Essays and poetry wanted
Taipei City’s Department of Labor is inviting foreign workers to take part in the 2009 Foreign Workers’ Poetry & Essay Writing Competition to share their experiences of living in Taiwan. The contest is open to all foreign workers in Taiwan, and participants can submit their entries in any language. The winners of the “Poetry” and “Essay” categories will receive NT$10,000 prizes, and award-winning entries will be published in an anthology the department said. The word limit for the “Essay” category is 1,000 words. Submissions to the competition must be postmarked no later than April 30. Those interested in entering the contest should include their full name, address, passport number, telephone number, one photo and a short biography along with their work, and mail the package to Foreign Workers Counseling Service Center, 8F, No. 21, Section 1, Dihua Street, Taipei City 103. For more information call (02)2550-7229 or 2550-2151, ext. 212-214
Kaohsiung bureau seeks jobs for locals
A total of 13,392 foreign workers remain employed in Kaohsiung City, and companies forcing local workers to take unpaid leave will be targeted by the city to help ease the rising jobless rate, the city’s Bureau of Labor Affairs said on Thursday. The local manufacturing industry has the largest number of foreign workers, 6,502, followed by the care giving sector with 5,896 employees, statistics compiled by the bureau show. The highest number of foreign workers, 5,666, are from Indonesia, followed by the Philippines with 5,003, Vietnam with 2,365, and Thailand with 1,358, the figures show. To fight a growing jobless rate brought about by the ongoing economic downturn, the city’s labor affairs bureau has demanded that companies employ more local workers to fill new job vacancies, and that they repatriate foreign workers upon expiry of their contracts, bureau officials said. Several high-tech companies repatriated their foreign workers at the beginning of the year following this order, the bureau said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese