taipei railway station.ry weekend a steady stream of migrant workers arrives from all parts of the city. they head for the main concourse, but they're not going anywhere. this is their time off and they gather here to eat, drink, and enjoy the company of friends. >> taiwan officially opened the door to migrant workers from overseas in the late 1980s. many came to fill the vangsz in construction sites. they also work in nursing and care giving. today their number has reached 700,000, that means one might worker for every 13 residents. taiwan's labor ministry oversees the recruitment of this workforce and is responsible for their welflfare. the support services including a telephone counseling hot line exclusively for migrant workers. it operates around the clock. staff offer advice in five languages, i including indonesi and vietnamese. they handle about 1,000 calls a day. common issues include unpaid wages, long hours, or being forced to do jobs not includude in the contract. if needed, the ministry will sen

what is the significance of "loveboat" as well as "loveboat, taipei?" abigail: so there's this program that is fairly well-known in certain circles in the asian-american community. parents would send their kids to taiwan since the 1960s to learn language and culture and to find a spouse, potentially. so that's hence the nickname loveboat. and in addition, thi of major high school awards. so presidential scholars, westinghouse, cook scholars, ev would get this trip for free.th thinking we were there for language and cultural training. and we did get it, but we also found out it was the party of your life. bunch of kids dropped off in a foreign land, no supervision, and who had been under supervision for like their entire lives. robert: i can see a novel building out of all of this. abigail: you do. yeah. robert: when you were there, you must have been observing quite a bit and kind of absorbing the--what you weren't expecting to experience there. is that sort of what inspired you to write this book? abigail: right, so i think it's one of these very--you

born in taipei, she is a trained classical musician who found she had a passion for documentary filmmaking and on a global scale. she is presenting her latest work, "finding nasseebi," a film where she turns the camera

joining us from taipei thank you very much. now the holiday spirit might be short lived for live tons of the german airlines cabin crew union has threaten the company with a new round of strikes after christmas and it implied that subsidiaries german wings and euro wings could be affected to denounce that came after failed talks over the weekend as the union is currently seeking better pay and benefits for 21000 staff members in november tons was forced to cancel 1500 flights because of a 2 day strike that brought air traffic across germany to a standstill. and for more on this let's go now to our financial correspondent in frankfurt bards. there's a really good have you with us as always we talked about these cabin crew strikes how much disruption could they cause if they take place. we don't know the extent of that yet the union isn't from feeling any details that's part of the tactic of putting pressure on management to come across the table with with an offer that they would be willing to accept and that they could present

so it's on joining us from taipei thank you very much. women's high heeled shoes are an expression of femininity and often a source of day long discomfort for some japanese working women there an expectation in the office place one of many stated and unstated dress code requirements that don't exist for men now a group of women is pushing back against such double standards take a look. it began as a clamp down on unnecessary foot pain now too is a rallying cry against massage in japan the name is a play on 2 words could too meaning shoes and could sue mean in pain this is the woman who spearheaded the movement on her way to present a petition signed by well over 31000 people calling on the government to include dress codes for women in new anti workplace harris month. here's how she describes the experience of having to wear 3 inch heels to work a little more study theer my little toe would lead every single day you look at there on the. counter where these kinds of shoes. are these gender differences in clothing only don't meant that we

so let's stay with china for a moment and bring in our correspondent in taipei its own hans sure so good to see you peace love to 6 point to 2 percent in the 1st 3 quarters of beijing's bottom line of course is 6 percent something of a symbolic number in china can you tell us more about that. well the g.d.p. growth 6 percent is china's target this year and according to analysts china will be able to meet this goal but it will be more difficult to do so in 2020 because of the trade war and the transformation of china's economy itself so there's a heated debate in china now around whether beijing should try every measure stimulus measure to make sure that the g.d.p. growth doesn't drop below 6 percent and for those who are against it they think that the government should pay more attention on structural changes is that amending or distorting data just to meet this goal but for those people who supported it they think that the g.d.p. growth below 6 would be a major blow to business confidence to job market and further cost social instability which is the most feared thing for the chinese co

let's go now to taipei where i'm joined by d.w. correspondent so don han we just saw that piece on a pig farmer there struggling to make ends meet there with the threat of african swine fever how critical is it for china as a whole to bring in alternative sources here to import pork. well. it is very serious question right now because china's industry has been hammered by africans wife fever according to official data so i feel for has nearly half of china are and we know like china's pork imports has also search more than 150 percent in november from last year and we know the situation especially worse because the price still going higher these hosts taylor stock up on supplies chinese new year holiday says approach and so given this situation reduction in the tariff is not surprising at all. half of pigs talk to your approach is pretty considerable. in the import tariff there these other tariffs as we look at them just one of them are they basically implementing new policy from china or assisting a broader message about trade in

correspondent in taipei aid so dan han so nice to see you as always so you saw that report what are china's ambitions with the belt road initiative. well to eventually get more influence and control in the world we know this from another name of the project that is the still carolled is the engine network of trade routes that connected china and the roman empire and many societies in between so the modern version in vision by the chinese president xi jinping goes further to partner with more countries in asia europe and africa and beyond so that chinese government is biggest and bishan. so you mentioned the original silk road linking as far as the roman empire what about this version of the silk road what role does europe play in it. well as part of china's plan we know some belkin countries or eventually become e.u. member state some early as 2025 so china is using its companies to fill in the development gaps in this cash strapped countries to get more influences so let's say with these infrastructures filled by china in the well spell concerns china can ship its goods from greek to the w

we go towards monday you'll notice that rain really begin to extend not only for joe but towards taipei as well we do expect to see some very heavy rain possibly some localized flooding temptress staying into the low twenty's across much of the area down towards the philippines though some good news there much drier conditions for the recovery and the relief efforts that need to be going on as we go into next week well here across india really not looking too bad across much of the area we have seen a break in the rain particular down towards southern india as well as sri lanka really no clouds around but we could see some rain coming back here towards chennai that's going to happen here on sunday really lingering as we go towards monday as well up towards the north though it's going to be chilly in the mornings rebounding into the mid teens for new delhi but over here towards kolkata and i stay few with a temperature of $23.00 degrees and we are watching some rain here across parts of southern oman that's all due to a lingering tropical system for sala expect to see some more rain in t

forecast map staying in the teens to the north and into the twenty's down here towards the south taipei you could be seeing a nice day as well attempt a few of about 22 degrees not much of a change as we go towards thursday but for taipei do expect to see more rain probably more winds in the forecast as well as we go a little further south of things across the philippines particularly as on are looking quite nice now we do have a few clouds down across much of the south maybe a few showers will be a little bit heavier across that region also heavy clouds and rain is going to be a big problem across much of malaysia as well as indonesia for jakarta down towards bali it is going to mean some mostly cloudy conditions more rain in the forecast by the time we get towards thursday so for jakarta expect those showers in the afternoon with a temperature of 30 degrees there what we have seen a lot of rain down across parts of sri lanka over the last few days things are going to stay much like they have been with rain in the afternoon up towards the central areas though for not per it is going to

counter chinese efforts last find gold is an asia political risk analyst and a policy adviser to the taipei city government he says voters will have to choose between candidates different approaches to china. people here in taiwan they don't accept the one country 2 systems formula that china proposed for hong kong so when it comes to taiwan's relationship with china that's one thing we certainly know and whether it's the nationalist party candidate on go you are the incumbent president so i have one of the democratic progressive party or the 3rd candidate of the people 1st party that none of them support that concept so it's really what other formulas exist now congo u n n james song would return to the formula that was used by the previous president mining joe of the nationalist party which was a formular that china was comfortable with as well but in 2016 the voters elect its on one of the democratic progressive party and she doesn't agree with the previous formula and she prefers a formula that really separates taiwan. identity as its sovereignty excedrin from china so that's a signific

pressure countries that have diplomatic relations with taiwan only 15 nations have kept ties with taipei and in recent days china has tried to win favor with taiwan's voters by introducing a law making it easier for taiwanese companies to invest in the mainland but there's a push there to counter chinese efforts russ feingold is an asia political risk analyst and a policy advisor to the taipei city government he says voters will have to choose between candidates different approaches to china. people here in taiwan they don't accept the one country 2 systems formula that china proposed for hong kong so when it comes to taiwan's relationship with china that's one thing we certainly know and whether it's the nationalist party candidate on go you or the incumbent president so i had one of the democratic progressive party or the 3rd candidate change that people 1st party that none of them support that concept so it's really what other formulas exist now congo you and james song they would return to the formula that was used by the previous president mining joe of the nationalist party which w

shortly afterwards taiwan's one i want towering taipei was this up in front of cheering crowds on closely by bangkok which burst into coming up at the stroke of midnight. in tokyo shoe boy a district there were no fireworks with plenty of people crammed into the city's most famous are crossing when talking icesave more than 100000 just 2. update them all on the website of course t w dot com more of the top of the i have a defect the from. the adventures of the famous naturalist and explorer. to celebrate comics on the front 250th birthday we were embarking on a voyage of discovery. expedition voyage on d.w. .

city government he joins us on skype from taipei russ feingold very warm welcome to the program what's your feeling about what the likely toll of these debates are going to be what are what's going to be the main issues and the main toll. well it's popular for observers outside taiwan to assume that the election is only about relations with china or taiwan its place in the china hong kong situation and what does it mean for taiwan over the long term but a lot of the election is also about domestic issues just like any other democratic societies economic growth and child education elder care you know a lot of the typical issues that you would expect people to be concerned about as far as their daily lives are also significant part of the conversation so the election is not only about china or hong kong ross that was going to be my next question what is the breadth of public opinion what do the taiwanese people want from these elections. well clearly people here in taiwan they don't accept the one country 2 systems formula that china propose for hong kong so when it comes to taiwan's rel

biomedical technology were the main areas of interest now earlier today we spoke to our correspondent in taipei www so it's on hand we asked him what china hopes to achieve with the belt and road initiatives. well to eventually get more influence and control in the world we know from another member of the project that is the silk roll is the engine network of trade routes that connected china in the roman empire and many societies in between so the modern version vision by chinese president xi jinping goes further to partner with more countries in asia europe and beyond so that is chinese government's biggest ambition. the belgian road initiative has also seen a huge amount of chinese investment in africa our next report brings us to kenya and onboard the model rocket express a chinese funded railway linking the 30th of mombasa. express high profile undertaking that aims to bring prosperity to southern kenya and to 2 cities in particular. time to board to mombasa nairobi standard gauge railway or s.g.r. kenya's most expensive infrastructure project the distance between kenya's capital nairobi a

those on hand joining us there in taipei thank you very much. and that's it from me and the business team here in berlin for more business is you can of course find us online dot com slash business or follow us on social media i'm stephen beardsley n.p.r. lead thanks for watching. listen as play by unchecked real estate speculation. historian in the city is fighting back her strongest weapon. shops with history. it's meant to protect businesses with traditions from the speculators. shops with his story. next d.w. . in the height of climate change. africa's may soon see. what's in store for. months to come for the future to. come for to make a city. inside. counter. lisbon has become a must see tourist destination the city's annual 4500000 visitors now strip it's population by around 9 to one international investors are pumping billions of euros into real estate the city is one big building site this woman is trying to keep one component of her city from being destroyed in the process it's historic shops as large as they are lisbon's heart and so

forecast map staying in the teens to the north and into the twenty's down here towards the south taipei you can be seeing a nice day as well attempt a few of about $22.00 degrees not much of a change as we go towards thursday but for taipei do expect to see more rain probably more winds in the forecast as well as we go a little further south of things across the philippines particularly as on are looking quite nice now we do have a few of clouds down across much of the south maybe a few showers will be a little bit heavier across that region also heavy clouds and rain is going to be a big problem across much of malaysia as well as indonesia for jakarta down towards bali it is going to mean some mostly cloudy conditions more rain in the forecast by the time we get towards thursday so for jakarta expect those showers in the afternoon with a temperature of 30 degrees there what we have seen a lot of rain down across parts of sri lanka over the last few days things are going to stay much like they have been with rain in the afternoon up towards the central areas though for not per it is goi

taipei's 101 tower was lit up in front of crowds. close by, bangkok burst into color at the stroke of midnight. tokyo's avoid district, there were no fireworks, but plenty of people crowded into the city's most famous crossing. here's a reminder of our top story. thousands of people have fled to beaches in southeast australia to escape reaching bushfires in the ststates of torah and d new south wales. the blazes have killed at least 12 people and destroyed about 1000 homes. up next, the science magazine. i will be back at the top of the hour. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] with the twenty seventh consecutive day of trump schools strikes france's president emmanuel macron vows to forge ahead with reforms the country's pension system. demonstrators i. goodbye uss strike staged violent protests outside the us embassy in baghdad president trump meanwhile has accused iran old straight to the unrest. and also coming up a completely col

the festival is held every year close to taipei, and teams from all over the country and further afieldome to compete in a celebration of music and dance. it's a big high—profile event, so my team are taking a real risk by letting a total novice join their ranks. 0k. around the circle. 0k. with only an hour to go before the start of the parade, troop leader roger walks me through my role. i'd rather be hiding somewhere at the back, but he's me leading the whole team. look at the dragon... swing. swing this way, like an eight. the idea is that the dragon follows the ball and stick that i'm holding. if only i knew where i was meant to be heading. miraculously, the other performers follow my somewhat frantic lead. let's just hope they'll be this accommodating when we do it for real. i hope no—one laughs at me! in the first section of the parade, a dozen or so local high schools will compete for best performance. the streets are crammed with friends, families and teachers all waiting to see their groups perform. they've been working on their routines for months, and today is the day that it

today we start with "loveboat, taipei," a novel about first love, family obligations, and the transitionulthood by a bay area writer with her own interesting life story; then we explore the brazen attacks on older asian americans in san francisco and how to get the api community involved in the criminal justice system; next to listen for life, how musicians worldwide are working together to save their musical culture and traditions; and fittingly we end with a guitarist from listen for life, eric wang from san jose. all that on our show today.son intriguing story, and it is.

embassy in taipei. longer usmc type a it is u.s. embassy beijing. you can see the changing relationship of something like that. this was from a consulate in england that eventually closed down. you can see changing national economies, political priorities with openings and closings of consulates as well. so, fantastic items. katie: yes, and we have some items here that the seal would be appropriate for. alison: absolutely. the great seal appears on passport. we love fantastic passports. we have a story about the owner of this passport. katie: we do. it is the second oldest passport we have in our collection, and unusual on many counts. was issued to this gentleman. his name was samuel waller. he was a businessman who spent most of his time in new york city, but he traveled back and forth to bridgeport quite frequently. we know that because we have his travel diary and calendar. what is really interesting about him americans did not need , passports to leave the country. it was not required until 1941. so the fact that he felt the need that he had to

the taipei i'm rico hizon in singapore and welcome to newsday on the bbc. the headlines: formal impeachment charges for president trump are unveiled — a vote is expected next week. to do nothing would make ourselves complicit in the president's abuse of his high office and public trust in our national security. aung san suu kyi appears at the international court ofjustice to defend her country against charges of genocide against the muslim rohingya community. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme. recovery teams are hoping to begin work shortly on the volcanic island in new zealand where eight people are missing, feared dead. and new evidence says climate change is causing greenland's ice sheet to melt seven times faster than twenty years ago. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 9am in singapore, 1am in london, and 8pm in washington, dc where democrats in the us house of representatives have set out articles of impeachment — that's formal charges — against president trump. they

shortly afterwards taiwan's one o one tower in taipei was lit up in front of a cheering crowd. it's north korea also put on a show thousands of people gathered in pyongyang to see the new year in. n.g. by world's tallest building the burj khalifa was the center of celebrations in the u.a.e. also in moscow russians were treated to a fireworks locking up the sky of the red square. well ahead of the new year's celebrations we sent our correspondents out to walk a number of people in a number of cities about their hopes and wishes for the ne. i hope hong kong will become a long time for us hong kong has always been called a cultural it doesn't because we focus on economic development we young people should show hong kong's cultural uniqueness to the world. for the coming decades i wish for the lebanese people to wake up and become aware that their religious and political affiliations would you did no way and would never be and you would never have been because. i would like lattimer putin to stop dallas that he's been in power for over 18 years and i'm tired of it and i want to cha

