Factory that rolled Castro’s cigars still striving for perfect puff
The name recalls the way the native Taino people referred to the rolled tobacco leaves they smoked. Expertly handling curved blades and a sticky substance, dozens of workers put the finishing touches on the ends of newly rolled cigars. Another founder, Norma Fernandez, who died during the pandemic, rolled the cigars for the leader of the revolution. Cohiba cigars, which include a wide range of styles, can cost US$30 to US$200 each, in Cuba and abroad. “Cuban tobacco is distinguished from all other kinds by the flavor of the land of Pinar del Rio,” Gonzalez said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 17, 2022 17:35 UTC
Remembering Soviet imperialism
Remembering Soviet imperialismBy Andrzej DudaThe outbreak of World War II, which began on Sept. 1, 1939, with the invasion of Poland by the Nazi Third Reich, is one of the events annually commemorated throughout Europe. However, Sept. 17, 1939, the date of the Soviet Union’s aggression against Poland, is not as widely known. The German sphere of influence was to include western Poland, Lithuania and Romania, while the Soviet control was to extend over eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. As were other nations that fell within the Soviet sphere of influence after Russia’s victory over the Third Reich. Some of them were annexed directly to the Soviet Union as federal states — such was the fate of the Balts, Belarusians and Ukrainians.
Source:Taipei Times
September 17, 2022 07:52 UTC
Trench conflict
Hon Hai, Vedanta to invest US$19.5bn in Gujarat‘USHER IN A NEW ERA’: The venture aims to start manufacturing display and chip products within two years, and would create 100,000 new jobs in the Indian state Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Vedanta Ltd are to invest US$19.5 billion under pacts signed yesterday to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reuters was first to report on Monday that the joint venture obtained subsidies, including on capital expenditure and electricity, from Gujarat to set up units near the western state’s largest city, Ahmedabad. The showpiece investment of 1.54 trillion rupees (US$19.5 billion), which Gujarat said was the largest ever by any group in an Indian state, comes ahead of key local elections in the state where
Source:Taipei Times
September 17, 2022 03:53 UTC
FSC to tighten rules for local investment firms
FSC to tighten rules for local investment firmsBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) plans to tighten its oversight over local investment brokerages to hold company board members accountable if fund managers are found to be involved in fraud or malpractice, the commission said on Thursday. The FSC would stipulate in the Regulations Governing Responsible Persons and Associated Persons of Securities Investment Trust Enterprises (證券投資信託事業負責人與業務人員管理規則) that board members are responsible for supervising fund managers, it told a news videoconference. Given the rise in malpractice cases among fund managers, the FSC increased the maximum fine for such activity to NT$15 million from NT$3 million. The commission would bar people from serving on the boards of two or more securities investment companies to prevent conflicts of interests, Chang said. Although the FSC is generally tightening rules for fund managers, it would relax one rule, allowing them to manage the wealth of their dependent children, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 16, 2022 23:27 UTC
Yuan investors weaken currency
Yuan investors weaken currencyBloombergThe yuan extended declines after breaching the 7 per US dollar level as concerns that the US Federal Reserve might deliver an outsized rate hike next week eclipsed a string of attempts from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to support the currency. People walk past the People’s Bank of China headquarters in Beijing on April 4, 2020. The gap between onshore yuan and the fixing stayed near 800 pips, which was the most since 2020. The yuan is at a 13-year high versus the South Korean won and 29-year high versus the Japanese yen. Moreover, the trade-weighted yuan has remained little changed since last month, a Bloomberg tracker of the CFETS Index showed.
Source:Taipei Times
September 16, 2022 23:27 UTC
Taipower unveils power resiliency plan
Taiwan Power Co acting chairman Tseng Wen-sheng, center, and president Wang Yao-ting, right, hold a news conference to announce the company’s 10-year plan to enhance its power grids’ resilience. To prevent such ripple effects, Taipower plans to reduce interregional power supply by adjusting power allocation and deploying dedicated microgrids to transmit power directly to industrial users in major science parks, Wang said. Taipower plans to transmit electricity to industrial users in the Hsinchu Science Park from the Tunghsiao Power Plant (通霄電廠) in Miaoli County, while the Taichung Power Plant (台中電廠) would serve users in the Central Taiwan Science Park. The Hsinta Power Plant will supply power to companies in the Southeastern Taiwan Science Park, while the Datan Power Plant (大潭電廠) will be responsible for users in Taoyuan and New Taipei City industrial parks, the company said. To provide stable power supply, Taipower plans to add about 52 new and revamped substations, mostly indoor facilities within the next 10 years.
