EMPLOYMENT
New job openings increase
The number of new job openings last month was up more than 3 percent from the previous month, mainly driven by vacancies in the hospitality industry, the Council of Labor Affairs reported. About 130,400 new jobs were offered last month, up from 126,200 the previous month, the council said, citing data from government-run employment counseling agencies around the nation. The outcome was mainly driven by increases in the hospitality business, which added 3,679 jobs last month, followed by the wholesale and retail industry, which added 2,870 vacancies. The increase, which bucked a trend in which a decline had been recorded in September the previous three years, showed that the domestic job market is stable, despite economic uncertainties at home and abroad, the council said. Another industry that has seen increasing demand for workers in recent years is transportation and warehousing, the council added.
NATIONAL DEFENSE
More spies recruited
The military has increased its staff assigned to counterintelligence against China, since Beijing has not promised to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) said on Wednesday. China has never ceased its efforts to collect military intelligence on Taiwan, and the military in April boosted its number of counterintelligence agents, Yen said before reporting to the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in Taipei. He was responding to local media reports that the military has reinstated an anti-Chinese intelligence unit after a 12-year hiatus in light of media reports that retired Taiwanese officers have been recruited by Chinese intelligence.
SOCIETY
Taipei’s ranking slips
Taipei has the eighth-best reputation among Asian cities this year, according to an international consulting firm, but saw its global ranking slip in the annual study. The only Taiwanese city to make the list, Taipei ranked 69th globally with a score of 56.5 points, a drop from last year’s 61.3 points and 54th place, on this year’s City RepTrak Study. The annual study was conducted by the New York and Copenhagen-based Reputation Institute. It ranked cities based on trust, esteem, admiration and respect, and perceptions of 13 attributes in the categories of advanced economy, appealing environment and effective government. Among Asian cities, Osaka in Japan was rated the most reputable, with a score of 71.4 points in 26th place.
ART
Rubber Duck inflated
The inflation of the giant Rubber Duck that wowed crowds in Greater Kaohsiung in the past month was completed yesterday in Taoyuan County after it was postponed by a day due to inclement weather, Taoyuan County Government officials said. County government workers said the inflation went smoothly after the strong winds had abated. They spent 45 minutes inflating the immense floating installation artwork. Unlike its earlier display at Kaohsiung Harbor, the world-famous giant bath toy will be ensconced in the unique pond-dotted landscape in the county’s Sinwu Township (新屋) as part of a landscape festival to be held between tomorrow and Nov. 10. As a result, people can expect a different kind of viewing experience as they will see the duck in the context of coastal bike rides, tourist farms, fresh seafood restaurants and sunsets over the Taiwan Strait, Taoyuan County Tourism Promotion Bureau officials said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching