SOCIETY
Foreign worker numbers up
The number of foreign workers in Taiwan in June increased by 9.73 percent year-on-year to a total of 403,492, according to the latest government statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior. As of the end of June, Indonesian workers accounted for 41.32 percent of the total, followed by Vietnamese (21.57 percent), Filipinos (19.59 percent) and Thais (17.52 percent), the ministry’s figures showed. The ministry attributed the increase of migrant workers to higher demand for manpower as a result of Taiwan’s recovering economy. Over the past five years, Indonesia has replaced Thailand as the largest source of foreign workers in Taiwan, the ministry said. According to ministry statistics, migrant workers accounted for about 70 percent of the 588,339 foreign nationals in the country as of the end of June. A total of 46,537 of these foreign nationals are spouses, about 50 percent of whom are from Vietnam, the ministry said. The number of foreign spouses dropped 5.76 percent from a year earlier, mainly because those who obtained Republic of China nationality are no longer classified as foreign nationals, the ministry said.
EDUCATION
Salvadorans get scholarships
A total of 26 young people from El Salvador have received Taiwan-sponsored scholarships and will arrive in Taiwan later this month to pursue their studies, Ambassador to El Salvador Jaime Chen (陳新東) said yesterday. Chen made the remarks at an award ceremony in the Central American country that was co-hosted by Salvadoran Deputy Minister for Development Cooperation Jaime Miranda and Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Castaneda. Among the 26 awards, 10 were provided by the Taiwan Scholarship Program, which is funded by the Ministry of Education. Chen encouraged more international students to make use of the scholarship programs on offer and to come to Taiwan to pursue further education. The other scholarships included seven under the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship program and nine offered by the International Higher Education Scholarship Program.
SOCIETY
Victims’ families in China
Family members of four Taiwanese killed in a deadly traffic accident in Jilin Province on Monday were on their way to China to claim the bodies of their relatives, Lion Travel Service said yesterday. A total of 19 people were to visit the traffic department of Jilin City, where the bodies are being kept. The accident, which injured 15 other Taiwanese, occurred on Monday afternoon on the Hunwu Expressway, initially reported to be on the Changji Expressway. A vehicle changing lanes smashed into the side of the bus, sending it careening into a ditch. Some of the victims were thrown out of the bus.
JUDICIARY
Suspended judge retires
The Judicial Yuan said on Monday a senior judge who had applied for reinstatement after being suspended had changed his mind and that his request to take voluntary retirement had been granted. According to the Judicial Yuan, Hsiao Yang-kuei (蕭仰歸) agreed his actions had undermined the image of the judiciary and affected the public perception its integrity. Hsiao, a Supreme Court judge, was impeached in October last year by the Control Yuan for lobbying another judge to rule favorably in a hit-and-run case involving his son. The Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries suspended Hsiao in January for six months and upon its expiration at the end of last month, Hsiao filed an application with the Supreme Court.
SOCIETY
Dog owner charged in crash
The owner of a dalmatian weighing 30kg has been charged with negligence after her dog caused a scooter driver to fall to the ground and suffer a ruptured spleen, prosecutors said on Monday. The Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said the dog’s owner, a woman surnamed Wang (王), was leaving to take her son to a bus stop on a scooter on Dec. 1, when the dog broke loose from its chains and chased after them. During the chase, the dalmatian grazed the back of another scooter, causing that driver to lose control and fall to the ground. The female driver suffered a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding, while the dog apparently emerged from the accident unscathed. The indictment described the dalmatian as a sturdy dog that needed to be kept on a tight leash and said Wang’s failure to do so made it possible for the dog to run free and endanger others.
CRIME
Rape case concerns Seoul
A case of attempted rape against a female Taiwanese backpacker in South Korea has drawn the attention of Seoul, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) said on Monday. The victim was allegedly attacked by the owner of a homestay in Andong on July 22. After escaping from the grasp of her assailant, the woman left the homestay and called Taiwan’s representative office in Busan for help, Chang said. The office assisted her in reporting the case to the local police. The case also drew the attention of the Korea Tourism Organization, which called Andong police to express its concern. The tourism agency has removed the homestay from its Web site at Taipei’s request, Chang said. The suspect, who failed a lie detector test, has been released on bail, Chang said, adding that the ministry would closely follow
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai