Two leading Taiwan technology research institutions have won R&D awards in
the US.

The Industrial Technology Research Institute and the Institute for
Information Industry claimed five trophies between them at the 2018 R&D 100
Awards

The ITRI winners include an ultraviolet water sterilizing system, a carbon
dioxide plastic dying method, and an unmanned aerial vehicle police patrol
system.

For the III, it was honored for a manufacturing monitoring process and a
solar-powered smart bus stop design.

First presented in 1963, the annual R&D 100 Awards recognize revolutionary
science and technology innovations.

(EG)

New rules could mean that very young adults with special circumstances could
be eligible for social housing.

Currently, only people who are at least 20 years of age can apply for public
housing units.

However, the Ministry of the Interior has now created two exceptions that
would allow people as young as 18 to be considered.

People age 18 can marry, so one exception is for married couples of that age.

The other is for people who grew up in foster care or other situations where
they have no homes of their own.

The Ministry says these cases should be few and far between, but these people
should still be given the opportunity to have a home.

(EG)

Firefighters are dealing with an increasing number of fires.

According to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics,
there were over 21 thousand fires across Taiwan during the first nine months
of the year.

That's an increase of 10 percent compared to the year before, but there were
fewer fire-related casualties.

According to the DGBAS, 140 people were killed and 215 were hurt by fires
during that time.

Over 4 thousand buildings were damaged by fires, and 1,500 cars were
destroyed, costing a combined 530 million NT in financial losses.

Almost a quarter of these fires were caused by micro sources, such as incense
or mosquito repellant.

Another major source were cooking fires.

(EG)

A senior leader of Yemen's Shiite rebels says that the group will halt rocket
fire into Saudi Arabia for the sake of peace efforts

This answers a key Saudi demand and is the first public sign of hope for the
latest push to stop the bloodshed and civilian suffering in the country.

For the past three years, a U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition has been waging
war against the rebels, known as Houthis, to restore Yemen's internationally
recognized government to power.

The rebels say they had been excluded from that government and took power to
rectify historic grievances against central authority.

The rebel leader, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, has ordered the cessation of rocket
and drone attacks on the Saudis and forces loyal to coalition member the
United Arab Emirates at the request of U.N. special envoy Martin Griffiths.

Griffiths announced last Friday that both sides had agreed to attend talks in
Sweden ``soon'' aimed at ending the conflict.

Nissan Motor Company says it will dismiss its chairman Carlos Ghosn after
finding that he under-reported his income ``over many years,'' among other
allegations of misconduct.

The company said the violations were discovered during an investigation over
several months that was instigated by a whistleblower.

Ghosn also allegedly engaged in personal use of company assets.

Nissan said it was providing information to the prosecutors and cooperating
with their investigation.

The allegations also concern another Nissan executive, its representative
director Greg Kelly.

Japanese media say Ghosn has voluntarily submitted to questioning by Tokyo
prosecutors.

National security officials say they are not monitoring people's use of
social media.

Responding to lawmaker questions, National Security Bureau deputy director
Chen Wen-fan says the NSB has never and will never monitor Facebook, nor
infringe upon the freedom of speech.

That said, Chen notes the NSB and other security agencies have been cracking
down on foreign attempts to interfere with the upcoming elections by
spreading false rumors and information online.

Chen says this is done in line with security and social stability laws, and
the NSB would never violate citizen's rights.

(EG)

The head of Taiwan's Olympic committee is calling on voters to be rational on
election day.

Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee secretary-general Chen Yi-ting says people
should not cast their ballots based soley on emotion when they vote on the
referendum regarding the name Taiwan uses at international sporting events.

That referendum asks voters whether they support using the name Taiwan
instead of Chinese Taipei at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and future competitions.

The International Olympic Committee has repeatedly stressed that the Chinese
Taipei name is the result of a long-standing agreement, and Taiwan cannot
change this name unilaterally.

Chen says when the result of the referendum is released, the CTOC will review
it and decide how to proceed from there.

(EG)

The Ministry of Science and Technology is offering the free usage of a Golden
Bell Award-winning film to elementary school teachers.

Officials say the film "Never Give Up: Stories of Laboratory Challenges" will
be made available to educators online, in order to help students learn about
Taiwan's advancements in science.

The documentary, subsidized by the M-O-S-T, won the 2017 Golden Bell Award
for Best Natural Science Documentary.

It's 10 episodes take the perspective of a little girl who explores topics
ranging from space, and climate, to the internet and instrument technology.

(NS)

Guatemala's Volcano of Fire is erupting again.

Disaster coordination authorities have asked eight communities in the area to
evacuate and go to safe areas after the eruption increased.

A spokesman for the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction says
monitoring of the volcano's activity during the day showed the intensity of
the eruption was being maintained, so the evacuation was called for to
protect people.

An eruption of the volcano in June killed 194 people and left at least 234
missing, although organizations supporting the communities have insisted the
actual number of missing persons is in the thousands.

The United States has sent two aircraft carriers to the West Pacific.

Defense Minister Yan De-fa says the deployment is part of Washington's Indo
Pacific strategy and to maintain regional peace.

Yan says the USS John C. Stennis and USS Ronald Reagan's presence is
unrelated to Taiwan's Nov. 24 local government elections.

He stresses that the Taiwan military fully respects the freedom of navigation
principles being defended by the U.S. and is keeping close tabs on the
movements of the carriers.

According to the Ministry, the USS Ronald Reagan is now near the Balintang
Channel off the Northern Philippines, while the USS John C. Stennis is in the
Philippine Sea.

(EG)

Lawmakers have passed the first reading of a new bill to increase education
about the protection animals.

The amendments to the Animal Protection Act call for the government to create
educational programs to increase public awareness about the issue, as well as
to include such teachings in the basic school curriculum.

Lawmakers feel current provisions in the act are not doing enough to prevent
cases of animal abuse and cruelty, which continue to occur.

Lawmakers are also calling for government funding to help control the
population of stray animals and increase animal adoption rates.

This comes after the government implemented a no-kill policy at shelters this
past February, but some lawmakers feel the government has not done enough to
support the shelters, which have limited resources to deal with the animals
they care for.

(EG)

The Easycard has remained the reigning champion of digital payment methods.

The Directorate General of Budgeting, Accounting, and Statistics has released
new data showing the total amount of money spent through digital wallets grew
by 5.5 percent annually in September to $64-billion NT.

And holding the crown is Taiwan's Easycard, accounting for over 70 percent of
the total money spent digitally on the island.

The Easycard is also the most often used form of payment, accounting for over
60 percent of all transactions.

The DGBAS found that not only is more money being spent through these
methods, but digital wallets are being used more often, with total
transactions growing 16.7 percent in September from a year earlier.

(PB)

Taiwan shares made modest gains today, as markets mostly rose in Asia, ending
32 points higher at 9,829.

The total turnover was $91.7 billion NT.

Change could be coming to Thailand's kickboxing tradition.

The sight of two preteen boys pummeling each other with fists, elbows and
feet as a boisterous crowd shouts wagers at each other is considered good,
clean sport in the country.

However, the death earlier this month of a 13-year-old Muay Thai contender
may spark changes to protect other youngsters in Thai kickboxing.

The boy died of a brain hemorrhage two days after being knocked out in a
November 10th bout, his 174th match in a career started at age 8.

Some of the sport's supporters say his death was a fluke, blaming the referee
for not stopping the fight soon enough and saying no doctor was available.

But a new report by a Thai doctor says even those boys who can carry on
fighting are almost guaranteed long-term health damage.

The KMT candidate for Taichung mayor says she won't stop supporting her
party's chairman after his slip of the tongue.

Wu Dun-yi recently called Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Ju a
"fat sow" during a rally for the Kaohsiung KMT candidate, and Taichung
hopeful Lu Xiu-yan says it will have some effect on this weekend's election.

But Lu says that's how elections go, with many mistakes made, and you can
only do what you can to minimize the consequences.

