COVID-19: Chiang repeats call for cash amid new voucher plan
COVID-19: Chiang repeats call for cash amid new voucher planBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterChinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday reiterated his call for the government to hand out cash to all Taiwanese as a COVID-19 relief measure, following reports that the government is planning to issue paper and digital stimulus vouchers. The Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) yesterday cited an anonymous Executive Yuan official as saying that the body plans to issue stimulus vouchers as early as November. The vouchers are expected to be modeled after the Triple Stimulus Vouchers issued in July last year, but there were no plans to give people cash, the report said. The KMT has said that the committee, which meets every Wednesday, would discuss election arrangements at its first meeting following the lowering of a nationwide COVID-19 alert level. The KMT would ensure that the democratic process within the party is carried out in compliance with COVID-19 regulations, said Chiang, who is seeking re-election.
Source:Taipei Times
July 25, 2021 15:56 UTC
Multigenerational tunes
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: ‘Chinese Taipei’ misrepresents OlympiansFORCED TITLE: Most of the nation’s Olympians identify as Taiwanese, and a majority of them do not hail from Taipei, adding another layer of absurdity to the misnomer The sports world is to focus on the Tokyo Olympic Games starting on Friday, and once again Taiwanese will not have a “Team Taiwan” to cheer for, but will be stuck with the deceitful, contrived name of “Chinese Taipei.” It is a dishonest name, imposed by international politics under pressure from China and the International Olympic Committee, acquiesced to by the former lackeys on Taiwan’s Olympic committee. For a majority of Taiwanese, it is more fitting and simpler to shout “Go Taiwan!” (台灣加油). More people are saying that “Chinese Taipei” is a gross distortion and fraudulent representation for Taiwan’s star athletes inBy Jason Pan
Source:Taipei Times
July 25, 2021 15:56 UTC
COVID-19: CECC posts 24 new domestic infections
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said 12 of the 24 local infections tested positive during isolation or upon ending isolation. The infection sources of 17 cases have been identified, four remain unclear and three are being investigated, he said. Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command CenterThe CECC would be launching an online contact tracing assistance platform to help local governments conduct contact tracing more accurately and efficiently, he said. “All the data from the real-name registration text message platform can only be used by contact tracing personnel, and the platform records every search they perform,” Jian said. Meanwhile, Social and Family Affairs Administration Director Chien Hui-chuan (簡慧娟) said COVID-19 management guidelines for infant care centers and recommended COVID-19 preventive measures for family childcare services have been released, aimed at infant care center staff and in-home caregivers.
Source:Taipei Times
July 24, 2021 16:00 UTC
Games start with muted ceremony
Weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun, front center left, and tennis player Lu Yen-hsu carry the Taiwanese Olympic team flag as they lead their delegation during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo yesterday. The restrictions made for an opening ceremony that was far from the usual exuberant celebration. Fireworks are set off during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo yesterday. The ceremony wove together references to Japan’s traditional crafts and its globally adored video games, with athletes entering to theme music from famed titles. Small groups of protesters demonstrated against the Games outside the stadium as the ceremony began, but their chants were drowned out as the music started.
Source:Taipei Times
July 23, 2021 15:56 UTC
CECC to lower virus alert to level 2
CECC to lower virus alert to level 2STAY VIGILANT: Although a level 2 alert would raise the limit on indoor gatherings to 50, people should still wear masks and practice social distancing, the center saidBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterA nationwide COVID-19 alert is to be lowered from level 3 to 2 on Tuesday, but strict border controls would remain, the government said yesterday. The level 3 alert in place since May 19 is to end on Monday, with a level 2 alert in place from Tuesday until Aug. 9, the Executive Yuan said. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung attends the Central Epidemic Command Center’s daily news conference in Taipei yesterday. Places that remain closed under the level 2 alert include community colleges, swimming pools and leisure businesses, such as dance halls, nightclubs, KTVs, gaming halls and mahjong parlors, he said. While the CECC on Monday last week allowed restaurants to offer dine-in services, most local governments did not follow suit.
Source:Taipei Times
July 23, 2021 15:56 UTC
Retail sales post record decline of 13.3%
Retail sales post record decline of 13.3%DIVERGENCE: While retail sales slumped, manufacturing output rose 20.2% last month, bolstered by the stay-at-home economy amid the COVID-19 pandemicBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterRetail sales last month plunged at the steepest pace in recorded Taiwanese history at 13.3 percent annually to NT$266.4 billion (US$9.5 billion), as consumers cut spending amid a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert, with restaurant and beverage sales posting an annual decline of 39.9 percent, Ministry of Economic Affairs statistics showed yesterday. With COVID-19 restrictions remaining in place this month, the ministry expects retail sales to contract at an even faster rate of 19 to 22 percent annually, while restaurant and beverage sales are forecast to dip by 43 to 49 percent. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei TimesClothing store sales dropped 53.9 percent year-on-year last month, and department store sales plunged 64.7 percent, ministry data showed. For the first half of the year, retail sales increased 5.8 percent annually to NT$1.92 trillion, supported by annual sales growth of 25.7 percent from virtual stores. Machinery equipment sales expanded 23.1 percent to a record NT$428.6 billion, while construction material sales grew at the fastest pace in the wholesale segment at 45.6 percent to NT$122.3 billion, a June record.
