The Ministry of National Defense is voicing its thanks to the United States.

US President Donald Trump has signed into law the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal 2019, which contains numerous key security
provisions for Taiwan.

A spokesperson for the MND expressed Taiwan's gratitute to Trump, the US
Congress and the Executive Branch for their longstanding support for peace
and stability in the Taiwan region.

He also thanked Washington for continued arm sales and deepened exchanges
under the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances.

The spokesperson adds that it is too early to say what form any potential
future arms sales or military exchanges will take.

(EG)

A team of experts is looking into the root cause of yesterday morning's
hospital fire in New Taipei.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare sent two experts to the nursing home
devastated by the fatal fire to collect information for analysis.

Deputy Health Minister Xue Rui-yuan says their job is to try and identify the
root causes for the pre-dawn fire that killed 9 people at Taipei Hospital in
Xin-zhuang district.

Eleven are still in the Intensive Care Unit, while 7 are in receiving general
care.

Xue says the hospital staff did report the fire after it happened and that
three on-duty workers started evacuations right away and asked for support
from other sections.

As to whether there was a delay or mistakes in any of those steps, he says
prosecutors are looking into it.

Xue also stresses that all hospital staff workers need to be well-trained in
emergency response procedures so they can offer immediate help before
rescuers show up.

(JL)

The Premier says Taiwan will do all it can to become a peacemaker for the
region.

Speaking at a ceremony for the opening of a research camp into international
drug crime put on in collaboration with the Global Counterterrorism Forum,
William Lai says countries must work together to fight the problems and no
country can do it alone.

Lai says Taiwan occupies a special position on the international stage, but
it won't run from any challenge and will do its best to be a regional
peacemaker and contribute to the progress of the area by working proactively
to make connections with other countries.

As part of the training exercise, 26 law enforcement officers from 16
countries will come to Taiwan for training, including the US Drug Enforcement
Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

(PB)

Three Control Yuan members will be looking into the Fair Trade Commission's
decision to settle with Qualcomm, a deal that triggered intense criticism.

The Control Yuan members say they will see if the deal is legal, legitimate
and necessary.

Their statement comes after the F-T-C settled an anti-trust case with mobile
chipmaker Qualcomm for about $93 million U.S. dollars last Friday.

The settlement replaces a fine of some $778 million dollars imposed by the
F-T-C in 2017, when it accused the U.S. firm of refusing to sell chips to
mobile handset makers that wouldn’t agree to its patent-licensing terms.

Two F-T-C members who have now resigned have criticized the F-T-C for failing
to carry through the original fining, saying that ruling was just and correct
and there was no reason to settle with Qualcomm.

Asustech, a Taiwan-based high-tech company deeply affected by Qualcomm's
practice, also called the settlement "unacceptable."

The 3 Control Yuan members say they want to understand the F-T-C's aboutface
and whether it has violated its own position as an organization combating
unfair business practices.

(JL)

The number of tuberculosis cases is rising in Taichung.

Instances of the disease had been decreasing for the past decade or so, but
the number of confirmed cases has once again surpassed 1 thousand in the
city.

Local health officials say people experiencing chronic coughs, chest pain, or
fever should seek medical attention.

They are also offering free blood tests to people exposed to confirmed
tuberculosis patients to see if they have been infected as well.

(EG)

Labor groups are demanding a rise in the minimum wage.

Multiple groups have come forward to press for the minimum monthly pay to be
set at 28,862 NT, with a base hourly rate of 182 NT.

They say those rates should apply to all workers, regardless of nationality.

The groups point out that Taiwan's minimum wage is about 40 percent of the
nation's average pay, much lower than the almost 45 percent seen in countries
like Germany, France, the UK, or Japan.

The call comes as the Basic Wage Review Committee is set to hold its annual
meeting on Thursday to decide whether the rate should be adjusted, and if so
by how much.

Over 2 million workers will be affected by its decision.

The Ministry of Labor says it will respect whatever decision the Committee
makes.

(EG)

Spot checks conducted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs have found all
tested vacuum cleaners up to par.

Officials say the 10 commercially sold devices fulfilled all quality, safety,
and labelling requirements.

However 3 of the machines contained parts that differed from those listed on
official documents.

Manufacturers have been ordered to make corrections or face fines and
increased inspections.

(NS)

China has criticized a U.S. military spending bill that calls for helping
Taiwan improve its defense

Beijing says the bill is interference in China's domestic affairs.

The Beijing government says the legislation ``damages mutual trust'' and
``ruins the atmosphere'' for military cooperation.

Taipei has moved up in the most livable city rankings.

