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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
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