-income families born after January 1, 2016. The families can choose to save a monthly amount of between NT$500 and NT$1,250 (US$17 to $42), with the government matching the amount. The families will then be allowed to take out the full amount when their children turn 18.

Health and Welfare minister Chen Shih-chung said on Thursday there are 9,003 children in the country whose families qualify for the account, and that 2,529 have joined the program. Chen said the ministry will continue to promote the account in order to let more people know.    [FULL  STORY]

Nguyen Van Hoa, a Vietnamese blogger who was arrested for reporting on a 2016 environmental disaster, was sentenced this week (Nov. 27) to seven years in prison for “propaganda against the state” in Vietnam’s Ha Tinh province.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/01
By: Morley J Weston

Citizen journalists will be in jail well into the 2020s for reporting on the incident.

He joins Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this year.

The disaster in question was created by an incident at a steel plant owned by Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation, a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics. The Vietnamese labor ministry estimated that over 250,000 Vietnamese citizens were affected by the incident, which dirtied over 200 kilometers of coastline with cyanide and other bi-products of steel production. Formosa was also accused of burying waste on farms and in public parks. The local environment is not expected to recover for a decade, and the disaster set of a cascade of anti-government protests, some of the largest in Vietnam in decades, leading to a government crackdown of over 500 arrests.

Human rights groups felt that Taiwan could have helped protect those affected by the disaster. Andrea Giorgetta, director of Asia desk of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) told The News Lens, “Taiwan should use its economic leverage on Hanoi and ensure its New Southbound Policy encompasses a human rights dimension. All economic agreements signed as part of this policy should include due diligence and human right impact assessments to help prevent rights abuses, including violations of civil and political rights.”    [FULL  STORY]