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.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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