TRANSPORT
TRA hiring healthcare staff
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday said it is seeking to recruit people with healthcare training to assist with its epidemic prevention efforts amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency plans to install 32 infrared temperature sensing devices at 20 train stations by the end of this month and is looking to hire 84 people, it said. The job is open to Republic of China citizens aged 18 or older who pass a standard physical and mental health examination conducted by a hospital, and are verified as not having any contagious disease, a TRA recruitment notice said. Applicants can call the TRA epidemic prevention hotline on or before Friday next week to apply. Successful applicants are to be paid based on the minimum hourly wage of NT$158, the notice said.
LABOR
Program to help part-timers
The Ministry of Labor on Thursday said that it is developing an employment assistance program for part-time workers, many of whom have been affected by the pandemic. The program would match underemployed workers with part-time government jobs that involve no more than 72 hours of work per month, Workforce Development Agency Deputy Director-General Shih Chen-yang (施貞仰) said. It would assist people earning less than the monthly minimum wage of NT$23,800, many of whom are on flexible employment contracts and have been working fewer hours because of the outbreak’s effect on the economy, Shih said. The offer of up to 72 contracted hours in the proposed program reflects the average number of hours part-time employees usually work, she said.
HEALTH
Legislature mulls video calls
If two or more legislators are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19, the Legislative Yuan would use videoconferencing for its sessions, Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) said on Monday. The legislature is making preparations for the worst-case scenario should the outbreak result in legislators or other personnel at the legislature being quarantined, Lin said. If there is one confirmed case of a legislator contracting the virus, those who have had contact with the lawmaker would be required to undergo self-monitoring of their health. In such a scenario, some meetings at the Legislative Yuan would be halted, Lin said. If there are two or more confirmed cases, all meeting rooms would no longer be used and sessions would be held using a virtual format, including videoconferencing, he said. In that scenario, legislators would be asked to attend video conferences using laptops assigned to them.
CULTURE
Taichung restaurant to close
Franky Wu (吳傳治), founder of Taichung’s Banana New Paradise, has announced that the restaurant is to cease operations after 30 years, as the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced business to only 10 to 20 percent of normal weekdays and 30 percent on weekends. Banana New Paradise is a themed restaurant that pays homage to 1960s Taiwan with displays of more than 20,000 cultural items. The restaurant is hosting a phonograph exhibition that is to run until Mother’s Day on May 10 and operations would end after that, Wu said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS