The fifth Taiwanese person believed to be trapped in the rubble of a
building that collapsed during a strong earthquake in Mexico City was
confirmed dead Friday.

That, according to Carlos Liao, Taiwan's representative to the Latin
American country.

On Tuesday, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked central Mexico, killing at
least 250 people and destroying some 44 buildings, including homes, schools
and offices.

The latest confirmed Taiwanese victim was Huang Hsien-yu,, the daughter of
King Pei-ju, another deceased Taiwanese who was trapped in the rubble.

King and Huang were the relatives of Taiwanese businessman Chen Po-wen, who
ran a shoe business from an office in the building that collapsed.


In addition to Huang and King, the other three Taiwanese confirmed dead due
to the earthquake are: Carolina Wang, Lai Ying-hsia and Lin Chia-ching.

Wang and Lai were employees of Chen's. Lin, who made a business trip to
Mexico City at the time of the disaster, ran a business in Paraguay.

On Thursday, Lin's family held a funeral in the city, attended by Paraguay's
ambassador to Mexico. Lin was also a citizen of Paraguay.


According to Liao, President Tsai Ing-wen, Premier Lai Ching-te and Foreign
Minister David Lee have sent condolences to the families of the deceased
Taiwanese.

An aircraft belonging to Taiwan's China Airlines (CAL) was forced to turn
around shortly after takeoff from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport this
morning, due to a problem with its undercarriage.

CAL flight CI075 took off at 8:38 a.m. for Rome with 238 passengers on board
but it was soon discovered the aircraft's nose landing gear could not be
retracted.

The airline said that for safety considerations, the pilot decided to head
back to the airport.

All the passengers and crew returned safely to the airport and were
scheduled to depart again at 1:30 p.m. aboard a different plane.

Taiwan is banning all trade with North Korea starting next week, according
to a statement issued by the Executive Yuan on Friday.

Premier Lai Ching-te is invoking Article 5 of the Foreign Trade Act to ban
all trading activities with North Korea, Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung was
cited as saying in the statement.

Hsu said that North Korea's continued missile tests have threatened global
security and global order, and as a member of the international community,
Taiwan is complying with international actions to impose sanctions against
the country.

In practice, the ban will have little bite because of the limited amount of
trade between the two countries.

Taiwan imported US$1.25 million in goods from North Korea -- mostly ginseng
and textiles -- in the first seventh months of the year and exported a mere
US$36,575 in goods to the Hermit Kingdom during the same period.

Both totals were down around 90 percent from the first seven months a year
earlier.

The head of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei has
expressed the hope that there will be more direct hiring of Filipino migrant
workers in Taiwan to spare the workers the burden of hefty brokerage fees.

MECO Chairman and Resident Representative Angelito Banayo said progress has
been made over the past years in lowering brokerage fees for migrant
workers, "but more can be done."

He pointed out that Taiwanese recruitment agencies sometimes collaborate with
Filipino brokers to charge workers hidden fees. He said workers may also
borrow money from the recruitment agencies to pay for the fees and are
charged high interest rates.

Brokers often charge the workers between NT$50,000 (US$1,657) and NT$120,000
in fees, the association said, exceeding the legal maximum of one month's
salary.

The Ministry of Economic AffairsTaiwan's says retail sales for the entire
year of 2017 could return to a growth pattern after a slow first half of
the year partly because there are signs of a recovery in Chinese tourist
arrivals which will boost consumption,.

Wang Shu-chuan, deputy director of the ministry's statistics department,
said that after 15 months of decline, the number of Chinese visitors to
Taiwan rose in August, which is expected to bode well for consumption here.

According to the Tourism Bureau, visitor arrivals from China increased 0.59
percent year-on-year in August, the first monthly growth since President
Tsai Ing-wen assumed office 16 months ago.

In addition, car and motorcycle vendors have been gearing up to launch new
versions of their products to meet demand in the fourth quarter, a
traditional peak season, and that is expected to stimulate buying for the
second half of the year.

I

The second day of a three-day nuclear emergency exercise was held Friday in
New Taipei's Wanli District involving nearly 1,000 people, including local
government staffers and residents.

The exercise simulates the city's emergency response in the event of a
suspected radiation leak from the nearby No. 2 nuclear power plant caused by
an offshore earthquake that brought damage to the plant's nuclear reactors.

The drill is being carried out within an 8-kilometer radius of the plant in
Wanli, with local residents, including hundreds of elementary school pupils,
practicing emergency responses.

During the exercise, the city is also testing the country's emergency
notification system, including the triggering of cellphone alert messages to
residents throughout New Taipei.

According to New Taipei Deputy Mayor Yeh Hui-ching, the drill is designed to
test improvements made to the nation's nuclear safety mechanisms and to help
the public to develop an awareness of nuclear disasters and preparedness.