Source:Taipei Times
September 16, 2022 04:07 UTC
Deconstructing the Taiwan question
Deconstructing the Taiwan questionBy Jerome KeatingThe People’s Republic of China (PRC) has no legitimate claim to Taiwan despite the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) constant harping on. The CCP used US of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as a pretext to demonstrate that it could reach the nation with its missiles, as well as present its innocuous white paper on “the Taiwan question.”The Taiwan question has been around for a long time. The Taiwan question was on my mind when writing five books on Taiwan over the past two decades. What is important is that they know how to manipulate the “true believers” who are the proverbial frogs in a well. In any discussion on Taiwan with “true believers,” the Cairo and Potsdam declarations — 1943 and 1945 respectively — inevitably comes up.
Source:Taipei Times
September 16, 2022 04:05 UTC
Taiwan hosts lawmakers to push China sanctions
Taiwan hosts lawmakers to push China sanctionsReuters, WASHINGTONRepresentative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on Tuesday hosted dozens of international lawmakers who back sanctions on China for aggression toward Taiwan, a show of support for Taipei amid military pressure from Beijing. Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters“We will campaign to ensure our governments signal to the PRC that military aggression towards Taiwan will cost Beijing dearly. It added that their countries’ ties to Taiwan were not Beijing’s to determine, and that they would push to increase mutual visits by lawmakers. Sources familiar with the issue have told Reuters that Washington is considering sanctions against China to deter it from invading Taiwan, with Taipei calling on the EU to do the same. An initial version of that bill threatens severe sanctions against China for any aggression against Taiwan, and would provide Taiwan with billions of US dollars in foreign military financing in coming years.
Source:Taipei Times
September 15, 2022 02:25 UTC
Academy dedicated to the circular economy founded
Academy dedicated to the circular economy foundedBy Tung Chen-kuo and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerGovernment partnerships with academia and enterprises are key to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday at the founding of the nation’s first academy dedicated to the circular economy. The National Chung Hsing University Academy of Circular Economy in Nantou County is the first educational institution of its kind to be established in Taiwan and is to play a lead role in the nation’s efforts to tackle the challenges of climate change, the president said. President Tsai Ing-wen, third right, attends the opening of the National Chung Hsing University Academy of Circular Economy in Nantou County’s Jhongsing New Village yesterday. The Nantou campus is in Jhongsing New Village (中興新村), the former seat of the now-defunct Taiwan Provincial Government, university president Hsueh Fu-sheng (薛富盛) said. The Academy of Circular Economy — established under Taipei’s directive to boost industry-university collaboration in key technological fields — would become Asia’s first research institute for new agriculture, digital and green semiconductor technologies, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 14, 2022 04:15 UTC
Focus on building asymmetric combat capability: TPP
Focus on building asymmetric combat capability: TPPBy Hung Ching-hsuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe government should prioritize use of its fiscal 2023 national defense budget — estimated at NT$586.3 billion (US$18.98 billion) — on building the military’s asymmetric combat capabilities and procuring more and better equipment, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus said yesterday. Despite racking up NT$1.7 trillion in expenditures for purchasing weapons, more than 70 percent of the military’s equipment is antiquated, he said. Taiwan People’s Party legislators Jang Chyi-lu, center left, and Chiu Chen-yuan, center right, hold a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense should review its arms purchases and see if they align with the military’s aims, Chiu said. President Tsai Ing-wen, center, tours the Army Center of Ordinance Preparation and Development during an inspection of the military’s modernization efforts in Nantou County’s Jiji Township yesterday.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2022 23:31 UTC
Hon Hai, Vedanta to invest US$19.5bn in Gujarat