live in hong kong as 2020 strikes in that part of the world, at the same time as it does in beijing, taipei and other major cities. we may be able to show you pictures from their later. thousands of people in south—eastern australia have been forced to seek refuge on beaches and boats after becoming trapped by advancing bush fires. in the state of victoria, 4000 people, locals and tourists alike, prepared to flee into the ocean as a last resort. military aircraft and naval ships are being deployed to carry out evacuations and support firefighters. in new south wales, two more people have been killed and dozens of properties destroyed along a stretch of coastline. 0ur sydney correspondent, shaimaa khalil, reports. this is what uncontrollable blazes pushed by strong winds have done to towns across eastern australia. and this is what firefighters have been up against for weeks now. this crew, trapped in theirfire engine as they fight an impossible battle. in the coastal town of batemans bay in new south wales, residents have fled, taking shelter on the beach, desperately trying to escape the h

born in taipei, she is a trained classical musician who found she had a passion for documentary filmmaking and on a global scale. she is presenting her latest work, "finding nasseebi," a film where she turns the camera on herself and her journey to understand islam. welcome to the show. andrea yu-chieh chung: thank you for having us. robert: good to see you again. steve yamaguma: good to see you. robert: give me an idea here, it's the fifth year. how has it evolved from like what it started out to do and how big has it gotten? 'cause every year it seems to get bigger. steve: well, it started out as a community function. and we had films at local community venues, like the church and the community center. and we've slowly grown the film festival, now we're 3 days and we have about 21 films we're showing. and it's at the cinearts theatre in santana row, and we're really excited to bring all this talent to silicon valley. robert: give people an idea here in terms of the wide range of films that you have. and people might think that maybe they all have maybe a consistent theme, and yet from wh

shortly after what's taipei's want to one tower out was listen up fronts of cheering clark crowds. on closely by babcock which bust into color at the stroke of midnight. tokyo's sure boy a district there were no 5 votes what kind of people crammed into the city's most famous across event over the 100000 people i went back to so. i was reminded of our top story of thousands of people have fled to beaches in southeast australians mistake the raging bushfires in the states of victoria and new south winds blazes killed at least 12 people and destroyed more than a 1000 homes. i'm next to be w. tomorrow today the science magazine i'll be back at the top of the out of it. the blueprint for every living thing on this planet my new commissioner coat d.n.a. . a brilliant natural it's the most effective way to see vast amounts of data scientists in syria now want to use this code for technology they're developing artificial d.n.a. to save digital information to our world today next on d w. getting into the top in opera is not for the faint hearted. a fantastic voice alone just isn't enough an

we go towards sunday notice the increase of rain anywhere from hong kong to go over here towards taipei as well temperatures are coming down we do expect to see a chilly and rainy day in hong kong with about 1000 degrees there well for india the northern part of india we are talking about of course the winter has been sitting and very hard across much of the region i want to show you some video across much of the region this is punjab the visibility is coming down with very dense fog temperatures only reaching to about minus 4 to about minus 3 degrees and overnight it's into the minus double to single digits this a very cold very stagnant air across much of the area we're going to be seeing much of the same over the next few days new delhi a little chilly for you as well with the terms of their of about 60 degrees down towards the south though finally we're getting a break from that very heavy rain that was also affecting parts of sri lanka up towards kolkata though it is going to be a partly cloudy day with attempt a few up $22.00 degrees and then very quickly across the gulf we are go

beijing has continued to ramp up its military presence in the south china sea and is closing in on taipei's dwindling diplomatic allies xi jinping has fashioned himself as a great leader of china and how such is determined to leave behind a great legacy analysts say securing china's role as a leader in the asia pacific and bringing taiwan firmly back on the mainland control are central to that legacy and a disastrous outcome according to the united states washington has agreed to sell taiwan fighter jets tanks and weapons infuriating the communist party but china is not taking any action just now do you want to provoke the us to get involved such as you want to take what way why don't we if you. when you or your military is going to be stronger the u.s. which is likely to be weaker too will be watching taiwan's election from beijing waiting to see whether the island moves closer to the mainland or further away. beijing and in the next part of our series looking into the big stories of 2024 how the protests that have spread across iraq since october politics they're going for. now china has

