Macronix upbeat on Nintendo orders
US trade sanctions on Huawei Technologies Co (華為) would barely dent the chipmaker’s shipments to the Chinese company, Macronix said. Macronix primarily supplies NOR flash memory chips used in Huawei’s 5G base stations, he said. As global trade becomes chaotic due to the trade spat, Macronix is more cautious about the outlook for the second half, Wu said. “It is certain that the second half would be better than the first half. To further fuel growth, Macronix plans to mass produce advanced 19-nanometer NAND flash memory chips in the fourth quarter, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 16:05 UTC
Uni-President is eyeing Asia: Lo
By Kwan Shin-han / Staff reporterUni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation’s largest food and beverage conglomerate, views Asian markets as the major driving force for growth. Expanding and connecting Asian markets is the company’s major goal for the next 50 years, Lo said. “The company plans to utilize Woongjin’s brand name and existing sales channels, and aims to provide customers with better and new shopping experiences,” the official quoted Lo as saying. Uni-President expects the deal to contribute to its sales this year as South Korean products become more popular in Asian markets. Separately, drugstore chain Cosmed (康是美), a subsidiary of Uni-President, plans to rejuvenate its corporate image and adjust its product lineup, the official quoted Cosmed chairwoman Shirley Kao (高秀玲) as saying.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
Ministry downplays Solomon Islands visit to China
Several media outlets have reported that a delegation led by the Solomon Islands’ minister for forestry and research, and minister for mines, energy and rural electrification visited China last week. The visit came at a time when the Solomon Islands is considering whether to maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan or switch recognition to China. Timber is also the Solomon Islands’ main export product. The Solomon Islands government made the trip public, she said. Ou has said that most of the lawmakers on the Solomon Islands’ 50-seat parliament support maintaining diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
UN review faults ‘systemic failure’ with Myanmar
Reuters, UNITED NATIONSThere was a “systemic failure” of the UN in dealing with the situation in Myanmar ahead of a deadly 2017 military crackdown, because it did not have a unified strategy and lacked UN Security Council support, according to an internal report. UN investigators have said the operation was executed with “genocidal intent” and included mass killings, gang rapes and widespread arson. Myanmar denies widespread wrongdoing and says the military campaign across hundreds of villages in Rakhine State was in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents. The Security Council, which visited Rakhine State last year, has been deadlocked with China and Russia pitted against Western states over how to deal with the situation. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Rosenthal’s report was due to be sent to all 193 members states.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
No cutback in US official visits: MOFA
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it has not received any information that US President Donald Trump has asked government officials not to visit Taiwan, and that continuing visits by senior US officials show that Taiwan-US ties remain tight. Trump requested that no US diplomats travel to Taiwan while he works on a deal with China, the source said. Over the past several months, many senior US officials have visited Taiwan, which demonstrates the soundness of ties, Yao said. Among the visitors have been US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Trade Policy and Negotiations David Meale, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Nerissa Cook and US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce. The process is going smoothly and according to schedule, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
NCKU team touts potential therapy for rare disease
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterA team of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) researchers has developed a new therapy for a rare childhood immunodeficiency disorder that employs nanotechnology to enhance the use of curcumin as a medication. Seeking a more accessible and safer treatment, about six years ago he began researching using curcumin, which is extracted from turmeric roots, Shieh said. His team eventually developed a method using nanotechnology to wrap curcumin with a more biocompatible material, allowing it to act on target bacteria, he said. He thanked current and former members of the team, including Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Shieh Dar-bin (謝達斌), for their work. The method could be applied to other diseases with similar pathologies, Shieh Chi-chang told a reporter who asked if developing a cure for one rare disease was worth the effort.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
EVA airways fined NT$1m for making staff work overtime
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Taoyuan Department of Labor has fined EVA Airways Corp NT$1 million (US$31,718) for making its flight attendants work overtime on four flights earlier this year, the airline said on Monday. On one flight, the flight attendants were found to have overworked just four minutes, it said. The airline’s labor union has accused EVA of repeatedly violating overtime regulations, but the airline said its percentage of overtime to total crew was low, at 0.12 percent. “That means out of 10,000 flight attendants, 12 worked overtime. The proposed schedules would allow flight attendants to fly a single route without worrying about wage cuts, the airline said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
Lam Wing-kei discusses politics, bookstore plans
By Jason Pan / Staff reporterDemocratic Progressive Party Secretary-General Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) and Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kei (林榮基) yesterday discussed the right to political protest at a public event, at which Lam also announced his plan to open a bookstore in Taipei. As the founder of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, Lam stocked political books, Luo said, adding that Lam was arrested in 2015 when crossing the border into Shenzhen, and was detained and tortured by Chinese authorities for eight months. Lam said he plans to open a bookstore in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町), because it is a popular area for young people. “Taiwan’s youth are looking at their mobile phones all the time. “It could become a place for academics, youths and students to communicate and interact with each other, so it would not just be for selling books,” Lam said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