According to the 2018 Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Livability
Ranking, the city has gone up two places to 58th place.

Taipei edged past the South Korean capital Seoul, which dropped one spot to
59th from last year.

The survey assesses living conditions in 140 cities worldwide, scoring them
on the basis of some 30 factors across five broad categories: stability,
healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

(EG)

The Ministry of National Defense is voicing its thanks to the United States.

US President Donald Trump has signed into law the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal 2019, which contains numerous key security
provisions for Taiwan.

A spokesperson for the MND expressed Taiwan's gratitute to Trump, the US
Congress and the Executive Branch for their longstanding support for peace
and stability in the Taiwan region.

He also thanked Washington for continued arm sales and deepened exchanges
under the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances.

The spokesperson adds that it is too early to say what form any potential
future arms sales or military exchanges will take.

(EG)

A team of experts is looking into the root cause of yesterday morning's
hospital fire in New Taipei.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare sent two experts to the nursing home
devastated by the fatal fire to collect information for analysis.

Deputy Health Minister Xue Rui-yuan says their job is to try and identify the
root causes for the pre-dawn fire that killed 9 people at Taipei Hospital in
Xin-zhuang district.

Eleven are still in the Intensive Care Unit, while 7 are in receiving general
care.

Xue says the hospital staff did report the fire after it happened and that
three on-duty workers started evacuations right away and asked for support
from other sections.

As to whether there was a delay or mistakes in any of those steps, he says
prosecutors are looking into it.

Xue also stresses that all hospital staff workers need to be well-trained in
emergency response procedures so they can offer immediate help before
rescuers show up.

(JL)

The Premier says Taiwan will do all it can to become a peacemaker for the
region.

Speaking at a ceremony for the opening of a research camp into international
drug crime put on in collaboration with the Global Counterterrorism Forum,
William Lai says countries must work together to fight the problems and no
country can do it alone.

Lai says Taiwan occupies a special position on the international stage, but
it won't run from any challenge and will do its best to be a regional
peacemaker and contribute to the progress of the area by working proactively
to make connections with other countries.

As part of the training exercise, 26 law enforcement officers from 16
countries will come to Taiwan for training, including the US Drug Enforcement
Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

(PB)

Three Control Yuan members will be looking into the Fair Trade Commission's
decision to settle with Qualcomm, a deal that triggered intense criticism.

The Control Yuan members say they will see if the deal is legal, legitimate
and necessary.

Their statement comes after the F-T-C settled an anti-trust case with mobile
chipmaker Qualcomm for about $93 million U.S. dollars last Friday.

The settlement replaces a fine of some $778 million dollars imposed by the
F-T-C in 2017, when it accused the U.S. firm of refusing to sell chips to
mobile handset makers that wouldn’t agree to its patent-licensing terms.

Two F-T-C members who have now resigned have criticized the F-T-C for failing
to carry through the original fining, saying that ruling was just and correct
and there was no reason to settle with Qualcomm.

Asustech, a Taiwan-based high-tech company deeply affected by Qualcomm's
practice, also called the settlement "unacceptable."

The 3 Control Yuan members say they want to understand the F-T-C's aboutface
and whether it has violated its own position as an organization combating
unfair business practices.

(JL)

The number of tuberculosis cases is rising in Taichung.

Instances of the disease had been decreasing for the past decade or so, but
the number of confirmed cases has once again surpassed 1 thousand in the
city.

Local health officials say people experiencing chronic coughs, chest pain, or
fever should seek medical attention.

They are also offering free blood tests to people exposed to confirmed
tuberculosis patients to see if they have been infected as well.

(EG)

Labor groups are demanding a rise in the minimum wage.

Multiple groups have come forward to press for the minimum monthly pay to be
set at 28,862 NT, with a base hourly rate of 182 NT.

They say those rates should apply to all workers, regardless of nationality.

The groups point out that Taiwan's minimum wage is about 40 percent of the
nation's average pay, much lower than the almost 45 percent seen in countries
like Germany, France, the UK, or Japan.

The call comes as the Basic Wage Review Committee is set to hold its annual
meeting on Thursday to decide whether the rate should be adjusted, and if so
by how much.

Over 2 million workers will be affected by its decision.

The Ministry of Labor says it will respect whatever decision the Committee
makes.

(EG)

Spot checks conducted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs have found all
tested vacuum cleaners up to par.

Officials say the 10 commercially sold devices fulfilled all quality, safety,
and labelling requirements.

However 3 of the machines contained parts that differed from those listed on
official documents.

Manufacturers have been ordered to make corrections or face fines and
increased inspections.

