■EMPLOYMENT
Job openings set to soar
The nation’s manpower demand is expected to increase by about 48,000 from the end of October until the end of next month, a survey published yesterday by the Council of Labor Affairs showed. The results of the fourth manpower survey of the year, conducted from Oct. 16 until Nov. 5 and with 3,025 valid samples, said that 21.3 percent of the companies that responded would hire more people next month, representing an increase of about 65,200 workers. About 8 percent of the companies surveyed plan to cut jobs, representing a reduction of about 17,300 workers. That would result in a net increase of 47,900 workers. It would be the highest net increase for a single season since the survey was launched in the third quarter of 2007, council officials said. Around 65 percent of the companies said they would keep their manpower unchanged next month.
■HEALTH
Most herbal cures imported
A big chunk of the nation’s imports of herbal and traditional medicines last year came from China, the non-profit Development Center for Biotechnology reported. Quoting a Chinese government customs report, the center said Taiwan imported traditional herbal medicine worth US$29.66 million from China last year, making Taiwan China’s fifth-largest market for this type of export. Local customs statistics show traditional medicine imports from China amounted to between 60 percent and 70 percent of total imports of these products. China is the world’s major exporter of raw materials used in herbal medicines, with a huge number of suppliers and processors, the center said. However, the center said the quality of these medicines was unpredictable and hard to control.
■HEALTH
Flu shots for everyone
The government is planning to make Dec. 12 a national day of immunization against A(H1N1) influenza, with the entire population expected to get a shot against the disease starting on that day, Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said. It is hoped that everyone in the country, regardless of age or immunization priority order, will go to designated hospitals, clinics and injection stops for a vaccination shot from next Saturday, Yaung said. “The greater the number of people who get immunized, the better the efficiency of collective immunization will be,” Yaung said at the Legislative Yuan. As of Monday, about 8.75 percent of the population, or about 2 million people, had been vaccinated based on an order of priority prescribed by the government, statistics from the Central Epidemics Command Center show.
■SPORTS
Kaohsiung to run stadium
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday welcomed an announcement by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) that the city government could take over the World Games Main Stadium from the Sports Affairs Council in three years’ time. Chen said she had urged city government officials to establish a cross-departmental task force to discuss the details with the Sports Affairs Council. She said the city government hoped to turn the stadium into an important venue for major events in the south. Chen said the city government was willing to shoulder responsibility for managing the stadium because Kaohsiung residents had developed a special bond with the venue since the World Games were held there in July.
Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said Saturday that she would not be intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), following reports that Chinese agents planned to ram her car during a visit to the Czech Republic last year. "I had a great visit to Prague & thank the Czech authorities for their hospitality & ensuring my safety," Hsiao said on social media platform X. "The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community," she wrote. Hsiao visited the Czech Republic on March 18 last year as vice president-elect and met with Czech Senate leadership, including
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
There have been clear signs of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempts to interfere in the nationwide recall vote on July 26 in support of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators facing recall, an unnamed government official said, warning about possible further actions. The CCP is actively involved in Taiwanese politics, and interference in the recall vote is to be expected, with multiple Chinese state media and TAO attempts to discredit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and undermine public support of their recall movement, the official said. This interference includes a smear campaign initiated this month by a pro-Beijing Hong Kong news outlet against
A week-long exhibition on modern Tibetan history and the Dalai Lama’s global advocacy opened yesterday in Taipei, featuring quotes and artworks highlighting human rights and China’s ongoing repression of Tibetans, Hong Kongers and Uighurs. The exhibition, the first organized by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT), is titled “From the Snowy Ridges to the Ocean of Wisdom.” “It would be impossible for Tibetans inside Tibet to hold an exhibition like this — we can do it. because we live in a free and democratic country,” HRNTT secretary-general Tashi Tsering said. Tashi Tsering, a Taiwan-based Tibetan who has never
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