The Foxconn Technology Group logo is pictured atop the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co headquarters in New Taipei City on Aug. 10. Photo: Lam Yik Fei, BloombergThe companies yesterday said the Vedanta-Hon Hai joint venture project would create more than 100,000 jobs in Gujarat. The Vedanta venture aims to start manufacturing display and chip products within two years, Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal told a public event in Gujarat, where an agreement was signed with state officials. Vedanta and Hon Hai would work closely with the state government to establish high-tech clusters with requisite infrastructure, including land, and semiconductor-grade water and power, the statement added. TECHNICAL PARTNERHon Hai, known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) outside of Taiwan, is acting as the technical partner, while oil-to-metals conglomerate Vedanta is financing the project.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2022 22:56 UTC
Number of workers on furlough fell by 3,000 last week
Number of workers on furlough fell by 3,000 last weekStaff writer, with CNAThe number of furloughed workers in Taiwan dropped by 3,020 last week, due mainly to a tentative recovery in domestic tourism. The number of workers placed on furlough programs was 16,872 as of Wednesday last week, down from 19,892 the previous week, while the number of companies implementing unpaid leave programs fell to 2,605 from 2,990 during the period, Ministry of Labor data showed. The number of businesses in the sector implementing furlough programs fell from 325 in the first week of the month to 183 last week, she said. A total of 1,719 workers in the sector are still on furlough, which is 1,907 fewer than the 3,626 in the first week of the month. Although the number of companies implementing furloughs in the manufacturing sector fell from 181 in the first week of the month to 172 last week, the number of furloughed workers increased by 168, raising the number from 2,299 in the first week of the month to 2,467, she said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2022 04:07 UTC
Ukraine counteroffensive recaptures more ground
Ukraine counteroffensive recaptures more groundAFP, KRAMATORSK, UkraineUkrainian forces yesterday said that their lightning counteroffensive took back more ground in the previous 24 hours, as Russia responded with strikes on some of the recaptured ground. Moscow yesterday announced air, rocket and artillery attacks on reclaimed areas in the Kharkiv region, a day after Kyiv said Russian strikes on electricity infrastructure caused power failures. Service members of the State Security Service of Ukraine inspect ammo and shells left by Russian soldiers in the recently liberated town of Izium, amid Russia`s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released September 12, 2022. Eastern parts of Ukraine were hit with widespread electricity blackouts on Sunday evening, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said deliberately hit civilian infrastructure. Images posted by the Ukrainian military showed crates of munitions and military hardware scattered across territory abandoned by Russian forces.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2022 02:29 UTC
Hsinchu park canal returns to life after restoration project
Hsinchu park canal returns to life after restoration projectBy Hung Mei-hsiu and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerA three-stage purification process used in Hsinchu City’s Gangnan Canal Park (港南運河公園) has significantly improved the environment and enlivened the canal, which had much of its life choked off by algae, the Hsinchu City Government said. The improved water conditions have made the park an attraction for canoeing, it added. People paddle canoes in Gangnan Canal Park in Hsinchu City in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the Hsinchu City GovernmentThe plan was to landscape the entire canal shoreline to make it an attraction in the Hsinchu 17 Kilometer Coastline Scenic Area, which was completed in 2018. After a trial run of canoeing activities in 2019, the city government opened the canal for canoeing during this year’s three-day Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend.
Source:Taipei Times
September 12, 2022 02:28 UTC
Ruud wins 55-shot point, enters final
“After Roland Garros, I was, of course, extremely happy, but also humble enough to think that could be my only final of my career,” Ruud said. Casper Ruud of Norway returns to Russia’s Karen Khachanov during their men’s singles semi-final at the US Open in New York on Friday. Russia’s Karen Khachanov returns to Casper Ruud of Norway during their men’s singles semi-final at the US Open in New York on Friday. Moments later came the point of the match, on Ruud’s third opportunity to end that set. “We both just refused to do a mistake, knowing how important that point is,” Ruud said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 11, 2022 05:47 UTC