Matsu authorities aim to crack down on smuggling
Staff writer, with CNAMatsu authorities on Monday set up a platform as part of their efforts to crack down on criminal activities, the Lienchiang District Prosecutors’ Office said. Local authorities have over the past six months handled six cases involving dozens of stowaways, one human trafficking case, two cases of poaching sea sand, six cases of illegal fishing and several cases of mushroom and cigarette smuggling, the office said. Attempts by stowaways to enter Taiwan through the Matsu Islands have been on the rise, affecting local social order and posing a threat to national security, Chief Prosecutor Yu Hsiu-duan (俞秀端) said, without providing any details. However, Chinese have been sailing directly to Dongyin (東引) and Beigan (北竿) islands before proceeding to Taiwan proper with fake documents through the help of human trafficking rings, she added. Some Taiwanese criminals have also used the Matsu Islands as a transit point to enter China with false documents, Yu said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
Banks to include CO2 cuts in shipping loan decisions
Reuters, LONDONA group of leading banks will for the first time include efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions in their decisionmaking when providing shipping company loans, executives said yesterday. Working with non-profit organizations the Global Maritime Forum, the Rocky Mountain Institute and London University’s UCL Energy Institute, 11 banks have established a framework to measure the carbon intensity of shipping finance portfolios. Banks will in the longer term be more selective about which ships they include in their lending portfolios, bankers said. Danske Bank global head of shipping Oivind Haraldsen said more institutions would join the efforts to cut the carbon footprint of the sector. “All of us have to push — we as banks probably have more power than we are aware,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
Aboriginal justice must be part of nation’s DNA: Tsai
By Yang Chun-hui and Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe government aims to embed historical and transitional justice for the nation’s Aborigines into the “DNA of democratic life in Taiwan,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday. She made the remark at the 10th meeting of the Presidential Office Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee in Taipei. It is the committee’s duty to uncover historical truths, restore the historical perspectives of Aboriginal groups and start meaningful discussion, Tsai said. To speak up about the repressions that people endured in the past is to carry out historical and transitional justice, Tsai said. The government seeks to initiate more dialogue and help the public better understand Aboriginal culture, Tsai added.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
Sotheby’s sold for US$3.7 billion
AP, NEW YORKThe 275-year-old auction house Sotheby’s is being sold to a French-Israeli businessman for about US$3.7 billion. Sotheby’s, founded in London in 1744, is the oldest company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The New York company, which started in London, holds auctions in 10 salesrooms worldwide, with annual sales turnover exceeding US$4 billion. Sotheby’s counterpart in London, Christies, founded by James Christie in 1766, was sold to another French businessman, Francois Pinault, in the late 1980s. Peter Paul Rubens’ The Massacre of the Innocents was sold in London for ￡49.5 million (US$62.05 million at the current exchange rate).
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
With ‘Libra,’ Facebook dives into digital money
AFP, SAN FRANCISCOFacebook Inc is leaping into the world of cryptocurrency with its own digital money, designed to let people save, send or spend money as easily as firing off text messages. Facebook and about two dozen partners released a prototype of Libra as an open source code to be used by developers interested in weaving it into apps, services or businesses ahead of a rollout as global digital money next year. Facebook will be just one voice among many in the association, but is separately building a digital wallet called Calibra. The Libra Association will be the only entity able to “mint or burn” the digital currency, maintaining supply in tune with demand and assets in reserve, Barel said. Libra will be a regulated currency, subject to local laws in markets regarding fraud, guarding against money laundering and more, Weil said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
Home prices stabilize, but people delaying purchases
By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterTaiwanese have turned slightly more optimistic about the domestic property market, as housing prices have stabilized and transactions increased, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said yesterday, citing a quarterly poll. However, an overwhelming majority of respondents intend to delay home purchases until after the US-China trade row and the nation’s presidential elections. “The findings suggest little room for property price hikes, despite an improvement in sentiment,” Evertrust spokesman Jay Hsieh (謝志傑) told a news conference. A total of 43 percent of respondents expect housing prices to hold steady next quarter, gaining 3 percentage points from the previous quarter to a four-year high, the real-estate brokerage said. People in Hsinchu — home to major technology companies — were least optimistic, as they are more sensitive to global economic headwinds, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC
Tribunal says China still harvests prisoners’ organs
The GuardianAn independent tribunal sitting in London on Monday concluded that the killing of detainees in China for organ transplants is continuing and victims include imprisoned members of the Falun Gong movement. Among those killed, it has been alleged, are members of religious minorities such as Falun Gong. China in 2014 announced that it would stop removing organs for transplantation from executed prisoners and has dismissed the claims as politically motivated and untrue. Waiting times for transplantation offered by hospitals in China were extraordinarily low, often only a couple of weeks, the tribunal said. Investigators calling hospitals in China inquiring about transplants for patients have in the past been told that the source of some organs were from Falun Gong members, the tribunal said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 18, 2019 15:56 UTC