She also took advantage of the controversy to remind people that it doesn't
matter if it's an election or at your own place of work, we must all remember
to respect people's differences of appearance, gender, age, or place of
origin.

Wu has apologized for his remarks, saying he got emotional, but he also tried
to downplay their significance, saying they were made at a private event.

(PB)

Taiwan is gaining recognition as a Muslim-friendly place to travel.

The island's rating on the Global Muslim Travel Index 2018 shows that the
island has advanced to number 5 among the non-Islamic Cooperation
destinations from 7 last year.

G-M-T-I 2018 is the most comprehensive research on the Halal/Muslim travel,
tourism and hospitality market.

Tourism Bureau officials say they have continued to encourage Taiwan's
restaurants and hotels to provide facilities and service that are friendly to
muslim travelers.

Currently Taipei city has 26 eateries and 22 hotels certified by the Chinese
Muslim Association, the most islandwide, and in Gaoxiong, it's four
restaurants and 15 hotels.

Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan Railways stations in Taipei, Taoyuan,
Gaoxiong, and Hualian, as well as Taiwan High-speed Rail Taizhong station
also have facilities for muslims, who are mostly from Malaysia, Singapore,
Indonesia, India and Chinese provinces of Gan-su, Ning-xia and Xin-jiang.

(JL)

CHT is working to fully restore Internet connections.

Since this morning, netizens have been experiencing poor connectivity to many
websites, leading to speculation that there was some problem at telecoms
operators.

Chunghwa Telecom says it is working to fix the problem, though it says the
company is still trying to figure out the scope of the issue and its cause.

(EG)

The D-P-P's Taipei mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao has resigned from his post as
a lawmaker to focus his attention on the local election.

According to Yao, his decision to step down comes as he believes he still has
fighting chance in Saturday's ballot and plans to devote one-hundred percent
of his time to ensuring that he doesn't disappoint his supporters.

Yao is also dismissing comments by the K-M-T's Taipei mayoral candidate, Ding
Shou-chong - who has said that Yao has a very outside chance of winning.

Speaking to reporters, Yao said that he remains determined to win and that
other candidates should not dismiss his ability to garner votes and prove
that he is a viable candidate.

The Ministry of Finance is releasing an official digital receipt lottery app.

The MOF has instructed financial companies to develop the software, and an
Android version will be released next month with online lottery claim service
starting January first.

The ministry says its official receipt app will have several functions,
including receipt storage, spending analysis, and automatic checking of
receipts for winning numbers.

The app will also be able to be tied to an individual's bank account and the
money from any winning digital receipts will be automatically deposited into
their account.

But the ministry says phones using the app need to be NFC-enabled, so for now
services will be limited to Android phones.

In local sports news ....

Where Thailands's Luk-seeka Kumkhum beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany in two
straight sets to win the Taipei O-E-C W-T-A 125-K Open title.

The win was Kumkhum's second W-T-A 125-K title this month after previously
winning the Mumbai 125-K tournament.

-

And finally in Sunday's Super Basketball League games at the Taoyuan Arena.

Taiwan Beer beat the Dacin Tigers 106 to 85.

Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor beat Bank of Taiwan 88 to 79.

While the Fubon Braves beat the Yulon Luxgen Dinos 71 to 69.

Three leaders of Hong Kong's 2014 pro-democracy protests and six others are
being tried for their involvement in the ``Occupy Central'' movement.

The trial for the nine defendants opened today.

They include two professors and a pastor who spearheaded the campaign to
press for free elections of Hong Kong's top leader.

Protesters laid siege to government headquarters for 79 days but failed to
win any concessions.

Three university students prosecuted in 2016 for their leadership role in the
protests received community service.

Landslides due to rains from a tropical storm have killed 13 people and left
four others missing in south-central Vietnam.

A disaster official says some 600 soldiers have been mobilized to search for
the missing and evacuate people from high-risk areas.

He said the landslides from heavy rains triggered by Tropical Storm Toraji
collapsed several houses and buried the victims in some villages in the
resort city of Nha Trang on Sunday.

The storm weakened to a tropical depression at sea off the south central
coastal province of Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan on Sunday night.

Cambodia has reiterated it intends to end the work of the U.N.-backed
tribunal that last week convicted the last two surviving leaders of the Khmer
Rouge of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The country's deputy Prime Minister says the tribunal's work had been
completed and there would not be any additional prosecutions for acts that
led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people in the 1970s.

The only other person convicted was the regime's prisons chief.

Democratic Senator Bill Nelson conceded his bitterly close re-election bid to
Republican Rick Scott on Sunday, just after the deadline for the final
results from the hand recount.

AP correspondent Julie Walker reports.

A comment from US President Donald Trump has left Finns confused.

Trump told reporters Saturday while visiting the ruins left by fire in
Northern California that wildfires weren't a problem in Finland because crews
``spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things'' to clear
forest floors.

Finnish President "sa-OO-li NEE-neesta" responded in interviews that he
spoke briefly with Trump about forest management on Nov. 11 in Paris, but
couldn't recall "raking" coming up.

The U.S. leader's comment generated amusement on social media in Finland,
where forests cover over 70 percent of the country.

Finns are posting pictures of themselves online raking local forests, joking
about "raking America great again".

A Taiwanese exchange student detained in the U-S on firearms charges will be
sentenced at the U-S District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
later Monday.

Sun An-zuo's originally hearing was slated for December 11, but it was
brought forward at the request of Sun's lawyer.

Sun pleaded guilty to terroristic threats in June, but he is facing federal
charges of possessing ammunition while on a non-immigrant visa.

The charge carries a possible prison sentence of up to 10 years.

But reports from here in Taiwan are claiming Sun is likely to be sentenced to
no more than 21 months in prison.

If the teenager waives his right to appeal, he could be deported back to
Taiwan on completion of his sentence.

Sun has been detained since his arrest in March.

Bloomberg is reporting that fourth quarterly earnings reports from Taiwanese
companies could prove disappointing due largely to lower than expected iPhone
sales and the on-going trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.

According to Bloomberg, net income for companies registered on the Tai-Ex
index is expected to drop by 9.2-per cent on-year for this quarter.

That decline comes after under-performing estimates were issued in the three
months through September.

Taiwan's semiconductor companies account for more than a quarter of the
benchmark-weighting on the Tai-Ex and Apple sales are forecast to negatively
tip earnings for the quarter.

Taiwan's top envoy in the Philippines is urging Manila to support Taiwan's to
secure participation at next month's United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change.

Writing in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Michael Hsu says participants are
expected to work out and adopt a package of decisions to better ensure the
full implementation of the Paris Agreement at the 24th Session of the
Conference of the Parties in Poland.

According to Hsu, Taiwan is only allowed to attend the C-O-P sessions as an
N-G-O observer due to political pressure and that means the people of Taiwan
will be once again denied a voice in the talks.

Hsu says the Philippine Government and its people should support Taiwan's
participation C-O-P meeting and the island should be treated equally in order
that it be allowed to make a substantial contribution to tackle climate
change.

In international news ....

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May says toppling her would risk delaying
Brexit and she will not let talk of a leadership challenge distract her from
a critical week of negotiations with Brussels.

May's leadership has been thrust into crisis by the resignation of several
ministers and some of her own members of parliament are seeking to oust her
after she unveiled a draft divorce deal last Wednesday.

May has vowed to fight on, but it's not clear if she will be able to win the
backing of parliament.

U-S President Donald Trump says he won't listen to an audio recording of the
killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The A-P's Ben Thomas reports.

Hundreds of residents of Tijuana are rallying around a monument in an
affluent section of the city south of California to protest the thousands of
Central American migrants who have arrived via caravan in hopes of a new life
in the U-S.

Tensions have built as nearly 3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into
Tijuana in recent days after more than a month on the road, and with many
more months ahead of them while they seek asylum.

The federal government estimates the number of migrants could soon swell to
10,000.

U-S border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at
Tijuana's main crossing to San Diego.

Houthi rebels in Yemen says they have halted drone and missile attacks on
Saudi Arabia, the United Aran Emirates and their Yemeni allies.

The move is seen as a response to a demand from the United Nations.

International pressure has mounted on Yemen's warring parties to end the war
that has killed more than 10,000 people and pushed the country to the verge
of starvation.

And the U-N special envoy is trying to salvage peace talks after a round in
September collapsed when the Houthis didn't show up.

And finally ....

Japan is reporting a trade deficit in October but is seeing a recovery in
exports after getting slammed by natural disasters in September.

Japan's Ministry of Finance says exports grew 8.2-per cent from the same
month the previous year.

Exports fell 1.2-per cent in September from the previous year in the first
decline for the world's third-largest economy since 2016.

While imports in October grew 19.9-per cent on-year.

This morning data shows Japan racked up a trade deficit of 4-billion U-S
dollars.

The Tai-Ex opened down 1-point this morning from yesterday's close, at 9,795
on turnover of 1.5-billion N-T.

The market closed slightly lower Friday as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
came under pressure, pushing down the broader market.

However, old economy and financial stocks, appeared resilient, which helped
the broader market cap the downturn, although the main board still fell below
the 9,800-point mark by the end of the session.

Meanwhile ..

The Taiwan Futures Exchange is currently trading at 9,818. Trading volume
stands at 43,822.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe says fuel tax hikes will remain in
place despite a wave of protests..

Nearly 300-thousand protesters paralyzed traffic at more than 2,000 sites
around France on Saturday in a bid to force the government to lower taxes on
diesel fuel and gasoline.

A protester was struck and killed Saturday when a panicked driver facing a
roadblock in the eastern Savoie region.

Officials say at least 409 people had been injured, 14 seriously.

Philippe says the government hears what the people are saying, but must
persevere to "lead France to where it must be".

President Emmanuel Macron want sto close the gap between the price of diesel
fuel adn gasoline as part of his strategy to wean France off fossil fuels.

A caravan of central American migrants are in Tijuana, Mexico where some
locals say they are not welcome.

AP correspondent Julie Walker reports.

Oscar-winning movie director Ang Lee is calling for greater respect for the
film industry.

The call comes after several award winners made overtly political comments at
the 55th Golden Horse Awards ceremony this past weekend.

Speaking after the ceremony, Lee said that the Golden Horse does its best to
be fair and even-handed and it welcomes everyone in the Chinese language film
industry to celebrate the remarkable works produced over the past year.

According to Lee, the film festival is open to everyone, no one was told what
to say at the event and that it is "a platform for art and art critics, and
he prefers it to remain pure and for there to be no disturbances."

Lee, who chaired the Golden Horse executive committee, says he believes the
movie awards ceremony does its best to be fair and even-handed.

And finally ....

Taiwan has re-joined the international Kimberley Process annual meeting,
which campaigns to eradicate the use of rough, or blood diamonds to finance
wars.

A delegation from Taiwan attended the annual meeting in Brussels as an
observer last week after a four-year-hiatus.

Taiwan was allowed to attend the event thanks to the assistance of the
European Union, which hosted the talks.

The Kimberley Process is a binding agreement that imposes requirements on
participants through the K-P Certification Scheme which safeguards the
shipment of rough diamonds and certifies them as conflict free.

Taiwan was granted observer status at the event in 2007.

K-M-T Chairman Wu Den-yih has apologized for insulting Presidential Office
Secretary-General Chen Chu.

However, Wu appears to being down playing to significance of his referring to
Chen as a "fat sow" - saying although it was "inappropriate" he made the
comment at a "private event."

Wu is also claiming the comment was intended to highlight the need for clean
and honest elections.

According to Wu, he simply "got emotional" when speaking an event promoting
the K-M-T's Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Han Guo-yu and he doesn't believe the
comment will affect Han's chances of victory the coming Saturday.

Chen responded to Wu's smear at a rally for the D-P-P's Chen Qi-mai in
Kaohsiung last night - saying she is "a daughter of Taiwanese and not a big
sow."

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and K-M-T mayoral candidate Ding Shou-chong had a
heated exchange in Sunday's second and final election televised debate ahead.

Ding accused Ko of making slow progress made in implementing urban renewal
projects involving old markets, schools and apartment buildings and for
failing to attract more foreign investment.

Ding claimed that only 1-per cent of the urban renewal projects proposed by
Ko four years ago have been completed.

And said that if he's elected he will make it easier to convert residential
land into commercial use land and provide tax incentives to accelerate the
pace of urban renewal.

For his part in the debate, Ko refuted Ding's claim that Taipei's global
competitiveness has fallen and that the city has seen a decline in foreign
investment over the past four years.

As according to Ko, Taipei is now a top choice for foreign investments in
Taiwan and the capital currently accounts for 76-per cent of foreign
investment in Taiwan, up from 52-per cent when he became mayor.

The D-P-P's Pasuya Yao declined to participate in the debate and instead
attended a rally where he announced that he will resign as a lawmaker to
focus his attention on the election.

And .....

Some 4,000 protesters have rallied air air pollution in Taichung.

The rally was the third to have been organized by the Air Clean Taiwan - with
the two others taking place in Taipei and Kaohsiung earlier this month.

Participants marched from Taichung Civic Square to the plaza in front of the
Taichung City Hall.

And Air Clean Taiwan chairman Yeh Guang-peng says the rally was organized to
show that
Taichung's air quality has not improved as much as the local government has
been claiming.

The Environmental Protection Administration has said the Taichung has seen an
18-per cent reduction in PM2.5 fine particulate matter since 2015.

Incumbent Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung did not attend the protest.

But the K-M-T's mayoral candidate Lu Shiow-yen did take part in the
demonstration and used it as a platform to promote her intention to cut
output the Taichung power plant.

Britain's besieged Prime Minister Theresa May warned Sunday that a leadership
change wouldn't make Brexit negotiations easier.

Opponents in her Conservative Party threaten to unseat her and the former
Brexit secretary suggested she failed to stand up to bullying from European
Union officials.

As furious Conservative rebels try to gather the numbers to trigger a
no-confidence vote, May insisted she hadn't considered quitting.

May added that the next seven days ``are going to be critical'' for
successful Brexit talks, and that she will be travelling to Brussels to meet
with EU leaders before an emergency European Council summit on November 25.

An announcement this week that Britain has struck a draft divorce agreement
with the EU triggered a political crisis in Britain, with the deal roundly
savaged by both the opposition and large chunks of May's own Conservatives.

Two Cabinet ministers and several junior government members quit, and more
than 20 lawmakers have submitted letters of no confidence in May.

The draft agreement envisions Britain leaving the EU as planned on March 29,
but remaining inside the bloc's single market and bound by its rules until
the end of December 2020.

A crucial meeting among Sri Lanka's political party leaders on Sunday failed
to reach a breakthrough to resolve the political turmoil that has engulfed
the island nation for several weeks, according to opposition lawmakers.

Sri Lanka has been in crisis since October 26 when President Maithripala
Sirisena abruptly fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed
former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Wickremesinghe says he still has the support of a majority in Parliament.

On Sunday, president Sirisena chaired the meeting attended by Rajapaksa,
Wickremesinghe and other political leaders.

Talks came two days after the parliament passed the second no-confidence
motions against Rajapaksa who has so far refused to accept the results of the
motion and continues to perform as prime minister.

Parliament turned violent when the no-confidence motions were taken up last
week, with rival lawmakers exchanging blows, injuring several.

Israel's prime minister says he will also take over as defense minister and
is rejecting calls to hold early elections.

Netanyahu announced Sunday that he would take over the defense post following
the resignation of Avigdor Lieberman.

Lieberman stepped down last week to protest a cease-fire with Hamas militants
in the Gaza Strip.

He had demanded tougher action against the militants.

Lieberman's resignation has left Netanyahu with a narrow majority in
parliament, and his remaining partners have demanded he hold early elections.

