Ministry warns of employment scam in Cambodia
Ministry warns of employment scam in CambodiaBy Lu Yi-hsuan and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday urged people who are planning to work in Cambodia to exercise caution after Taiwanese were reportedly coerced into engaging in fraudulent activity in the country. They had been lured to take up work in Cambodia by criminal groups that promised them high salaries and favorable treatment, Ou said. However, when they arrived, their freedom of movement was restricted, Ou said, adding that those who resisted had been beaten. “If you are going to Cambodia for work, we urge you to be vigilant. Look into the company that is hiring you and make sure you understand the details of the work you will be asked to do,” she said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 26, 2022 22:09 UTC
Video link needed for lawmakers: TPP
Video link needed for lawmakers: TPPCONTINUED RISK: Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Ann Kao said that without a videoconferencing system, legislators in quarantine cannot review budgets or voteBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterTaiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators yesterday called on the Legislative Yuan to launch a videoconference system for legislators in isolation or quarantine, and urged the government to purchase more oral antiviral drugs for treating COVID-19. New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih, left, and Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Ann Kao hold a joint news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNAFive TPP legislators might have been placed in isolation, she said, adding that the TPP was to hold its year-end banquet at the Grand Hotel Taipei (圓山飯店) on the day after the chef tested positive for COVID-19. Without a videoconferencing system, legislators who are placed in isolation cannot review the government budgets or vote, Kao said. Separately yesterday, TPP legislators Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) and Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) held a news conference urging the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to work closely with local governments on announcing to the public as soon as possible disease prevention guidelines for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Source:Taipei Times
January 26, 2022 16:38 UTC
Credit Suisse Group warns of net loss in Q4 last year
Credit Suisse Group warns of net loss in Q4 last yearReuters, ZURICH, SwitzerlandCredit Suisse Group AG yesterday said it was likely to make a net loss in the fourth quarter, as the scandal-hit lender flagged fresh legal costs and said business in its trading and wealth management divisions had slowed. Combined with other charges, it said this was expected to result in a reported pre-tax income or loss of “approximately breakeven” for the fourth quarter. The logo of Credit Suisse at a branch office in Zurich, Switzerland, is pictured on Nov. 3. It said at the time it expected to take an impairment of 1.6 billion Swiss francs in the fourth quarter on remaining investment banking-related goodwill on its books. Credit Suisse yesterday said that its investment bank would also be affected by a slowdown in transaction-based revenue.
Source:Taipei Times
January 26, 2022 00:57 UTC
KMT support falls 4 percentage points: poll
Apart from the KMT’s losses, the result was little changed from last month, shifting only 1.5 percentage points at most, the foundation said. That represented a 1.3 percentage point slip for the DPP and a less than 1 percentage point difference for the rest. However, the largest number of respondents, 33.8 percent, said that they did not support any party, up 3.2 percentage points from last month. The number of people saying they were not worried also rose 14.8 percentage points to 30.1 percent, the foundation said. There were 1,083 valid samples with a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
Source:Taipei Times
January 25, 2022 22:09 UTC
Funny old world: Offbeat news from last week
Funny old world: Offbeat news from last weekAFP, PARISFrom the dangers of letting women sit up front, to Hong Kong’s fishy lobster meatballs, here is a weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world:BEWARE! Lobster meatballs are displayed for sale last week at a market in Hong Kong’s Wanchai area. This week Zhao Xiaoqing, a 28-year-old woman from northern China’s Shaanxi province, got engaged to her beau after they too were trapped on a date. Gourmets in the food-obsessed city are more than a little crabby at the results of DNA tests on one of its favorite foods, lobster meatballs. When the first Bundo book was released, British TV comedian John Oliver published a parody version to support gay charities.
Source:Taipei Times
January 24, 2022 22:07 UTC
NCC warns of stiff fines for helping Chinese OTT firms
NCC warns of stiff fines for helping Chinese OTT firmsIQIYI: The Chinese firm was forced to close in 2020 after Taiwan barred companies from selling Chinese OTT services or acting as their agentsBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterCompanies or individuals that help Chinese over-the-top (OTT) operator iQiyi solicit commercials from Taiwan could be fined up to NT$5 million (US$180,532) for contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday. The Chinese operator was forced to close its office in Taiwan after the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2020 amended the “List of the Prohibited Commercial Engagement Practices in the Taiwan Area,” which bars companies or people from selling services of Chinese OTT operators or acting as their agents in Taiwan. It also clearly states that OTT services are not open to funding from China. Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei TimesDespite the ban, several local advertising firms have reportedly continued to place commercials on iQiyi and other Chinese streaming platforms. The article also states that failure to terminate or rectify the situation by the expiration of the aforementioned time limit can be punished with consecutive fines, the NCC spokesman added.
Source:Taipei Times
January 24, 2022 16:58 UTC
Taiwan-India ties ready to take off
Taiwan-India ties ready to take offBy Sumit KumarThe State Bank of India has raised US$300 million from the Taiwanese market through a maiden issue of Formosa bonds at a coupon rate of 2.49 percent. Now, India has taken several bold initiatives to openly acknowledge its ties with Taiwan. It is not a coincidence that India has inched toward enhancing ties with Taiwan. It is equally important that India not merely see ties with Taiwan through a bilateral lens, but from a broader perspective. Enhanced economic ties between the countries would prove to be crucial in building robust global supply chains outside of China.