(NS)

The New Taipei City Fire Department says a short circuit in a wire connected
to a mattress in a long-term care ward is believed to be the cause of
Monday's deadly fire at the Taipei Hospital in Xin-Zhuang.

An initial investigation shows the short circuit occurred on bed 235, in the
hospital's 7A23 ward.

Nine people were killed and 15 other people were injured in the blaze.

The fire department says the investigation in to the exact cause of the blaze
is ongoing.

However, it is attributing the high death toll to the hospital's use of
flammable mattresses, the hospital staff's failure to close the doors in the
ward where the fire was reported and a failure to alert authorities until
nine minutes after the blaze broke out.

Deputy Minister of Health Xue Rui-yuan says staff had been preoccupied trying
to save the seriously-ill patients by moving them to safer parts of the
hospital.

Premier William Lai has apologized to the patients, their families and the
public for the fire and says fire prevention measures at hospitals across
Taiwan will be stepped-up in order to prevent similar incidents.

The East Asian Olympic Committee is refusing to reverse its decision to
cancel the East Asian Youth Games that were scheduled to take place next year
in Taichung.

City Mayor Lin Chia-lung says he received a letter of rejection from E-A-O-C
Chairman Liu Peng, in response to a petition by the Taichung government for
the committee to reconsider its position on the issue.

And writing on his Facebook page, Lin said he was aware of the difficulties
involved in asking the committee to reinstate Taichung's right to host the
games due to pressure from China.

However, he went on to say that he doesn't see a rejection of the petition as
the end of the matter and his office will continue to appeal the decision.

Lin says the Taichung City government is considering an appeal to the Court
of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland as its seeks legal recourse
on the matter.

According to Lin, Taichung is also thinking of filing a lawsuit against the
E-A-O-C and will continue to seek the support of the international community.

President Tsai Ing-wen is urging young Taiwanese living in the United States
to return to Taiwan and develop their careers here.

Speaking at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, Tsai said
they shouldn't miss out on such an opportunity and if they opt to return to
Taiwan there will be ample capital and the government will help them connect
to the local society.

The president was in Los Angeles for a day-long transit stop en route to
Paraguay and Belize.

Tsai is U-S visit is her first since President Donald Trump signed the Taiwan
Travel Act into law in March.

Tsai will attend the inauguration of President-elect Mario Abdo Benitez
tomorrow in Paraguay and head to Belize on Thursday.

Tsai will transit through Houston on her return flight to Taiwan.

And in related news ...

U-S House representative Brad Sherman is calling on the White House to allow
Taiwan's president to visit Washington D-C.

Sherman - who sits on the U-S Foreign Affairs Committee - made the call
during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen in Los Angeles.

According to Sherman, the Taiwan Travel Act is aimed at encouraging Taiwanese
presidents to visit the U-S capital and as such he hopes Tsai will be allowed
to make what would be the highest level visit ever by a sitting Taiwanese
head of state.

Tsai also held talks with House representative Foreign Affairs Committee
chairman Ed Royce while in Los Angeles.

And Royce says the U-S needs to encourage more frequent visits by Taiwanese
government officials as a way to further strengthen the US-Taiwan
partnership.

The first of a series of forums on the contents of the recently drafted
economic immigration bill aimed at attracting foreign talent will be held
this Friday.

According to the National Development Council, the forum will take place in
Taipei and delegates will discuss opinions for necessary adjustments before
the bill is submitted to the Legislature for review.

The meeting will include members of local labor and business groups,
academics and officials from several foreign chambers of commerce.

Two similar sessions will take place later this month.

The N-D-C released the draft act last week and officials say its primary goal
is to boost the recruitment and retention of mid-level skilled foreign talent
in fields such as engineering, manufacturing, and information and
communication technology.

It targets professionals, mid-level skilled workers as well as Taiwanese
expats and their children.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs says it plans to provide additional funding
to a subsidy program for electric scooters.

Officials say they move is aimed at encouraging more people to replace their
gasoline-powered scooters with electric models and to promote cleaner air.

According to the ministry, only 20-million N-T of the 440-million N-T
budgeted to subsidize electric scooter purchases this year is left and it
will now be supplemented by additional funds.

Those funds will come from subsidies given to electric vehicle manufacturers
to set up battery charging stations.

The ministry says the electric scooter subsidies have been used up more
quickly than expected this year because of the sharp rise in vehicle sales.

More than 40,000 license plates have been issued for electric scooters and
motorcycles so far this year, more than double the 18,000 issued in the same
period of last year.

The Chinese Taipei Olympians Association says any move to unilaterally change
the name at which Taiwan competes at the 2020 Tokyo Games could damage
Taipei's membership in the International Olympic Committee.

