Value of presale housing expected to soar in the fall
Value of presale housing expected to soar in the fallBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterPresale housing projects are expected to soar 64.5 percent year-on-year to NT$269.03 billion (US$9.71 billion) in northern Taiwan in the autumn sales season from Sept. 28 through next month, as local cases of COVID-19 and social distancing rules prompted developers to push back launches, the Chinese-language My Housing Monthly said on Thursday last week. The name of a Yuanlih Group presale housing project is displayed at a construction site in Taipei’s Wenshan District on July 22. Taipei has also reported an increase in new apartments of less than 30 ping (99m2), as few people want large homes, Ho said. New housing projects in Taoyuan total more than NT$50 billion, mostly concentrated in Jhongli (中壢) and Cingpu (青埔) districts with asking prices approaching NT$500,000 per ping, the magazine said. Yilan County reported the lowest value for expected new housing projects in northern Taiwan at NT$2.7 billion, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Delegation to visit East Europe
Kung Ming-Shin, minister of The National Development Council (NDC) will be leading a delegation group to visit Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Lithunania, the MOFA announced on Tuesday. The delegation would comprise government officials and business representatives from sectors such as information and communication technology, precision medicine and electric vehicles, he said. Some disease prevention specialists would accompany the delegation during the visit, he added. A Slovak delegation had planned to visit Taiwan in May, but due to a local COVID-19 outbreak the visit was rescheduled. During the visit to Slovakia, the delegation would discuss the planned Taiwan trip with their counterparts, Chen said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Chinese newspaper urges rules for ads on medical beauty
Chinese newspaper urges rules for ads on medical beautyReuters, BEIJINGChina’s People’s Daily newspaper said it was “imperative and urgent” to regulate advertisements bombarding people with recommendations for cosmetic surgery, procedures and treatments, as the ads have become excessive, with some making false claims. The People’s Daily said that some advertisements associate good looks with “high-quality,” “diligence” and “success,” fabricating stories about “plastic surgery changing one’s destiny” and distorting aesthetic perceptions. Last month, the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation drafted guidelines to regulate the medical aesthetics sector’s advertising practices, saying that they were prompting societal anxiety over people’s looks. Demand for plastic surgery or medical aesthetic treatment has boomed in China in the past few years, with procedures to make one’s eyes wider or nose higher among the most popular. However, the ads have been criticized for failing to caution people about risks.
Source:Taipei Times
September 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Blinken reaffirms US’ commitment
“I just returned from Ukraine two days ago, my next stop will be Taiwan,” Fitzpatrick said during the hearing. “These people are scared to death.”US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks via videoconference during a US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing in Washington on Monday. Photo: BloombergFitzpatrick asked Blinken if the US would “do whatever it takes” to support Ukraine and Taiwan from Russian and Chinese aggression respectively. Asked about Chinese state-run media’s ongoing attempts to draw parallels between the US’ relationship with Taiwan and Washington’s abandonment of Afghanistan, Blinken said that Beijing would love to see Washington stuck in Afghanistan for another decade. Blinken added that the Biden administration could not renegotiate because of the group’s threats to resume killing Americans.
Source:Taipei Times
September 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Live-fire Han Kuang exercises begin
Live-fire Han Kuang exercises beginBIOLOGICAL AGENT: A containment exercise was held in southern Tainan, in response to a mock assault where troops were assumed to be attacked by bioweaponsStaff writer, with CNAThe live-fire component of this year’s annual Han Kuang military exercises, Taiwan’s major war games involving all military branches, began yesterday morning and is to run until Friday to test the armed forces’ capability to fend off a Chinese invasion. The ships’ early departure is a preventive measure in anticipation of enemy bombardment of Taiwan’s ports, a military source said. A C-130 Hercules transport plane delivers maintenance personnel, equipment and supplies to Chiashan Air Base in Hualien County yesterday during this year’s Han Kuang military exercises. The Han Kuang exercises have been held annually since 1984 in the form of live-fire drills and computerized war games. The live-fire exercises were originally scheduled to start on July 12 and run for five days.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
China targets Alipay in tech crackdown
China targets Alipay in tech crackdown‘UNRULY GROWTH’: The Chinese government believes the technology industry’s monopoly power comes from its control of data and wants to end that, a source saidAFP, BEIJINGChinese regulators have ordered sweeping changes to the country’s biggest payment app Alipay (支付寶), as the Chinese Communist Party attempts to rein in “the unruly growth” of the tech giants. “The government believes big tech’s monopoly power comes from their control of data,” the source close to financial regulators told the newspaper. Ma’s business empire has been targeted in a wider crackdown on tech firms aimed at breaking monopolies and strengthening data security that has wiped billions off companies’ valuations. The ministry has summoned executives from the country’s online platforms to emphasize the need to stop shutting out each other’s services, Zhao said. However, it is unclear what actions regulators want the big tech firms to take, and by when.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Adimmune greenlit for Indonesia vaccine trial
Adimmune yesterday said that the Indonesian trials would determine the optimal dosage for its vaccine to generate adequate protection against COVID-19 variants and prove its efficacy. The name of Adimmune Corp is pictured at the company’s headquarters in Taichung in an undated photograph. Despite encountering a setback in Taiwan, Adimmune did not modify the formula of its COVID-19 vaccine, dubbed AdimrSC-2f, nor its recombinant protein manufacturing technology, Pan said. Instead, the company plans to apply to the Indonesian regulator to conduct a phase 3 trial there, he said. As with Moderna Inc, Adimmune would consider combining its flu vaccine into COVID-19 vaccine if its candidate is approved, although that mixture would not be a focus for research and development at this time, Pan said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
IPAC urges solidarity with Taiwan
