SOCIETY
Zoo visitors undaunted
The number of visitors to Taipei Zoo has remained stable despite fears over a possible H7N9 avian flu outbreak, zoo officials said yesterday, adding that it has stepped up efforts to prevent contact between visitors and the birds in the zoo. The zoo usually records about 55,000 visitors per week, and that number has not changed much since an outbreak of the H7N9 avian flu virus in China last month, zoo spokesperson Chao Ming-chieh (趙明杰) said. However, there have been fewer visitors to the bird area, Chao said. He said the zoo has increased its health checks of its birds and improved sanitary conditions. There is no need to worry about direct contact between humans and birds because the birds are kept a considerable distance from the visitors, he added.
DIPLOMACY
University head awarded
Hungarian Representative to Taiwan Levente Szekely yesterday conferred a medal on Kainan University President Kao An-pang (高安邦) in recognition of his efforts to promote exchanges between the two countries. Since 2008, Kao has visited Hungary several times to promote academic exchanges and gain a deeper understanding of the country’s investment environment, the envoy said at a ceremony to award Kao the Order of Merit of Hungary, Officer’s Cross, Civil Division. The president of the Taoyuan-based university was recognized for his efforts to promote Hungarian culture in Taiwan and encourage more Taiwanese investment in Hungary, Szekely said. In response, Kao said he was honored to receive the medal. Kao is the first Taiwanese recipient of the order, the Hungary Trade Office in Taipei said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
BACK TO WINTER: A strong continental cold air mass would move south on Tuesday next week, bringing colder temperatures to northern and central Taiwan A tropical depression east of the Philippines could soon be upgraded to be the first tropical storm of this year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the next cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Monday next week. CWA forecaster Cheng Jie-ren (鄭傑仁) said the first tropical depression of this year is over waters east of the Philippines, about 1,867km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and could strengthen into Tropical Storm Nokaen by early today. The system is moving slowly from northwest to north, and is expected to remain east of the Philippines with little chance of affecting Taiwan,
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