LABOR
CLA explains holiday rules
Employees who work on any of the days from today until Tuesday during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday period are entitled to double pay, the Council of Labor Affairs said. The Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) stipulates that Lunar New Year’s Eve and the first three days of the Lunar New Year are national holidays, the council said. Employers should obtain the permission of employees asked to work during those four days and must pay double the regular wage, it said. Alternatively, employees may be given compensatory days off, but only if they agree to such an arrangement, the council said. The regulations apply to monthly and hourly paid workers, the council said, adding that the hourly minimum wage is NT$109.
DIPLOMACY
Minister to visit France, UK
Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) is to visit France and the UK from Feb. 17 to inspect Taiwan’s cultural centers there and to meet with French and British officials to discuss opportunities for deepening cultural ties. Lung is to meet with British Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries Ed Vaizey and former French culture minister Jack Lang during her 10-day trip to the two countries. Lung said she will exchange views with Vaizey on popular music and cultural and creative industry policies. According to the ministry, Lung will also host the 17th French-Taiwanese Cultural Foundation Award in France on Feb. 18 and visit cultural facilities in Paris, as well as the National Library of France, London’s Roundhouse and Franco-German TV network Arte. She is to give a speech at the University of London on Feb. 22 and another titled: “Civil Society in the Making” at the University of Cambridge on Feb. 26, the ministry added.
WEATHER
Unstable weather forecast
The nation could see unstable weather patterns during the coming week as the country takes a break to celebrate the Lunar New Year, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Starting today, seasonal winds will keep the daily low at 15°C in most parts of the country, with rainfall likely in northern areas, the bureau predicted. The cool weather should persist until early Tuesday, when it will be replaced by higher temperatures and clearer skies, the bureau said. However, the respite will be short-lived, as another cold front should push the mercury lower again on Wednesday, with temperatures ranging from 14°C to 18°C in the north and 16°C to 26°C in the south. Temperatures will recover on Thursday, with daily highs increasing by about 5°C to 23°C in the north. While cloudy to sunny skies are expected for most of the holiday in central and southern Taiwan, northern Taiwan will likely see some sunshine on Tuesday and Thursday, the bureau said.
RELIGION
King attends US ceremony
Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) attended a national prayer gathering in Washington for the first time on Thursday and described participating in the activity as “very meaningful.” King said the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual gathering of US religious and political heavyweights, helped him realize that the spirit of tolerating diversity is what makes a country great. He said that while he does not hold any religious beliefs, it is evident that faith is a source of strength and support that helps people get through ups and downs, and especially low points, in their lives. King also said he was inspired by US President Barack Obama’s speech at the event. Obama spoke of the humbleness of great US leaders, such as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr, calling the virtue a core value of leadership.
CHARITY
Company aids refugees
A Taiwanese company in Jordan on Thursday donated 10,000 jackets to help Syrian refugees keep warm during the winter. Representative to Jordan Andrew Chang (張雲屏) and executives of the company, called Atlanta, completed the donation procedure with Ayman al-Mufleh, secretary-general of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization. The company delivered the 10,000 fleece jackets to the charity’s warehouse in Mafraq in northern Jordan, where the jackets will be sorted and distributed to two camps housing refugees from the unrest in neighboring Syria. The company transported the clothes, which have a map of Taiwan embroidered on them, in a truck emblazoned with the flags of Taiwan and Jordan and bearing the slogan “Friendship from Taiwan.”
EXHIBITION
Comics fair starts Feb. 14
The first Taipei International Comics and Animation Festival, which starts on Thursday, will invite 33 graphic artists, animation directors and voice actors from Japan and Taiwan to interact with fans at the show, event organizers said. The festival, which will run until Feb. 18 at the Taipei World Trade Center, will feature 300 booths by 35 local and foreign exhibitors, as well as close to 30 book-signing and other publicity events, the Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association said. Among the invited guests are Taiwanese graphic artists Ponjea (彭傑) and Japanese film director and animator Mamoru Hosoda, whose 2006 film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time won the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
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