SOCIETY
Birth rate expected to rise
The number of births registered in the nation dropped to 199,113 last year, a decrease of 13.23 percent from 2012, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Last year, the total fertility rate was 1.07 births per woman, down from 1.27 in 2012, the ministry said. The number of babies born reached a high of 229,481 in 2012, mainly due to a preference for having children during the Year of the Dragon, as the dragon is considered the luckiest of the Chinese zodiac signs, the ministry said. The Year of the Dragon began on Jan. 23, 2012, and lasted until Feb. 9 last year. It was followed by the Year of the Snake, which ends on Jan. 30. The interior ministry said the nation’s birth rate is likely to increase this year based on an increase in the number of marriages last year.
LABOR
Council finds violations
Unpaid overtime was the most common violation among employers in Taiwan last year, according to a nation-wide inspection conducted by the Council of Labor Affairs. Making employees work overtime without proper compensation was the most common violation, council official said yesterday. Out of 14,000 inspections across different sectors, the council found violations of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) in 3,671 cases (26.2 percent), according to its latest report. Extra work without extra pay was the most common at 1,234 instances, with hospitality businesses accounting for 15.2 percent of them. The healthcare service ranked second for exploiting unpaid overtime, followed by the social services industry, the council said. The second most common violation was having employees work in excess of the maximum legal hours, council officials said. Under the Labor Standards Act, an employer is liable for up to NT$300,000 in fines for either of the two offenses.
EARTHQUAKE
Eastern Taiwan shaken
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake jolted eastern Taiwan at 2:15am yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said. The quake’s epicenter was at sea, about 166.5km east of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 25.5km, bureau officials said. The strongest tremor, with an intensity of 2, was felt in several areas of Yilan, Hualien, Taitung, Changhua and Yunlin counties.
POLITICS
Tsai denies wrongdoing
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday denied any wrongdoing in a controversy linked to Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co when she was vice premier between 2006 and 2007. She said media reports that she supported the company when the government was trying to terminate a contract with it because of poor performance could be part of a politically motivated smear campaign against her. Tsai said she presided over a negotiation session with the company in June 2006, which failed to reach an agreement, but she had no role in the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ decision to keep the contract. Tsai office spokesperson Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) issued a press release yesterday saying the resurrection of the allegations, which had been refuted by the Executive Yuan in 2006, could be an effort on the part of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to shift the focus away from its poor performance.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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