Prosecutors in Shenzhen, China, on Thursday last week said in a statement that Yang had been arrested on suspicion of embezzlement and that legal procedures were ongoing. The statement omitted the second of three Chinese characters that make up Yang’s full name, likely to shield his identity. It did not mention Bitmain or MicroBT (比特微), the cryptomining company Yang founded a month after quitting Bitmain. The Beijing-based company last year lost a court ruling against MicroBT over allegations that Yang’s start-up infringed its patent rights. Yang, the majority shareholder of MicroBT, graduated from Beijing’s Tsinghua University with a doctorate in mechatronics before entering the chip-design industry.

Every effort he has made has been distorted by the DPP’s online influence campaigns and “cybertroops,” he said. Asked about Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) remarks earlier in the day that Han should stop blaming others for setbacks in his “love Ferris wheel” project, Han said Lin appears to be “completely clueless” about why the project has made little progress. The project is not making progress because the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has not approved Han’s proposal, his campaign office spokeswoman Anne Wang (王淺秋) said. Commenting on the remark that “cybertroops” are targeting Han, Wang said that many Facebook fan groups supporting Han have been closed by the social media company after “cybertroops” falsely reported them. Facebook should adopt more cautious measures for screening its fan groups, “or it would become a tool for the DPP to suppress freedom of speech,” she said.

By Wu Liang-yi and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerPeople should drink 240ml of milk two times a day to get enough protein and calcium, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday, adding that most Taiwanese do not have enough calcium in their diet. The HPA cited guidelines it introduced in October that recommend what people who frequently eat out should order at Taiwanese or Western-style breakfast shops to ensure a balanced and nutritious first meal of the day. People can order one cup of fresh milk tea without sugar, or one glass bottle of long-life milk, and consume another 240ml later in the day, it said. Soybean milk is not a substitute, as its nutritional value is different, the HPA said. However, vegetables in meals at breakfast stores do not meet the daily minimum amount, so more should be eaten at lunch and dinner, it said.

Cross-strait relations have left Taiwan unrecognized on the global stage and facing hurdles to interact with other nations, Liu said. “If it is difficult to use the nation’s identity to promote Taiwan, then we can use a person to introduce our country,” she said. The situation Taiwan faces can be compared to a marginalized student, with the global community knowing little of its achievements in sustainable development, Shen said. Dai has Facebook and LinkedIn accounts and is building a social network, Shen and Huang said. The team’s biggest goal is for Dai to receive job offers from international organizations, as it would be the perfect way to prove to the world that “Dai Yi-wan — Taiwan — can help,” they said.

Our goal is that the tourism industry becomes a locomotive that drives the economy forward,” she said at the opening of the “Tourism 2030: National Tourism Policy Development Conference.”As of last week, Taiwan had received 11.11 million international visitors this year, which would be the fifth year that the number of foreign travelers has exceeded 10 million, Tsai said. As the government would concentrate on promoting Taiwan’s mountains and other ecological resources to international tourists next year, Tsai said that it would also introduce Aboriginal cultures, which would add value to the nation’s tourism industry. “We will continue to find new sources of international travelers and hope to elevate the nation’s travel quality and quantity by building on the current foundation,” she said. In October, the number of international travelers who are not from China rose by 16 percent, also a new record. Statistics from the Tourism Bureau showed that the nation’s foreign-exchange earnings from tourism hit a peak in 2014 at US$14.61 billion.

AFP, SEOULThe top US representative in talks with North Korea yesterday slammed Pyongyang’s demands as hostile and unnecessary as its end-of-year deadline approaches, but held open the door for fresh negotiations. The North has insisted that Washington offer it new concessions by the end of the year, with the process largely deadlocked since the collapse of a summit in Hanoi in February. Tensions between the US and the nuclear-armed North reached a peak in 2017, with US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un trading mutual insults and threats of renewed conflict. A rapid diplomatic detente followed, climaxing with the Singapore summit, when the two men signed a vague statement on denuclearization, but Washington still stations 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect its ally. Directly addressing “our counterparts in North Korea,” Biegun added: “It is time for us to do our jobs.

AFP, WASHINGTONThe US-China trade deal is “remarkable” in scope, but it would not solve all the problems between the world’s two biggest economies, the top US negotiator said on Sunday. In 2017, before the US-China trade dispute was unleashed, the US exported about US$120 billion in goods to the Asian giant. “Over the course of the last year, what this president [US President Donald Trump] has accomplished in this area is remarkable,” Lighthizer said, referring also to the just-concluded US-Mexico-Canada trade deal and others. “It really is a remarkable agreement, but it’s not going to solve all the problems,” he said. The deal enables the two sides to declare a truce in a trade dispute that has roiled the global economy for the past 18 months.