In his address, Netanyahu said now is not the time for new elections and he
is committed to protecting his country's security.

Protests of fuel tax hikes continued to slow traffic around France as the
number of injuries from the weekend demonstrations climbed to at least over
400.

Grassroots protesters, dubbing themselves ``yellow jackets'' for the safety
jackets French motorists are required to keep in vehicles for emergencies,
paralyzed traffic by blocking roads around the country Saturday.

Blockades were counted at 150 scattered locations Sunday.

The situation throughout the night was ``agitated,'' with ``aggressions,
fights, knife-slashing'' taking place, including among the protesters.

157 people were detained for questioning - double the number reported
Saturday night.

The original target of the protests, tax increases on diesel fuel and
gasoline, expanded to include French citizens' decreased buying power and
complaints about the policies of President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron hasn't commented on the weekend protests.

In a departure from the norm, they weren't led by unions and politicians were
shunned, although some figures on the right and far-right joined the
roadblocks.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
consulted Sunday on migration, fixing the euro currency, Europe's defense,
taxing digital companies and other issues as the two leaders looked to
preserve their influence abroad while their authority flags at home.

Macron, in Berlin to take part in Germany's national remembrance day for the
victims of war and dictatorship, urged European government to seize more
responsibility for their own fate, especially regarding defense.

Merkel has offered support for Macron's proposal for a European army someday.

Both leaders have said Europe needs to depend less on others - such as the
U.S. - for its defense.

Merkel looked ahead to the European Parliament elections in May, which will
give populist and anti-EU parties another chance to test their appeal with
voters.

The two leaders at the moment are hampered by falling domestic support.

Macron has seen his poll ratings sag at home, where more than a
quarter-million people protested Saturday over proposed gas tax hikes.

Merkel has been a lame duck since saying she wouldn't seek another term.

Two senior police officials have resigned in Chile after the discovery that
officers destroyed video showing the shooting of a young indigenous man whose
death set off large protests.

Interior Minister Andres Chadwick said via Twitter that destruction of the
memory card from a monitoring camera was unacceptable.

He said General Mauro Victoriano and Colonel Ivan Contreras Figueroa and four
members of special forces unit resigned.

Thousands of people attended Saturday's funeral of 24-year-old Camilo
Catrillanca, who was shot Wednesday.

Police said they fired while pursuing people who stole three vehicles.

Catrillanca's family said he was shot in the back while riding on a tractor.

Indigenous activists accuse the government of using heavy-handed tactics
against the Mapuches, some of whom have been agitating for greater land
rights.

Peru's government says former President Alan Garcia is seeking asylum in
Uruguay days after a prosecutor sought to retain his passport as part of a
corruption probe.

Sunday's statement from the Peruvian foreign ministry says it was informed by
Uruguay's ambassador that Garcia entered his residence Saturday night seeking
protection.

It vowed to provide information to Uruguay as it evaluates Garcia's request.

On Thursday, a prosecutor in Lima sought to ban Garcia from leaving Peru for
18 months during an investigation into allegations he received illegal
payment from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

Odebrecht has admitted to paying nearly $800 million in bribes to officials
across Latin America.

In Peru the scandal forced the resignation of former President Pedro Pablo
Kuczynski and arrest orders against two more former leaders.

British authorities say they found nine suspected migrants from Iran after
they landed on a coast in southeastern England.

The Home Office said the group landed Sunday on an inflatable boat.

It said they will be ``processed in line with immigration rules.''

Border officials reported other incidents involving Iranian migrants on the
coast in recent days.

Last Wednesday, coast guard crews picked up three boats carrying more than 20
migrants from Iran, including a woman and a toddler.

And last Tuesday, 14 men and three minors on a fishing boat, also from Iran,
were stopped at Dover Harbor.

In Sunday's Super Basketball League games at the Taoyuan Arena.

Taiwan Beer beat the Dacin Tigers 106 to 85.

Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor beat Bank of Taiwan 88 to 79.

While the Fubon Braves beat the Yulon Luxgen Dinos 71 to 69.

-----------

Turning to soccer ...

Harry Kane and England advanced to the final four of the inaugural UEFA
Nations League after beating Croatia 2-1 at Wembley.

Moldova and Luxembourg drew 1-1.

Belarus beat San Marino 2-0.

Austria beat Northern Ireland 2-1.

Estonia beat Greece 2-1.

Hungary beat Finland 2-0.

And Switzerland beat Belgium 5-2.

Meanwhile ..

Mauritania has qualified for its first major soccer tournament after beating
Botswana 2-1 to claim a place at next year's African Cup of Nations.

It is the second major surprise of qualifying after Madagascar sealed a spot
at the African Cup for the first time last month.

------------

Alexander Zverev upset Novak Djokovic to claim the biggest title of his
career with a victory at the A-T-P Finals in London.

The 21-year-old Zverev is the youngest champion of the season-ending event
since Djokovic claimed the first of his five titles a decade ago, and the
first from Germany since 1995.

Djokovic was attempting to tie Roger Federer's record of six titles but
followed the same path as the Swiss great, who lost to Zverev in the
semifinals at the O-2 Arena.

------------

England won the second cricket test against Sri Lanka by 57 runs on the fifth
and final day Sunday to clinch its first series victory in Sri Lanka in 17
years.

England needed just 32 minutes to claim the second test as its spinners
quickly took control.

England captain Joe Root was named man of the match for his magnificent 124
that helped England to a total of 346 in its second innings, after the
tourists had conceded a deficit of 46 runs in the first innings.

----------

Abraham Ancer went into the final round of the Australian Open with a
five-stroke lead and with a few ups and downs along the way, he won it by the
same margin.

The Mexican golfer, who was making his first trip to Australia, shot a
final-round 69 Sunday to finish with a 16-under total of 272 at The Lakes.

His lead was reduced to four strokes a few times.

But Ancer's shot of the day came on the fourth hole where he hit his pitch
shot from just off the green well left of the flag, then watched it hit a
slope and roll back down to finish in the hole for a birdie.

And thrust both arms up in the air in celebration at Metropolitan Golf Club.

----------

Teenage driver Sophia Floersch will undergo surgery for a spinal fracture
after a spectacular airborne crash in the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix on
Sunday.

Video footage shows Floersch appearing to clip Japanese driver Sho Tsuboi's
car and flying off the track at high speed on a bend on lap four.

Floersch's car then went through a catch fence, hit a structure on the
perimeter and dropped to the ground with safety officials immediately on the
scene.

-------

And finally in news from the N-B-A ..

The Jazz beat the Celtics for the second time in eight days.

The A-P's Gethin Coolbaugh reports.

President Tsai Ing-wen says while she welcomes filmmakers to visit Taiwan and
enjoy the freedom of speech available here, the opinions of
Taiwanese people should be respected.

The statement comes after Chinese netizens slammed Fu Yu's acceptance speech
at the 55th Golden Horse Awards ceremony, in which he said he hopes Taiwan
will one day be treated as an independent entity.

Fu won this year's best Documentary Award at the Golden Horse for his film
"Our Youth in Taiwan" - which focuses on the student-led 2014 Sunflower
Movement.

Fu's speech triggered a flood of angry comments from Chinese netizens on her
Facebook page.

Responding to the comments posted by Chinese nationals on Fu's Facebook page,
the President took to her one Facebook page and said that "Taiwan is Taiwan"
and "we have never accepted the 'China Taiwan' formula and we will never do
so."

Tsai went on to say that "all filmmakers are welcome to engage in exchanges
with people in Taiwan where no one disappears because they hold a view
different from others, nor will they be silenced when they express their own
opinions."

Organizers of a pro-same sex marriage rally says some 100,000 people attended
Sunday's event on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei to show their support for
LGBT rights.

The rally was organized to boost support for this Saturday's referendums to
allow for the legalization of gay marriage.

The Gender Equality Education Coalition, which organized the event, says it
hopes the large turnout shows that people in Taiwan care about LGBT rights
and will vote down anti-same sex marriage referendums being promoted by
conservative and religious groups.

Participants in Sunday's rally included politicians, musicians and filmmakers
and featured performances by a dozen artists from Taiwan and overseas.

And the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association is accusing anti-gay rights groups
of opening attacking gay rights of attempting to marginalize homosexuals.

The International Olympic Committee is reiterating its position on the
possibility of Taiwan changing its name from "Chinese Taipei" to "Taiwan" for
the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In a letter sent to the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and Gao Jun-xiong,
the head of the Sports Administration, the I-O-C said it does not interfere
with local referendum procedures and fully respects freedom of expression.

However, it went on to say that any external interference could be considered
a violation of the the Olympic Charter and result in Taiwan losing its
Olympic membership.

The letter comes as voters this Saturday will get to voice their opinions on
the matter in a referendum that asks whether Taiwan should apply to
participate in all international sporting events, including the 2020 Tokyo
Games, using the name "Taiwan."

The I-O-C earlier this year said that any attempt to breach the 1981 Lausanne
agreement would be considered external interference.

The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee says it will continue to adhere to
regulations as stated by the Olympic Charter.

Taiwan's special envoy to the APEC summit says he accomplished everything
with which he was tasked by President Tsai Ing-wen before the meeting
wrapped-up in Papua New Guinea on Sunday.

According to Morris Chang, he successfully completed his mission at the
summit, but he is currently unable to provide any details on that mission.

However, he did say he held "friendly and candid" interactions with over a
dozen APEC leaders in Port Moresby, including with Chinese President Xi
Jin-ping, U-S Vice President Mike Pence, and the prime ministers of Japan and
Singapore.

Chang last served as Taiwan envoy to APEC in 2006.

President Tsai Ing-wen is expressing her gratitude to Chang for his efforts
in promoting Taiwan's relations with the United States.

And in her Facebook post, Tsai mentioned Chang's meeting with Pence in which
they discussed ways to continue enhancing relations between the two
countries.

Taiwan's APEC representative has held talks with the US vice president.

This is the second time Morris Chang has attended the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation leaders summit, where he met with Vice President Mike Pence
today.

At a time when the news media has paid close attention to whether Chang and
Pence would meet with each other, officials from Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs confirmed the two met at around 11:30 a.m. Taiwan time.

The talks were held after Pence finished a speech at the APEC CEO Summit,
which Chang also attended, but MOFA officials would not disclose what they
said during their discussion.

President Tsai Ing-wen picked Chang, the founder of contract chipmaker Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, as Taiwan's representative to the APEC
forum.

Despite being a full member of the 21-member inter-governmental forum since
1991, Taiwan's presidents are traditionally prohibited from attending the
leaders' summit in person due to China's opposition.

(PB)

U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The conclusion will bolster efforts in Congress to further punish the close
U.S. ally for the killing.

The Trump administration this week sanctioned 17 Saudi officials for their
alleged role in the killing, but lawmakers have called on the administration
to curtail arms sales to Saudi Arabia or take other harsher punitive
measures.

Khashoggi was a Saudi who lived in the United States and was a columnist for
the Post where he often criticized the royal family.

He was killed Oct. 2 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

The Saudi government has denied the claim.

The COA has placed a temporary ban on the import of live pigs and pork
products from Japan.

The Council of Agriculture says the ban, which went into effect yesterday, is
to protect Taiwan from Japan's current epidemic of swine fever.

This is not the same disease as African swine fever, which is currently
heavily affecting pig farms in China.

In September Japan announced its first swine fever epidemic in 26 years, and
the World Organisation for Animal Health has suspended it from the list of
countries free of swine fever, but has not removed its name.

Japan yesterday announced its second case of the disease, and although it
hasn't yet informed the WOAH, Taiwan took the chance to protect itself.

The COA says anyone caught bringing pork products into Taiwan from Japan
could face fines from $3000 to $15-thousand NT.

(PB)

Accident

The KMT is criticizing the DPP for not fulfilling its agreements in regards
to a report on the recent Puyuma derailment.

The deadly train accident happened on October 21st, and afterwards the ruling
and opposition parties reached an agreement that Premier William Lai would
issue a report within one month.

With that deadline fast approaching, the opposition KMT and New Power Party
on Tuesday called on the DPP to bring Lai to report on the 20th, but the
ruling party asked for more time.

The DPP now says it will issue that report on the 27th of this month, but KMT
legislators are not satisfied with this and have criticized the Tsai
Administration for trying to delay until after local elections on the 24th.

(PB)

Local actors Roy Qiu and Hsieh Ying-xuan are being tipped to win the top
prizes in the best actor and actress categories at tonight's Golden Horse
Award's ceremony.

All the other nominees in the lead role categories at the 55th Golden Horse
Awards are from China.

Qiu and Hsieh starred in the movie "Dear EX" and won the top awards at the
Taipei Film Awards in June.

"Dear EX" is a story about a gay romance, and Hsieh plays a woman whose dead
husband bequeathed his assets to his secret gay lover, who is played by Qiu.

The Golden Horse Awards ceremony takes place tonight at the Sun Yat-sen
Memorial Hall in Taipei.

Argentina has found one of its submarines that went missing a year ago.

Argentina's navy announced that searchers found the missing ARA San Juan deep
in the Atlantic a year after it disappeared with 44 crewmen aboard.

The navy says the vessel was detected 800 meters deep in waters off the
Valdes Peninsula in Argentine Patagonia.

It says the submarine was found by a remote-operated submersible from the
American ship Ocean Infinity, which was hired for the latest search for the
missing vessel.

The discovery was announced just two days after families of the missing
sailors held a commemoration of the one-year disappearance on November 15th.

The Legislature's Legal Affairs Bureau is recommending Taiwan lower its
voting age.

The bureau made its recommendation following a recent study it carried out on
voting ages and other regulations.

In keeping in line with 168 countries around the world that have a voting age
of 18 or younger, the bureau says Taiwan should move in the same direction,
which is also what the public wants.

Taiwan's voting age is currently set at 20.

In its report, the bureau also recommended the government move to make voting
day a holiday.

(PB)

The Executive Yuan says it will be proposing regulations to curb the spread
if disinformation.

The Cabinet says it has identified loopholes in rules against fake news in
the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act as well as other laws and will
submit its draft after next week's elections.

The executive says it plans to tighten existing rules and could allow people
targeted in false news stories to ask the sources to remove any links to the
news and possibly even file for injunctions against them in court.

The Ministry of Justice is also warning people against spreading fake news,
as it could bring legal action against themselves.

(PB)

Taichung's famous Rainbow Village is once again getting international
attention.

The colourful community was recently featured on English public newscaster
BBC.

In the piece, the man behind the rainbows, Huang Yong-fu, says he never had
any formal training in painting, but when he started painting the old
buildings with vibrant colours and animals all he wanted was to protect the
village.

The village in Taichung's Nantun District was originally going to be
demolished, so since 2008 Huang has been painting the town red... and blue,
and yellow, and green, turning it into a tourist hotspot.

Rainbow Village has also appeared in the well-respected Lonely Planet travel
guides.

Huang says when he started, he had no idea it would be so popular.

(PB)

The United States has voted for the first time against a U.N. resolution
upholding Syria's right to the Golan Heights.

That area was captured by Israel during the 1967 war.

The General Assembly's decolonization committee voted 152-2 in favor of the
resolution, with 14 abstentions.

The U.S. previously abstained on the resolution, but yesterday it voted
``no,'' joined by Israel.

The resolution calls Israel's laws, jurisdiction and administration of ``the
occupied Syrian Golan'' to be ``null and void.''

The resolution is virtually certain to be adopted by the 193-member General
Assembly in December.

Political candidates and their supporters nationwide are rallying this
weekend, the last one before the November 24 elections.