Source:Taipei Times
January 24, 2022 16:25 UTC
PRC targets Taiwan with new disinformation ploy
PRC targets Taiwan with new disinformation ploy‘STIRRING CONFLICT’: Chinese content farms use hundreds of fake accounts to reach ‘every corner of society,’ an official at the Investigation Bureau saidBy Chien Li-chung / Staff reporterChina is conducting disinformation campaigns that involve more than 400 fake accounts targeting Taiwanese on social media, the Investigation Bureau said on Friday. Since it started tracing fake accounts and disinformation to Chinese content farms in April last year, the Information and Communication Security Division investigated 2,773 such cases, the bureau said. “These are clearly products of China’s content farms.”The bureau also uncovered that Chinese accounts had altered posts on the People’s Technology Temple (PTT) — Taiwan’s most popular online bulletin board system. The second level of the content farms’ operations involves targeting Taiwanese Facebook users with 400 fake accounts, the official said. Those accounts target Taiwanese by reposting fake news and disinformation, focusing on topics such as entertainment, daily issues and religion, they said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 24, 2022 02:24 UTC
The Liberty Times Editorial: End food ban to repair Japan ties
The Liberty Times Editorial: End food ban to repair Japan tiesDuring the 45th session of the Taiwan-Japan Economic and Trade Conference on Jan. 11, Japan expressed concern over Taiwan’s ban on imports of Japanese food products from five prefectures following the March 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster. Ma’s pro-China, anti-Japan stance led to a “cross-strait synchronization” of the ban on Japanese food imports. The issue of Japanese food imports that the Tsai administration is dealing with should be addressed with the same mindset. Taiwan would be embarrassed if Beijing relaxes the ban on Japanese food imports before Taipei. Demonstrating its determination to lift the ban on Japanese food imports would not enhance Taiwan’s relations with Japan, but would increase its chances of joining the CPTPP.
Source:Taipei Times
January 23, 2022 22:22 UTC
China cargo giant pays huge bonuses
Cosco is among shipping companies distributing huge year-end bonuses to workers, Caixin said, citing employees at the company. Cargo containers are stacked at Yantian port in Shenzhen, China, on June 22 last year. The congestion has prompted the Yantian terminal to restrict acceptance of containers. The price of US imports from China was at the highest level for more than six years last month. “It’s not just China, all shipping operations have been affected worldwide,” Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd CEO Mark O’Neil said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 23, 2022 20:29 UTC
Male-female booze gap shrinks: study
The gap between the number of men and women who drink alcohol is shrinking, which is likely due to societal changes, the NHRI said. The government should amend the laws to require that the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption be made clearer on the packaging of alcoholic beverages, it said. The team used the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test developed by the WHO to define harmful consumption of alcohol. Over the same period, the number of women surveyed who engaged in harmful drinking grew from 1.32 percent to 1.72 percent, he added. “The gender gap in alcohol consumption has been shrinking in the past few years in South Korea and Japan as well,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 23, 2022 20:29 UTC
Dredgers spotted near Cambodian base
Dredgers spotted near Cambodian baseSECRET AGREEMENT: China is paying for construction at Ream Naval Base, where dredging would be needed if larger military ships were to dock there, AMTI saidReuters, WASHINGTONDredgers have been spotted off Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, where China is funding construction work and deeper port facilities would be necessary for the docking of larger military ships, a US think tank said on Friday. A soldier stands guard at Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on July 26, 2019. It cited a 2019 Wall Street Journal report that said the deal granted China military access to the base in return for funding facilities improvements. AMTI said a commercial satellite image taken on Sunday last week showed two dredgers and barges for collecting dredged sand. A deep-water port would make it far more useful to both the Cambodian and Chinese navies,” it said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 23, 2022 14:13 UTC
China has erred in its reading of Lithuania
China has erred in its reading of LithuaniaBy Tommy Lin 林逸民Last year, China entered into a spat with Lithuania over Vilnius allowing Taipei to open a de facto embassy using the name “Taiwan.” Beijing recalled its ambassadors from Lithuania and downgraded its diplomatic ties with the Baltic state to the “charge d’affaires” level. In hindsight, China should realize that this move handed Lithuania on a plate to Taiwan. China, which has been using its economic clout to bully others, underestimated Lithuania. Now that the EU is aligning with the US to rein in China, Taiwan is an indispensable ally in the anti-China coalition. However, if the name has not worked its magic in diplomatic affairs in the past, it would only create further confusion now.
Source:Taipei Times
January 22, 2022 22:09 UTC
US dollar dips with Treasury yields, but rises for week
US dollar dips with Treasury yields, but rises for weekReuters, NEW YORK and LONDONThe US dollar declined on Friday, along with US Treasury yields, while investors looked ahead to next week’s US Federal Reserve meeting for more clarity on the outlook for rate hikes. Expectations that the Fed will tighten monetary policy at a faster pace than previously anticipated had driven a rise in yields and the US dollar earlier this week. US Treasury yields fell as stock market declines reflected poor risk appetite, while concerns about potential conflict in Ukraine drove demand for the safe-haven debt. Next week’s Fed meeting could shed some light on how fast it will tighten. Against the US dollar, the pound eased 0.24 percent at US$1.3560, its lowest level in more than a week.
Source:Taipei Times
January 22, 2022 19:00 UTC
F1 bans pre-race military flypasts
F1 bans pre-race military flypastsReuters, LONDONFormula One has banned pre-race flypasts by military aircraft this season, but Britain’s Red Arrows display team is exempt along with passenger jets using sustainable fuels. Silverstone Circuit managing director Stuart Pringle confirmed in a statement that the Red Arrows would remain part of the British Grand Prix buildup. The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team performs above the stands before the British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 18 last year. The Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring has also featured historic plans owned by the energy drink company’s billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz. Nearly all private cars were banned from September’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, with most fans either cycling to the coastal circuit west of Amsterdam or taking a train.
Source:Taipei Times
January 22, 2022 18:58 UTC