Blogging competition opens next month
All English bloggers in Taiwan are encouraged to compete in the first-ever Taiwan Blog Award sponsored by Taiwanderful, an English community Web site that aims to promote Taiwan and its culture. Only Taiwan-based blogs registered at the Taiwanderful blog directory are eligible to participate. Interested bloggers must register with Taiwanderful by next Tuesday. Awards will be given out in several categories, including Best Education, Best General, Best “Other,” Best Personal, Best Photography, Best Politics, Best Religion, Best Travel and Best Video-Podcast blog. The awards will be based on voting by visitors to the Taiwanderful Web site next month. Visitors can cast one vote per blog but can vote for as many of the blogs as they like. The results will be announced on Nov. 1. For more information, visit:
www.taiwanderful.net/blog/taiwan-best-blog-awards-2008.
Taichung offers job guide for immigrants
The Taichung City Government has published a manual for new immigrants, primarily foreign spouses, to help them seek employment. The Versatile Manual for New Residents to Find Jobs is printed in five languages — Chinese with the zhuyin phonetic system, English, Bahasa, Thai and Vietnamese, Chen Yu-yi (陳裕益), deputy director of the city’s Bureau of Labor Affairs, said last Wednesday. The manual features three protagonists from different countries in various situations to help explain the government’s laws, regulations and services. The 15-chapter manual also includes information on the legal working rights of foreign spouses and how to deal with labor-management disputes. Five thousand copies of e-book discs in Chinese with the zhuyin phonetic system will be available through Taichung’s new immigrant centers and district offices or by calling (04) 2228-9111, ext 3309, or (04) 2229-1731.
Community Services Center hosts annual fundraising dinner
The Community Services Center (CSC) is welcoming everyone to join its annual charity auction dinner, which will be held on Friday, Oct. 17, in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei. Up for auction are a wide variety of items, including an exclusive dinner for 20 guests at the Grand Hyatt Residence, fine antiques, artwork and Persian rugs, exotic vacation packages, golf clubs and more. There will be a champagne reception followed by a sumptuous five-course dinner. Tickets are available for NT$3,000 per person or NT$30,000 for a table of 10. All proceeds from the event will be used to help the CSC provide vital services to the expatriate community in Taiwan. For more information, contact Robyn or Grace at the CSC: (02) 2836-8134.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
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