The statement come after organizers of a proposed referendum seeking to
change the title from "Chinese Taipei" to "Taiwan" held rallies this past
weekend to promote a signature drive for the ballot.

According to the association, any name change has to be approved by the I-O-C
Executive Board and as the island's official title is the Republic of China,
the sports body is unlikely to approve any change from the current title of
"Chinese Taipei."

The association is warning that any moves to change that could result in
Taiwan losing its I-O-C membership and being banned from international
sporting events sanctioned by the Olympic body.

The association is made up of former members of Taiwan's Olympic teams.

The first transnational crime-fighting and forensic science workshop under
the Taiwan-US Global Cooperation Training Framework will begin today in
Taipei.

The two-day workshop is being jointly co-hosted by the American Institute in
Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and and the Investigation Bureau.

Organizers say the aim of the event is to deepen international cooperation to
combat cross-border crime.

The workshop will be attended by representatives of 16 countries.

And new A-I-T Director William Brent Christensen will attend the opening
ceremony.

The Global Cooperation Training Framework was established in June 2015 and is
designed to support bilateral cooperation in international public health,
humanitarian assistance and other global issues.

All the passengers and crew aboard a whale-watching boat carrying 46 people
that caught fire 20 minutes after leaving Hualien Port are safe.

The fire broke out in the boat's engine room when it was 2-nautical miles out
to sea.

The National Rescue Command Center says everyone onboard the vessel was
evacuated to another whale-watching boat.

There were no serious injuries, but one woman was hospitalized with a minor
injury.

The fire was quickly put out and two coast guard patrol ships and a fishing
boat were sent to the site to help with rescue efforts.

The Central Weather Bureau says we can expect to see rain pretty much
islandwide for most of this week due to a tropical depression gradually moves
past Taiwan.

The weather bureau is warning of heavy downpours and possible flooding in
some parts of the north and west.

And second tropical disturbance is expected to approach Taiwan this Thursday
or Friday, which, along with southwesterly air flows, will bring more rain
over the weekend.

Meanwhile ..

Forecasters say Tropical Storm Bebinca is not expected to affect Taiwan.

Bebinca is the 18th storm of this year's Pacific typhoon season and formed
near China's Guangdong province on Monday.

The storm is almost stationary near Guangdong and packing maximum sustained
wind speeds of 72-kilometers-an-hour, with gusts of up to
100-kilometers-an-hour.

Bebinca is forecast to move in a westerly direction in the coming days
towards China's Hainan Island.

A German student whose paper on human rights lawyers in China got him into
trouble with authorities in Beijing has told German newspaper Die Welt that
he doesn't regret what he did and would consider becoming an exchange student
here in Taiwan.

Twenty-four year-old David Missal was a journalism student at the Qing-Hua
University in Beijing.

He was forced to leave China last week after his student visa was revoked
apparently because of the paper he wrote on human rights lawyers.

Missal says his paper focused on the plight of lawyers in China and touched
on a "taboo" topic -- which he says is why his student visa was revoked.

He was originally set to stay in Beijing for at least another year.

He says he now plans to finish his master's program in Berlin, while also
considering becoming an exchange student in Taiwan.

Well-known German pianist Rolf-Peter Wille has received his Republic of China
ID card -officially making him an R-O-C citizen.

Speaking a ceremony organized by Taipei's Da-An Household Registration
Office, Wille said he no longer feels like a stranger here.

Wille is the sixth foreign national to be granted R-O-C citizenship because
of his professional background and the first foreign musician to receive an
I-D card.

According to Wille, he has viewed Taiwan as his homeland since coming here at
the age of 24 and his entire professional career and musical life is
profoundly entwined with Taiwan.

Wille currently teaches at the Taipei National University of the Arts.

The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts has held a mass kiss-a-thon event, in which
40 couples kissed for 100 seconds in front of Auguste Rodin's statue "The
Kiss."

The event was held to celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day.

Organizers say the kiss-a-thon was aimed at encouraging people to express
their feelings towards their loved ones.

"The Kiss" is part of an exhibition currently on display at the museum
entitled "Nude: Masterpieces from Tate."

The so-called "Crystal Church" in Tainan will soon be made available for
wedding ceremonies.

City officials say the structure has passed a safety inspection and an
operating license has now been awarded to a private company that will promote
the site to newlyweds.

The Crystal Church opened in Bei-Men District in October 2014 and has become
a popular tourists attraction and a a backdrop for wedding photos.

However, visitors have so far been unable not to get close to it or go inside
the structure due to safety concerns.