IPAC urges solidarity with TaiwanStaff writer, with CNA, LONDONMembers of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) yesterday called for global solidarity with Taiwan and Lithuania, as the nations face intense pressure from the Chinese government. In a video statement posted on Twitter, IPAC members appealed to democratic countries to stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Lithuania, and raise awareness of China’s retaliatory tactics against nations such as Taiwan and Lithuania. Sakaliene is a member of Seimas, the Lithuanian parliament, and one of several IPAC members to have been targeted by Chinese retaliation. IPAC was founded last year as an international coalition to create a coordinated response to China on global security, human rights and trade issues. It has previously initiated movements encouraging governments to back Taiwan’s inclusion at the World Health Assembly, and voiced its support for Australian wine producers who were affected by Chinese trade sanctions.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Childlike Mourinho hails ‘incredible’ AS Roma victory
Childlike Mourinho hails ‘incredible’ AS Roma victoryAFP, MILANAS Roma coach Jose Mourinho said he felt like a child when charging from his dugout to celebrate Stephan El Shaarawy’s last-gasp winner in a thrilling 2-1 victory over US Sassuolo, which put his side top of Serie A in his 1,000th match as a manager. Italy international El Shaarawy struck with a sublime curling strike in the 91st minute, causing wild celebrations at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, with Mourinho running to join his joyous players in front of screaming supporters behind the goal. “Today I wasn’t 58 years old, I felt like a 10, 12, 14-year-old, back when you begin to dream about a career in football. Roma’s Stephan El Shaarawy, left, scores the team’s second goal in their Serie A match against US Sassuolo at Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Sunday. AS Roma fans wave flags as a picture of coach Jose Mourinho is displayed on the big screen before the match against US Sassuolo at Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Sunday.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Local job market posted recovery in July: DGBAS
The latest tally suggested a gain of 44,000 people, which lifts the number of employees to 8.06 million. Manufacturing sectors raised the number of workers by 15,000, hotels and restaurants by 12,000, and retailers and wholesale operators by 7,000, the statistics agency said. Photo: Liao Cheng-hui, Taipei Times“The job market started to see the effect of conditional opening and continued to heal in the absence of major cluster infections,” DGBAS Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) told a news conference in Taipei. The improvement gathered further steam in August, thanks to families taking advantage of the summer vacation before the school year began this month, Chen said. The recovery in take-home pay was most obvious among restaurants and hotels at 3.75 percent, Chen said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
UAE to spend US$6.5bn to boost private-sector jobs
UAE to spend US$6.5bn to boost private-sector jobsMAJOR EMPLOYER: Many Emiratis pass up private-sector jobs to work in better-paying government positions, with foreigners making up for the shortfallBloombergThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) is to spend 24 billion dirhams (US$6.5 billion) on a package of benefits and subsidies designed to reduce citizen unemployment by making private-sector jobs more attractive. As in much of the Persian Gulf, the UAE government is the employer of choice, with many college graduates rebuffing offers from private companies while they wait for state jobs with better pay, benefits and working hours. Millions of foreigners from all over the world fill most private-sector jobs. The government’s aim is to absorb 75,000 citizens into private-sector jobs over the next five years. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a UAE political science professor, said the government should not shoulder the burden alone.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Group calls for Apple probe over pricing
The US smartphone brand stopped offering adapters and earpods to buyers in October last year when it launched the iPhone 12 series. Apple has announced that it is to launch its iPhone 13 series at 10am on Tuesday Pacific time. Consumers’ Foundation secretary-general Hsu Tse-yu, center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. “Apple said that it stopped providing adapters and earpods to protect the environment. “We will examine the company’s market share and its market power before determining if its sales model would exclude market competition,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Job market likely to gain from GDP growth: poll
Job market likely to gain from GDP growth: pollBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterTaiwan’s labor market might benefit from stable GDP growth next quarter, as 24 percent of companies plan to increase payroll, while 4 percent plan to lower headcounts, a quarterly survey released yesterday by ManpowerGroup showed. The majority, or 69 percent, were not planning any changes, the human resources firm said after polling 1,030 local employers. Job gains are expected in seven of Taiwan’s industrial sectors between next month and December, it said. Hiring intentions in the manufacturing sector stood at 30 percent, followed by 24 percent in the transportation and utilities sector, and 22 percent in service-focused sectors, the survey found. The leisure and hospitality sector remained the weakest performer, with hiring intentions standing at 7 percent, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Vienna marathon winner disqualified over his shoe soles
Vienna marathon winner disqualified over his shoe solesReutersEthiopia’s Derara Hurisa on Sunday won the Vienna City Marathon, but was disqualified soon after when the soles of his shoes were found to be 1cm too thick in contravention of the rules. Hurisa crossed the line with a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 22 seconds, but less than 45 minutes later was left distraught when his time was struck off as his shoe soles were 5cm thick. The soles of road running shoes cannot be thicker than 4cm and Hurisa had worn a different set of shoes to the ones he had mentioned on his form. Ethiopia’s Derara Hurisa celebrates after winning the Vienna City Marathon in Austria on Sunday. He was later disqualified for wearing shoes with soles that were 5cm thick.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Japan’s defense minister calls for peace in Strait
Japan’s defense minister calls for peace in StraitStaff writer, with CNA, TOKYOJapanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi in a speech in Vietnam on Sunday highlighted the importance of peace in the Taiwan Strait and the vital role Taiwan can play in the world. “Taiwan is located at the nexus of the East China Sea and the South China Sea, which is a key point for regional maritime security. Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are important to both the region and the international community,” Kishi said during his first overseas trip as defense minister. Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi, left, and Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc pose for a photograph in Hanoi on Sunday. In the South China Sea, China has continued to militarize disputed rocky outcrops, frequently conducted military exercises and is believed to have launched ballistic missiles, Kishi said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 13, 2021 15:56 UTC