Industrial production increased 6.2 percent annually, up from 4.7 percent in October and the best reading in six months. The figures exceeded expectations, with analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predicting 5 percent growth in industrial production and 7.6 percent in retail sales. China’s economy is in an extended slowdown and the Singles’ Day fire sale is viewed as a snapshot of consumer sentiment. Economic growth slowed to 6 percent in the third quarter as demand for exports cooled and Chinese tightened their belts. However, analysts said yesterday’s strong data were not necessarily a sign of long-lasting growth.

AFP, JAKARTAIndonesia has filed a WTO lawsuit against the EU over plans to phase out palm oil-based biofuel for vehicles, the Indonesian Ministry of Trade said on Sunday. The action could escalate a trade dispute between Indonesia — the world’s top palm oil producer — and the EU, which plans to end its use of biofuels by 2030, citing concerns over widespread deforestation caused by the sector. In response to what it called “discriminative” policies against its key palm oil exports, Indonesia said it last week filed a complaint with the WTO. Neighboring Malaysia, the world’s second-biggest palm oil producer, has also threatened WTO action against the EU. Palm oil is the world’s most widely used vegetable oil and a key ingredient in a wide range of products from food to cosmetics.

BloombergBoeing Co is considering temporarily halting production of the 737 MAX as regulatory clearance for the grounded jet’s return looks increasingly likely to slip beyond next month, a person familiar with the matter said. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the production plans have become more urgent, as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) signaled it would not certify the revamped MAX this year. “We continue to work closely with the FAA and global regulators towards certification and the safe return to service of the MAX,” Boeing said in an e-mail. Boeing slashed 737 production by 19 percent in the weeks following the March tragedy. The FAA said it was worried by a perception that Boeing was pressuring regulators to take action.

Secondly, I’ve never been told before that I couldn’t say the word ‘president,’” he said. The biggest impact of the cancelation of the contract with Papitube was that the company would reach fewer viewers in China and Malaysia, he said. It is also a natural and normal thing to do to address me as president,” Tsai said. “Companies in [the] Mainland should not be punishing Potter King. “I am lodging a protest against this and siding with Potter King,” he said, adding that cross-strait exchanges should be conducted in a peaceful manner.

By Wu Liang-yi / Staff reporterAcademia Sinica yesterday announced that the Taiwan Biobank, established in 2012, has collected biological information from more than 120,000 volunteers. The two-day symposium, cohosted by Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia, and the Taiwan Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking, focuses on the sustainability of human biobanks, precision medicine and other issues. The Taiwan Biobank is the largest infrastructure for Taiwan’s biomedical development, and is the only ethnic biobank in the nation with long-term traceability, Liao said. The number of voluntary participants has exceeded 120,000, and genotyping and gene chip analysis on more than 100,000 people have been accomplished, which are provided for research and industrial analysis application, Academia Sinica said. Also present at yesterday’s ceremony were Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), Taiwan Biobank Project director Lee Te-chang (李德章), National Health Research Institutes distinguished researcher Tsai Shih-feng (蔡世峯), Taiwan Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking chairman Ho Hong-nerng (何弘能) and nearly 100 academics.

By Natasha Li / Staff reporterElectricity generated by solar power soared 51.7 percent in the first 10 months of this year, becoming the nation’s second-largest alternative energy source, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. A total 3,418 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity was generated by solar energy, or 26.3 percent of total renewable energy generation over the period and 1.47 percent of overall electricity generation, the ministry said. Hydropower remained the largest alternative energy source, generating 5,117GWh over the period, or 39.3 percent of total renewable energy generation, it said. Overall, renewable energy accounted for 13,006GWh, or 5.6 percent, of the nation’s total electricity generation over the period, it said. Driven mainly by hydropower and solar power, the share of renewable energy in electricity generation surged 22.4 percent year-on-year during the period, the ministry said.

Staff writer, with CNAStarLux Airlines Co (星宇航空) is to start selling tickets today before launching services next month, StarLux president Glenn Chai (翟健華) said on Friday. The carrier is to start flights to Macau, Malaysia’s Penang and Da Nang in Vietnam from Jan. 23, a day before next Lunar New Year’s Eve, aiming to tap into the busy holiday, Chai said. The flights on Jan. 23 are to take off at 7:30am, 7:40am and 9:20am respectively, StarLux said. Separately, Tigerair Taiwan Co (台灣虎航), a subsidiary of China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), is to start trading on the Taipei Exchange’s Emerging Stock Board, with its shares valued at NT$41 apiece. Tigerair plans to shift its shares to the Taiwan Stock Exchange in the fourth quarter of next year, spokesman Bernard Hsu (許致遠) told the Taipei Times last week.

Taipei Times: Why did you and your partners want to start KYMCO Capital (金庫資本) a decade ago? Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業) set an example. That was when KYMCO Capital came in and decided to serve as a platform, helping those companies to build partnerships and leverage each other’s strengths. Ting: KYMCO Capital now manages seven funds with a combined capital of US$370 million. The fund operates independently from Kwang Yang.