COVID-19: CECC in talks to buy 8 million test kits
Taiwan has reported more than 100 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases every day over the past 10 days, causing demand for rapid test kits to soar. Lawmakers have demanded that the government form a “national rapid testing team” to provide free at-home kits, modeled after the mask rationing scheme implemented early in the COVID-19 pandemic. People collect COVID-19 rapid test kits given out for free by the Keelung City Government on Saturday. For example, the UK offered free tests by mail during its lockdown, she said, adding that tests are now available for ￡2 (US$2.60) each. Chen Shih-chung, who heads the CECC, last week said the government “would not rule out” requisitioning test kits to bring costs down.
Source:Taipei Times
April 10, 2022 22:33 UTC
Ko apologizes for ‘dog’ remark
“Who does that dog belong to? Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je answers reporters’ questions before attending an event in Taipei on Saturday. Ko said the TPP was committed to creating a fresh political culture, but their lack of experience had led to some improper behavior. In response to media queries yesterday, Lai said that Ko twice called to apologize earlier in the day and promised to reflect on the incident. She said she hopes that party members can let go of personal grudges, respect its system and treat each other equally.
Source:Taipei Times
April 10, 2022 22:33 UTC
Crypto and gaming collide in high-risk ‘play-to-earn’ world
Photo: AFPThe dangers of this speculative ecosystem, and the largely unregulated crypto gaming industry, were brought into sudden focus last week when Axie Infinity was hit by a US$615 million heist. “The trade-offs we made maybe weren’t the ideal ones.”The hack, one of the biggest crypto heists ever, shone a light on play-to-earn games, a young world largely unknown outside crypto and gaming circles, that is becoming big business. Although demand has cooled since peaking in November last year, gaming NFTs have still racked up US$484 million in sales so far this year. Thitadilaka said that his guild, GuildFi, grew into a network with 3,000 Axie Infinity players who split their earnings with the asset owners 50-50. Teriz Pia, who is 25 and lives in Manila, quit her job as a preschool teacher in June last year after her brother founded a play-to-earn gaming guild, Real Deal Guild.
Source:Taipei Times
April 10, 2022 01:13 UTC
Are you anxious, introverted or just a ‘highly sensitive person?’
Are you anxious, introverted or just a ‘highly sensitive person?’Kanye West and Lorde say they are HSPs. Those who are not highly sensitive are often compared to dandelions because their welfare is generally less dependent on external support. In the realm of whether a person is highly sensitive (orchid) and not (dandelion), tulips fall somewhere in the middle. Photo: EPA-EFEHYSTERIAThe idea of a highly sensitive person may seem to recall 19th-century diagnoses of neurasthenia and hysteria, when “rest cures” were frequently prescribed for the overstimulated. Highly sensitive people have often been compared to orchids because they can only thrive when they have been nurtured.
Source:Taipei Times
April 08, 2022 22:13 UTC
COVID-19: Shanghai widens testing for COVID-19
Local authorities across China are stepping up virus control measures, including movement restrictions, mass testing and new quarantine centers. Photo: AFPCities that jumped into action this week included Henan Province’s Zhengzhou, which on Thursday said it would test all 12.6 million residents after finding a few asymptomatic cases in the previous few days. The cities collectively are home to an estimated 193 million people and contribute 22 percent of China’s GDP. Stories of crowded and unsanitary central quarantine centers and fears of family separation have driven calls for home quarantine in Shanghai and for China to review its “dynamic clearance” approach. “As long as these measures are implemented well, our country’s severe coronavirus epidemic situation will soon improve,” Wu said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 08, 2022 22:13 UTC
DBS forecasts slower GDP growth in Taiwan next year
DBS forecasts slower GDP growth in Taiwan next yearBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterDBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) expects Taiwan’s economy to grow at a slower pace next year, as the nation’s semiconductor sector is likely to face a correction and rate hikes are likely to have a greater impact on the local economy, Singapore-based DBS economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) told a videoconference yesterday. The bank forecasts GDP growth of 3 percent for Taiwan next year, lower than a 3.8 percent expansion expected this year, Ma said, citing a slower pace of growth in private consumption, investment and exports. DBS Bank Ltd economist Ma Tieying speaks during a videoconference in Singapore on Oct. 5 last year. DBS raised its forecast for inflation in Taiwan for this year from 1.3 percent to 2.3 percent, given higher oil prices and persistent inflation overseas, which has resulted in imported inflation, Ma said. DBS expects the central bank to continue raising rates unless Taiwan faces a considerable downside risk.
Source:Taipei Times
April 08, 2022 03:34 UTC
Teens unaware Taiwan relies on energy imports
Teens unaware Taiwan relies on energy importsBy Rachel Lin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerNearly 90 percent of Taiwanese teenagers do not know the nation relies on foreign energy imports, a poll released yesterday showed. The King Car Culture and Education Foundation poll found that 87.1 percent of elementary and high-school students are unaware that a “large share” of the country’s energy is imported from abroad, the foundation told a virtual news conference. Sixty-five percent of teenagers said they learned about energy conservation and carbon emissions from school, 51.8 percent from textbooks and 50.9 percent from television news programs, the survey showed. Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳), principal of Ankeng Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店), said the campaign at her school involved telling students to replace older light bulbs with energy-saving LED lights and turning off appliances. The school is planning to install rooftop solar panels to increase its use of renewable energy sources, she added.
Source:Taipei Times
April 07, 2022 22:09 UTC
Smuggled sketches offer glimpses into harsh Myanmar prison
Smuggled sketches offer glimpses into harsh Myanmar prisonFourteen sketches smuggled out of Myanmar’s Insein Prison offer a rare glimpse inside the country’s most notorious jailReutersIn one drawing, dozens of men sit crammed into a single room, hunched with their knees together, every inch of space occupied. A smuggled sketch shows people inside of Myanmar’s Insein prison with a written date July 13 last year in this undated picture. PRISON POPULATION SWELLSThe artist drew the prison sketches between April and July of last year. Nyi Nyi Htwe said he smuggled them out on his release to show friends, family and others the conditions inside. Nyi Nyi Htwe, who has joined an armed rebel group, said nearly two-thirds of his dormitory were sick with COVID symptoms last summer.
Source:Taipei Times
April 07, 2022 22:08 UTC
Taiwan launches new pandemic response strategy
Taiwan launches new pandemic response strategyBy Lee Hsin-fang and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNAThe Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday launched a new pandemic response strategy to mark the government’s departure from a “zero COVID-19” policy. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, left, prepares to give a presentation about disease prevention measures at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNAOnly five people who have contracted COVID-19 this year developed moderate or severe symptoms, while 99.7 percent reported mild or no symptoms, Su said. A Tainan City Government employee disinfects a sidewalk in front of a convenience store in the city yesterday. Taiwan has ordered a combined total of 25,000 courses of Paxlovid and Molnupiravir from drugmaker Merck, he added.
Source:Taipei Times
April 07, 2022 22:08 UTC
Agency promotes forest carbon sinks for environment
Agency promotes forest carbon sinks for environmentBy Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNANo businesses have yet applied to plant forests to obtain carbon offset credits, although trading the credits on an existing platform for carbon reduction efforts would require further evaluation, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday. Carbon sinks, either natural or artificial, capture and store carbon for an unspecified period. However, no business has yet applied to offset emissions by creating a forest carbon sink, she said. Including forest carbon sinks in the carbon trading program would therefore require further research to take these additional benefits into account, she said. Meanwhile, the Ocean Affairs Council is evaluating the possibility of incentivizing oceanic carbon sinks, Tsai said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 07, 2022 02:49 UTC
Safeguards of sexual privacy need update
Safeguards of sexual privacy need updateBy Chao Hsuey-wen 趙萃文Acts of online gender-based violence in which sexual images have been taken without consent, or through threats or violence, have increasingly been appearing in the media, showing how victims’ privacy rights are breached, as well as the pain they undergo and the damage done to their reputations. They include a new chapter added to the Criminal Code on offenses against sexual privacy and fake sexual images. Although the period of compulsory treatment for sexual assault has been amended so that it can be regularly extended without a limit on the number of times, it is not applicable to those who breach people’s sexual privacy, or make or distribute fake sexual images, as this would be unreasonable. This legislative loophole needs to be fixed as soon as possible to demonstrate the government’s determination to crack down on crimes against sexual privacy. This means that amendments to any laws would need to be reflected in changes to the Criminal Code, which complicates the issue.