In the key battleground city of Kaohsiung, KMT nominee Han Guo-yu has invited
a number of singers to share the stage with him tonight, while a civic group
furious about Han's labeling the harbor city as "old and poor" are taking to
the street this afternoon.

Han's rival Chen Qi-mai is going to Gang-shan tomorrow where Premier William
Lai and all former DPP Kaohsiung Mayors are to stump for him.

Meanwhile President Tsai Ing-wen is in central Taiwan's Xin-zhu, Zhang-hua
and Taizhong today before heading on to the outlying Peng-hu islands and back
to Jia-yi tomorrow.

Opposition KMT heavyweights Ma Ying-jeou and Wu Dun-yi will shore up votes
for their party's candidates for Yun-lin, Jia-yi and Tai-nan at a big rally
in Jia-yi city tomorrow night.

In Taipei city, incumbent Mayor Ko Wen-zhe says as he doesn't have the
support of political parties, he'll spend the weekend on canvassing across
the city.

(JL)

With the number of Chinese visitors shrinking dramatically, Taiwan's tourism
sector is trying hard to win over Muslim traverlers.

Taiwan's rating on the Global Muslim Travel Index 2018 shows that the island
has advanced to number 5 among the non-Islamic Cooperation destinations from
7 last year.

G-M-T-I 2018 is the most comprehensive research on the Halal/Muslim travel,
tourism and hospitality market.

Tourism Bureau officials say they have continued to encourage Taiwan's
restaurants and hotels to provide facilities and service that are friendly to
muslim travelers.

Currently Taipei city has 26 eateries and 22 hotels certified by the Chinese
Muslim Association, the most islandwide, and in Gaoxiong, it's four
restaurants and 15 hotels.

Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan Railways stations in Taipei, Taoyuan,
Gaoxiong, and Hualian, as well as Taiwan High-speed Rail Taizhong station
also have facilities for muslims, who are mostly from Malaysia, Singapore,
Indonesia, India and Chinese provinces of Gan-su, Ning-xia and Xin-jiang.

(JL)

The weather this weekend will be quite different from the past few days.

Weather expert Timmy Peng explains.


(PB)

Rescued circus lions are still waiting to find a home in South Africa.

More than two dozen lions that were rescued from South American circuses and
transferred to a South African big cat refuge could be on the move again
after a legal dispute.

Animal Defenders International, a group that airlifted the lions to South
Africa in 2016, this month secured a court order allowing the removal of the
lions from the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in Vaalwater.

Animal Defenders International notes the deaths of six of the 33 lions since
their arrival at Emoya, as well as other problems, saying it is organizing a
``road trip'' to another home for the survivors.

Emoya denies allegations of wrongdoing. It says the South African court
ruling against it is based solely on a termination clause in its contract
with Animal Defenders International.

The Ministry of Transportation has announced new measures to improve train
travel safety.

The changes focus primarily on adjustments of a system that controls speed,
following a deadly express train derailment last month in northeastern
Taiwan.

Transportation Minister Wu Hong-mo says connection problems between the
automatic train protection systems on all 18 Puyuma express trains operated
by the Taiwan Railways Administration and their remote control systems in the
depots, had been corrected by November 10th.

He says this means that the dispatch control room can have real-time
information if the ATP is working normally and can be alerted if it is turned
of.

Wu said the TRA will continue testing the system's stability by the end of
November.

In addition, the TRA has replaced faulty equipment on the Puyuma trains which
if they malfunctioned could cause power problems.

Wu said there will be a comprehensive system upgrade by next April, which
will be applied to all train models running across Taiwan.

(PB)

Taiwan has been recognized for its open economy and liberal trade and
investment system.

The country's top trade negtiator says the praise comes from members of the
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
(CPTPP).

Taiwan has been trying to join the regional economic bloc since its formation
in March by 11 signatory economies, many of which are major trading partners
of Taiwan.

Some of those include Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Taiwanese delegates used the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
ministers meeting in Papua New Guinea as a rare chance to lobby for Taiwan's
CPTPP bid by holding meetings on the sidelines of the APEC forum with
representatives of several members of the pact.

It was after this meeting that the members voiced their approval of Taiwan's
system.

(PB)

An Australian scholar receiving the Order of Brilliant Star award yesterday
used the platform to encourage Taiwan in the face of Chinese pressure.

Bruce Jacobs has long been concerned with Taiwan's development, and was
awarded the ROC's order that recognizes outstanding contributions to the
development of the nation.

During his acceptance speech, Jacobs said China will do whatever it can to
continue its threatening of the island, and he says Taiwan cannot yield.

He went on to say Taiwan is a middle power country, not a minor country, and
with its flourishing economy and good education system it is an important
place.

When awarding Jacobs with the Order of Brilliant Star, Foreign Minister
Joseph Wu praised him for his contributions, and described Jacobs not only as
a scholar but as a part of Taiwan's history.

Jacobs first came to Taiwan over 53 years ago, and Wu says he watched as
Taiwan did away with its authoritarian past and moved into its democratic
future.

(PB)

The Russian military says nearly 270-thousand Syrian refugees have returned
home to their country in recent months.

Citing Russian data, a high-ranking officer of the Russian Defense Ministry
says nearly 6,000 people returned to Syria in the last week alone.

Moscow and the government in Damascus have been encouraging refugees to
repatriate, arguing that the violence has subsided.

Russia launched military operations to help Syrian President Bashar Assad in
2015, changing the tide of the war in his favor.

Western governments have, however, argued that it's too early to encourage
return, fearing that refugees would be facing persecution.

The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, or A-P-G, has issued its
preliminary report on Taiwan.

In it, the APG says Taiwan has made a lot of progress in complying with
international anti-money laundering standards.

Early this month a team from the APG started the peer review process on
Taiwan's anti-money laundering practices, inspecting a number of government
agencies and private entities in the financial sector.

The report lauds government agencies' ability to coordinate with one another
for problem solving and offering judicial assistance.

The team's leader also recognized Taiwan's efforts in seeking international
cooperation in combating crimes.

But the report points out that Taiwan's financial institutions still need to
strengthen their risk management and evaluation of offshore banking units,
and need to increase transparency.

The APG is a multilateral mechanism established in 1997 to prevent money
laundering in Asia Pacific and has 41 members, including Taiwan.

(JL)

An Australian scholar receiving the Order of Brilliant Star today used the
platform to encourage Taiwan in the face of Chinese pressure.

Bruce Jacobs has long been concerned with Taiwan's development, and was
awarded the ROC's order that recognizes outstanding contributions to the
development of the nation.

During his acceptance speech, Jacobs said China will do whatever it can to
continue its threatening of the island, and he says Taiwan cannot yield.

He went on to say Taiwan is a middle power country, not a minor country, and
with its flourishing economy and good education system it is an important
place.

When awarding Jacobs with the Order of Brilliant Star, Foreign Minister
Joseph Wu praised him for his contributions, and described Jacobs not only as
a scholar but as a part of Taiwan's history.

Jacobs first came to Taiwan over 53 years ago, and Wu says he watched as
Taiwan did away with its authoritarian past and moved into its democratic
future.

(PB)

Civic organization Equal Love says 27 enterprises have issued a joint
statement in support of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender groups.

An Equal Love spokesperson says the multinational and domestic companies are
in the finance, technology and consumer product sectors.

Their statement calls for more diversity, fairness and openness in the
business world, not only because it's the right thing to do but also because
it enhances creativity and competitiveness.

Equal Love also urges the business community to encourage employees to go
back home to vote in the upcoming referendums.

(JL)

Humankind is about to sever one of the links between its present and its past.

The so-called ``Grand K'' kilogram is going to be retired.

The Grand K is a cylinder of polished platinum-iridium alloy that has been
the world's sole true kilo since 1889.

Nations gathered in Versailles today are expected to instead approve the use
of a scientific formula to define the exact weight of a kilogram.

The change will have no discernable impact for most people. Their bathroom
scales won't get kinder and kilos and grams won't change in supermarkets.