and to taiwan's tallest skyscraper the taipei 101 tower it was the focus of another elaborate fireworks display thousands of people there joined in the celebrations. and the world saying goodbye to 2019 a year when people across the globe rose up against their governments in some nations that brought an end to the rule of dictators and others young people stood up to demand more action to save the planet as the year draws to a close we take a look at some of $29.00 teams biggest stories. demonstrators united the opposition to a proposed extradition. now he's the summer of office contact. parties to say has become about much more than a proposed law was i to about the future of this city. the way the political and social unrest is sweeping south america. in super they talk about it i think i one way you don't is the man that challenges his illegitimacy on some day he's still the president of bolivia why did they choose de was out of the mix so. this is how the end of 30 years of rule looked when president already this year was deposed. after 18 months of protest and 4 months of negotiati

teens down towards the south though they are into the mid to low twenty's across much of the area for taipei and i stay for you with the temperature of 25 degrees maybe dropping down to about 24 as we go toward saturday over here towards india though still dealing with a lot of rain down towards the south for sri lanka as well you can receive some rain in the forecast coming back as we start to go towards the beginning of the weekend but look at the north we're talking about plenty of rain affecting parts of new delhi as well so it's going be a little chilly there during the overnight hours in during the daytime only getting to about 17 degrees by the time we get toward saturday though the rain should be pulling away more sun in the forecast for the temps there 18 and then here across the gulf well there is the potential of some rain for us here in doha as we go into friday notice the rain across much of the area with plenty of clouds also affecting parts of kuwait as well so 24 degrees here on friday with the possibility of some rain and as we go toward saturday more sun in the forecast 25

into these northern coastal areas of it now and still fairly wet day really across much of taiwan so taipei 20 celsius with those showers that should be dry on wednesday so quite a cloudy day but a much improved picture really as well through much of eastern china 11 celsius in shanghai so not as cold as it was but there are very persistent in this coastal areas of vietnam want to see a washout in the 4 calls as well across areas of the philippines and certainly west of borneo that's where the heavy rain will be as we go through wednesday it tends to come fairly extensive and really quite heavy across much of sumatra not out across the many peninsula but also fairly widespread rains across much of java that want to see showers across southern areas of india but really the main story here has been and will continue to be the cold across northern india and also all the way across into northern bangladesh particularly in the overnight hours but not warm by day new delhi at best up to 17 degrees. the weather sponsored by catherine. they wanted 43000000 pounds worth of weaponry that was 60000000

philippines but again to the north it is mostly clear and dry 20 celsius in hong kong $21.00 across in taipei that we had down to the south that we have got much more here in the way of rain some pretty strong storms have been breaking out last year as across these western areas borneo in particular but also across into some outre wanted to show sunday likely across the malaysian peninsula and we have been seeing those showers further to the south into much of java similar picture on monday can see where the have you rains will be says certainly monday for the work week kuala lumpur and singapore expect to see rain showers and of course the usual thunderstorms we've also got a fairly quiet picture across much over india of how that recent flooding down across the south across the into tom and i do and showers continue here and maybe inch an eye on monday. good weather sponsored by catherine. friendly al jazeera in london broke us into special guests in conversation who would have still been in the rich country we used hunger as a weapon i'm from uninterrupted it's much more difficult to be a

salamatgs rishaad caught up with both in taipei. >> it's been around for 10 years.apps in this space? there are none. rishaad: what's going on here? he was questioning your finances and you got very heated. >> he is a hater. he's a no-coiner. some but who doesn't have any bitcoin and has watched the price rocket in their face. rishaad: that's a bit harsh? >> i think so, but it's true. >> the price slid after a brief gain. >> facebook is working on creating a stable coin, something to use for payment. needs to be stable. currency i spend a if i thought it would be worth more in three months? you need more stability for a payment currency. it's difficult to change the rules around bitcoin so it becomes like a digital gold. people don't own enough of it and i see the price going significantly higher over the next couple years. >> use say the price would go higher. do you have a call? >> i think if we can get to the old high over the next year, every bitcoiner will be happy. when? i think about bitcoin it probably has a $160 million market cap. bitcoin has a long way to