Source:Taipei Times
April 06, 2022 22:12 UTC
Police warn about fake Web sites
Police warn about fake Web sitesBy Chui Chun-fu / Staff reporterPolice have warned the public about online fraudsters using fake Web sites and bogus news to deceive people after a fake Web site purporting to be the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published a phoney interview with a prominent Taiwanese chef about his investments in cryptocurrencies. The Liberty Times reported the fake Web site to the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) when it appeared early last year and has published reports about it to alert the public to the issue. The CIB said it used IP addresses to track the fraudsters to France, Germany, the US and several other nations. She then checked the interview with the chef and realized it was a fake news page and that she had been the victim of online investment fraud, the officials added. Fake Web sites have an address that differs from a legitimate media outlet’s site, and they usually have a direct link to a page offering investment opportunities and money transfers, the officials said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 05, 2022 23:51 UTC
Only one in three Indonesians favor major investments by China: survey
Only one in three Indonesians favor major investments by China: surveyBloombergOnly one in three Indonesians favor Chinese investors buying a controlling stake in major local companies, a survey found, showing the difficulty Beijing faces to improve its image across Southeast Asia. It found Saudi Arabia the most popular with 57 percent, with the US at 42 percent and China at the bottom with 30 percent. While trust in both of the world’s biggest economies fell among Indonesians, the survey found more negativity aimed toward China. Saudi Arabia topped a “feelings thermometer” that measures perceptions about countries and territories. The survey found Indonesians have grown distrustful of major powers over the past decade.
Source:Taipei Times
April 05, 2022 23:51 UTC
Ministry launches plan to attract overseas students
Most university presidents supported the plan, but voiced concern that the incentives offered might not be enough, as the original quota for international students has not yet been filled. National Sun Yat-sen University president Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said that learning Mandarin for a year first could help overseas Taiwanese and foreign students do better in their studies. However, providing quality education is more crucial in drawing international students, Cheng added. National Chi Nan University president Wuu Dong-sing (武東星) said that Taiwan is a stepping stone for many overseas Taiwanese and foreign students to study, work and live in Europe and the US. Apart from the special programs for international students, which focus on enrolling undergraduate students, there is another route overseas Taiwanese and foreign students can take to study in Taiwan, Chu said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2022 22:21 UTC
Carry phones, satellite devices when hiking: NCC
Carry phones, satellite devices when hiking: NCCCRISIS ASSISTANCE: Telecoms should use new frequency spectrums for emergency services, a group urged in the wake of another death in Taiwan’s perilous mountainsBy Shelley Shan / Staff ReporterPeople should carry mobile phones as well as satellite communication devices to ensure their safety when hiking in the mountains, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said at the weekend. Local telecoms have already offered personal locator beacons or satellite phones for lease, the commission said. Mountaineering enthusiasts are advised to carry mobile phones and satellite communication devices to ensure their personal safety, it said. “The Executive Yuan recently released several frequency spectrums to be used for satellite communication services. Chunghwa Telecom offers the Thuraya Mobile Satellite Communications and International Maritime Satellite services for lease, NCC Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2022 22:21 UTC