But scientists are hailing the vote as a mini-revolution in the field of
weights and measures, which underpins vital human activities like
international trade.

And it will mean redundancy for the Grand K and its six official copies.

The DPP Taipei mayoral candidate is hoping to win the race with his idea for
the stalled Taipei Dome arena.

Pasuya Yao held a press conference next to the much maligned arena today,
calling on young voters to come out on Sunday to show their support for his
idea to connect the Taipei Dome via overhead green walkways with Sun Yat Sen
Memorial Hall across the street.

Yao is planning to hold an event on the 18th centered on his plan that would
connect Songyan, SYS Memorial Hall, Taipei City Council, and Taipei City Hall
into a public park three times the size of Da'an Forest Park.

As to whether or not any DPP heavy-hitters would be attending the event, Yao
said he wouldn't reveal any secrets, but he promised that concerned citizens
would turn out in force.

(PB)

Fuel prices could be dropping by even more than previously estimated.

CPC Corporation, Taiwan now predicts a reduction of $0.7 NT per liter for
both gas and diesel Monday morning.

At this rate, 95 unleaded gasoline would drop below the $30 NT per liter mark
to $29.3, with super diesel falling to $25.8.

CPC says when 95 unleaded costs less than $30 NT per liter its price
stabilization mechanism is deactivated and consumers will bear the full cost
of following fluctuations.

The main reasons for this week's dip in international crude prices are US
President Donald Trump calling on OPEC nations not to limit oil production
output, the northern hemisphere entering its autumn low period for oil usage,
and a continued slump in the US stock market.

CPC will release official fuel figures at noon on Sunday.

(PB)

The Hualien government has admitted that public land was undersold.

A Hualien County representative says a piece of county land was indeed sold
for a low price, and the government will look into the incident to find out
who is responsible.

A spokesman for Hualien Magistrate Cai Bi-zhong says a 2-thousand three
hundred ping area of land was sold for under $1.1 billion NT despite the real
estate being appraised at over $1.7 billion.

The comments come after a DPP county councillor recently raised the issue,
calling out the county government.

(PB)

Officials say plans to repatriate Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar were cancelled,
after they were unable to find anyone who wanted to return.

More than 700-thousand Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh from western
Myanmar's Rakhine state to escape killings and destruction of their villages
by the military and Buddhist vigilantes that have drawn widespread
condemnation of Myanmar.

Despite already having a capital city, Egypt is building a whole new one in
the desert.

Cairo is a city of 20 million people, a metropolis combining charm and
squalor, has been the seat of power for more than 1,000 years.

But this historic city may soon witness an exodus by some of its well-heeled
residents, state employees and foreign embassies to the new Egyptian capital
that doesn't even have a name yet.

The $45 billion US dollar project is the brainchild of
general-turned-president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and the biggest of the
mega-projects he launched since taking office in 2014.

He says it will attract investors and create jobs.

But critics call the new capital a vanity project, arguing its cost could
have been better put to rebuilding the wrecked economy and refurbishing
Cairo.

Accident

The KMT is criticizing the DPP for not fulfilling its agreements in regards
to a report on the recent Puyuma derailment.

The deadly train accident happened on October 21st, and afterwards the ruling
and opposition parties reached an agreement that Premier William Lai would
issue a report within one month.

With that deadline fast approaching, the opposition KMT and New Power Party
on Tueday called on the DPP to bring Lai to report on the 20th, but the
ruling party asked for more time.

The DPP now says it will issue that report on the 27th of this month, but KMT
legislators are not satisfied with this and have criticized the Tsai
Administration for trying to delay until after local elections on the 24th.

Meanwhile, several people have blocked an elevator in the Ministry of
Transport in protest of the delayed report on the Puyuma derailment after the
KMT secretary-general led a group to the building to demand its release.

(PB)

Immigration officials are warning people of the risks of using online
matchmaking services for international marriages.

The National Immigration Agency says they've found 17 irregularities with
such agencies after receiving complaints about them earlier this year.

The N-I-A says 14 of those cases have violated its regulatory rules and are
facing fines of up to $500-thousand NT.

The N- I-A says in one case, a man complained that a woman he saw on his
first visit was totally different from the photo provided by his agency and
he suspected fraud.

Officials say police have started looking into the case but people need to be
cautious and should make use of the agencies that have been approved by the
government.

For more information, can go to www.immigration.gov.tw

(JL)

Some HSR trains were delayed this morning after a power line repair vehicle
broke down on the tracks.

The Taiwan High Speed Rail Company says a section between Taoyuan and Hsinchu
was forced to operate on only one track, causing delays on 21 trains going
north and south.

Services resumed normal operations by 8am, and the HSR company says it is
looking into what caused the failure of the repair car's brake system.

The repairs being carried out this morning were regular maintenance
operations.

(PB)

Taiwan shares declined slowly throughout the day, as markets were mostly
higher in Asia, ending down 29 points at 9,797.

The total turnover was $116.2 billion NT.

Mirroring a move by the United States, Australia could be moving its embassy
in Israel to Jerusalem.

And a diplomatic war of words has erupted between Australia and Malaysia over
that possibility.

Canberra currently has its embassy in Tel Aviv, where most other countries
have their representative offices.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad raised the move in a meeting with
Australian counterpart Scott Morrison in Singapore, later telling reporters
that moving the embassy could inflame Muslim sentiments, thereby ``adding to
the cause of terrorism.''

The Australian treasurer hit back today, saying Canberra would make its own
decisions.

Severe weather has dealt a heavy blow to southern India.

A cyclone unleashed heavy rains and winds of 90 kilometers per hour, killing
at least 10 people in the region and forcing the evacuation of more than
80-thousand people.

Premier William Lai has announced that the government is offering major
incentives to facilitate the development of start-up businesses.

Speaking at the 2018 Meet Taipei Start-up Festival today, Lai said Taiwania
Capital Management Corporation has a capital of $10- billion NT and the
National Industry Transformation Fund has $100 billion.

Lai says these funds will be ready to help nurture start-ups and encourage
industry innovation.

He also says his Cabinet will amend relevant laws such as the Company Act to
make it easier for start-ups to acquire investment.

Another aspect of the plan is to lure more foreign talent to the island, and
Lai says the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals
passed by the Legislative Yuan in February has already shown some good
results.

Taiwan's economy mainly rode on the high-tech industries in the past, and Lai
says it will have to rely more on innovation-based sectors in the future.

(JL)

Taiwan-based smart phone maker HTC is taking another big stride toward its
virtual reality business goal.

VIVE X, which is HTC VIVE’s global AR/VR accelerator, has announced the next
group of companies selected to join the prominent program.

Eighteen new start-ups from across the world will join Vive X programs in the
San Francisco, London, Taipei, Shenzhen, Beijing, and Tel Aviv offices.

Market analysts say Vive X has proven to be one of the most consistent and
active investors in the AR/VR space, funding approximately one hundred
companies since its inception in July 2016.

As the AR/VR industry continues to cement itself as a mainstream technology,
Vive X has curated a diverse portfolio of hardware and software companies
focusing on a range of different verticals.

Round four of the program houses an increased emphasis on enterprise VR
technology as the market is forecasted to reach revenue levels of $12.6
billion U.S. dollars annually by 2025.

(JL)

The Taizhong prosecutors office has indicted a Vietnamese migrant worker on
manslaughter charges for killing a compatriot.

Prosecutors say the man and his victim worked at the same factory in
Long-jing District in Taizhong.

They got into a fight on June 30th this year with the suspect stabbing his
coworker in the side with a fruit knife.

The victim died of hemorrhagic shock in the hospital three days later.

The suspect had insisted that he never meant to kill the other man and that
it just happened.

(JL)

A nonprofit group is calling on South Korea to play a bigger role in
tuberculosis prevention in North Korea.

The U.S.-based group wants Seoul to take stronger steps to fight the
tuberculosis crisis in the North it says has worsened under strengthened
U.S.-led sanctions over Pyeongyang's nuclear weapons and missile program.

The Eugene Bell Foundation chairman is criticizing Seoul's supposed lack of
urgency to help aid organizations gain sanctions exemptions to facilitate the
delivery of supplies to treat patients in North Korea.

The World Health Organization says about 107,000 cases of tuberculosis were
reported in North Korea in 2017, resulting in about 16,000 deaths.

Morris Zhang, Taiwan's representative to this year's APEC leaders' meeting,
has promised to present the best side of Taiwan at the summit on November
18th.

Speaking at Taoyuan International Airport today before departing for Papua
New Guinea, Zhang also says that Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting is
a very important event that offers Taiwan a rare opportunity to meet with
leaders of other countries.

The retired TSMC founder adds that Taiwan plays an important role in APEC in
areas such as economics and innovation.

He also vows to work hard to fight for the country's interests, saying he
will speak up in APEC conferences and interact with other leaders on the
sidelines.

It is the second time Zhang gord to APEC as an envoy, the first being in 2006
under former President Chen Shui-bian

Among the leaders who will attend this year's event are U.S. Vice President
Mike Pence and Chinese President Xi Jinping

(JL)

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Governor Jerry Brown got a look at wildfire
damage in Paradise, California in the deadliest wildfire in a century.

The AP's Ed Donahue reports.

The United States has failed in an attempt to water down references to
``sexual and reproductive health'' in a proposed U.N. resolution despite
support from China and many Islamic countries.

The General Assembly's human rights committee defeated the U.S. attempt to
amend the resolution aimed at preventing and ending early and forced child
marriages.

Traditional U.S. allies including the European Union and Western nations
opposed the Trump administration's amendment along with many African and
Latin American countries.

Approval of the resolution by the assembly is virtually certain.

Millions of Brazilians may be left without access to doctors due to the end
of a program that brought Cuban physicians to rural and dangerous areas in
Brazil.

The Cuban government said it would end the program after Brazilian
President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said it could only continue if several
conditions were met.

In a phone interview, former Health Minister Alexandre Padilha said Cuban
doctors were in 2,800 cities and towns, and they were the only doctors in
1,700 of those towns.

Padilha says the change "will have an immediate and terrible impact on the
health care system.''

The Tai-Ex opened down 7-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 9,819
points on turnover of 2.1-billion N-T.

The market closed above the 9,800-point mark Thursday, despite losses seen in
the tech sector, which took a hit after shares of Apple fell for a fifth
consecutive day in U-S markets overnight amid mounting concern about lower
than expected iPhone sales.

Meanwhile ..

The Taiwan Futures Exchange is currently trading at 9795. Trading volume
stands at 59.888 .

Several foreign airlines have began offering early check-in services for the
Airport MRT.

The services are available at the Taipei Main Station.

The carriers include Cathay Pacific, Cathay Dragon, AirAsia, AirAsia X and
Philippines AirAsia.

Outbound travelers on those airlines can check their luggage and obtain seat
assignments and boarding passes before taking the MRT to the airport.

The service had previously only be available to passengers flying on China
Airlines, EVA Airways, Mandarin Airlines and UNI Airways.

And the Taoyuan International Airport Corporation says that Japan Asia
Airways and Thai AirAsia will offer the early check-in service sometime "in
the future."

President Tsai Ing-wen has presided over the opening of the National Cyber
Security Center - and says the new task force will ensure Taiwan is better
protected from cyber attacks.

According to Tsai, will also ensure Taiwan's security and competitiveness at
a time when information security stands plays a hugely import part of
national defense needs.

Tsai went on to say the center will help the government deal with information
security management matters and be able to respond quicker to cyber attacks.

North Korean state media reports that leader Kim Jong Un observed the
successful test of ``a newly developed ultramodern tactical weapon''.

The report did not describe what sort of weapon it was, but the event did not
appear to be a nuclear or missile-related test.

It's the first publicly known field inspection of a weapons test by Kim Jong
Un since he observed the testing of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic
missile in November of last year.

The North says this new, unspecified weapon has been under development for a
long time and will help strengthen the combat power of its army.

The Trump administration is imposing sanctions against 17 Saudi Arabian
nationals it believes were involved in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi.

US correspondent Nick Harper reports.

Greek officials say lenders have agreed to scrap a major round of government
funding cuts planned for next year after the country outperformed budget
targets set to help protect public finances.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says the government received "very positive
news from Brussels" - where bailout creditor representatives met to discuss
Greece's draft 2019 budget.

Greece exited its third successive international bailout in August but had
committed to creditors' demands for more austerity measures in 2019 and 2020,
including pension cuts.

A key United Nations committee has adopted a resolution condemning North
Korea's "longstanding and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations
of human rights."

The General Assembly's human rights committee approved the resolution by
consensus after Sudan failed in an attempt to delete a provision encouraging
the Security Council to consider referring North Korea to the International
Criminal Court.

The resolution is now certain to be approved by the assembly in December.

And it expresses "very serious concern" at torture and other abuses.

North Korea's U-N Mission is rejecting the resolution - calling it a
political plot by hostile forces trying to disgrace the country's image.

In news from the U-S ....

With Democrats retaking the House, Nancy Pelosi says she has overwhelming
support to become speaker for the second time.

The A-P's Sagar Meghani reports.

Thousands of students have disrupted life in Colombia's capital with amid
nationwide demonstrations called to press demands for President Ivan Duque to
increase education spending.

And police in Bogota used tear gas to disperse marchers trying to reach
wealthier neighborhoods.

The "Pencil March" rallies across Colombia were the latest chapter in more
than a half-dozen street protests in recent months demanding that the
government boost funding for education.

Student enrollment in the country's public universities has quadrupled since
the early 1990s, while spending has only marginally increased.

And finally .....

A population study of polar bears in the Chukchi (chuk-CHEE) Sea between
Alaska and Russia has found that the population is thriving for now - despite
a loss of sea ice because of climate change.

The study estimates that there are nearly 3,000 Chukchi bears.

Research by the U-S Geological Survey had previously indicated Chukchi polar
bears have almost 30 fewer days to hunt on ice.

However, the new study says polar bears can build fat reserves and the
Chukchi's abundant seal population may allow bears to compensate for the loss
of hunting time.

The United States listed polar bears as being threatened in 2008.

Taichung City government Deputy Secretary-General Guo Kun-ming says the World
Flora Exposition will be closed on election day.

According to Guo, who also serves as the expo's C-E-O, the decision to close
all the flora show's venues is aimed at ensure the voting rights of the
people working at the event.

The expo will re-open as normal on Sunday, November 25.

City officials say the Flora Expo has attracted 626,180 visitors since it
opened on November 3.

And Taichung's Transportation Bureau says the number of visitors is expected
to rise sharply in the coming months as schools go into winter vacation and
the Lunar New Year holiday comes up in February.

The expo will only be closed for one day during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The Taichung World Flora Exposition is being held at three different venues
and showcases 2,500 species of plants.

The 2019 New Year's Day fireworks at the Taipei 101 will be longer than last
year and festivities will also include a series of parties starting from the
end of this month.

According to Taipei Financial Center Corporation, New Year's Day fireworks
display will last longer than 5 minutes this year.

And it will include animations and music prepared by award-winning Taiwanese
groups and well-known local celebrities hosting the New Year countdown.

Local actors Roy Qiu and Hsieh Ying-xuan are being tipped to win the top
prizes in the best actor and actress categories at this weekend's Golden
Horse Award's ceremony.

All the other nominees in the lead role categories at the 55th Golden Horse
Awards are from China.

Qiu and Hsieh starred in the movie "Dear EX" and won the top awards at the
Taipei Film Awards in June.

"Dear EX" is a story about a gay romance, and Hsieh plays a woman whose dead
husband bequeathed his assets to his secret gay lover, who is played by Qiu.

The Golden Horse Awards ceremony takes place tomorrow at the Sun Yat-sen
Memorial Hall in Taipei.