Source:Taipei Times
July 23, 2021 15:56 UTC
COVID-19: Ministry touts guidelines for funerals and temples
COVID-19: Ministry touts guidelines for funerals and templesBy Chien Hui-ju and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Ministry of the Interior yesterday announced guidelines for funerals, and visits to temples and national parks, to take effect after a nationwide COVID-19 alert is downgraded to level 2 on Tuesday next week. People paying their respects to a deceased person should nominate one representative to attend the funeral, the ministry said. Temples would be open to individual worshipers and religious gatherings, the ministry said. Visitor flow would be regulated and COVID-19 prevention measures remain in place, it said, adding that parking lots would operate at 50 percent capacity. Meetings that do not allow for appropriate disease prevention measures would have to be postponed, the ministry added.
Source:Taipei Times
July 23, 2021 15:56 UTC
CECC reports 23 local COVID-19 cases, two deaths
CECC reports 23 local COVID-19 cases, two deathsBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 23 local cases of COVID-19 and two deaths. The cases are 19 men and four women, in their 20s to 50s, with an onset of symptoms between July 10 and Thursday, center data showed. As of yesterday, the nation had reported 15,535 COVID-19 cases and 784 deaths, the data showed. Of the 14,280 cases reported from May 11 to Wednesday, 87.5 percent have been discharged from isolation facilities, the data showed. Other genome sequencing results for 18 local cases found that the Alpha variant remains the dominant source of domestic infections, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 23, 2021 15:56 UTC
Lesbian drama earns prestigious selection
Lesbian drama earns prestigious selectionAngel Teng’s mini-series ‘Fragrance of the First Flower’ has been officially selected to France’s Series Mania festivalBy Han Cheung / Staff reporterIn the first scene of Fragrance of the First Flower (第一次遇見花香的那刻), protagonist Yi-ming (Zaizai Lin, 林辰唏) accidentally wanders into a gay wedding. Director Angel Teng, right, is pictured on set of Fragrance of the First Flower with Zaizai Lin, center, and Lyan Cheng. Lyan Cheng, left, and Zaizai Lin star in the series Fragrance of the First Flower. Teng says she consciously stayed away from the more stereotypical depiction of lesbian couples, with one more gender-netural and the other more feminine. It was chaotic, but I think we nailed it.”Zaizai Lin, left, and Lee Yi star in the series Fragrance of the First Flower.
Source:Taipei Times
July 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
NTHU, tech firms team up on semiconductor college
NTHU, tech firms team up on semiconductor collegeBy Hung Mei-hsiu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerNational Tsing Hua University (NTHU) on Wednesday announced that it would team up with 10 of Taiwan’s largest tech firms to establish a semiconductor research college. The college would be jointly operated with some of the larger companies in the sector, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, the university said. Students work in a laboratory at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu City on Wednesday. Other Taiwanese backers are GlobalWafers Co, Unimicron Technology Corp, United Microelectronics Corp, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp, Novatek Microelectronics Co and Nanya Technology Corp, while Japan’s Tokyo Electron and the US’ Micron Technology are also onboard. Meanwhile, Lin said that the college would offer internationally competitive salaries to attract big-name teachers, including inviting industry elites to teach microcredit courses.
Source:Taipei Times
July 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taishin Bank fined NT$30m for lax internal controls
Taishin Bank fined NT$30m for lax internal controlsPROFIT-ORIENTED: The bank’s focus on hitting sales targets while cutting its staff is partly to blame for its failure to spot illegal activities, the FSC saidBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday fined Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) a record NT$30 million (US$1.07 million) for oversight failure, after its staff stole NT$347 million from customers. An E.Sun employee had stolen NT$140 million from 41 clients, while Cathay United Bank’s staff had stolen NT$17.32 million from four clients, data from the commission showed. The entrance to the Dunhua S Road branch of Taishin Bank in Taipei is pictured on Feb. 9. Although some of Chou’s clients applied to reconcile their bank accounts, the bank failed to save the records of account activity for inspection, Huang said. The FSC suspended Taishin Bank’s deputy head of consumer banking, surnamed Lin (林), for three months, saying Lin was responsible for the poor management as he had designed the employee performance assessment, Huang said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
COVID-19: CECC reports 30 domestic cases
COVID-19: CECC reports 30 domestic cases‘STILL UNDER CONTROL’: The center also reported the first fatality involving the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, a woman in her 70s who died on WednesdayBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 30 domestic COVID-19 cases, three imported cases and four deaths. Taipei and New Taipei City recorded 11 cases each, Taoyuan had seven cases and Hsinchu City had one, it said. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung gives a COVID-19 update at a Central Epidemic Command Center news conference in Taipei yesterday. The center reported 16 domestic cases on Wednesday, 18 on Tuesday, 15 each on Monday and Sunday, eight on Saturday and 29 on Friday last week. As of yesterday, Taiwan had recorded 15,511 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,253 imported and 14,205 domestic cases, and 782 deaths, CECC data showed.
Source:Taipei Times
July 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
COVID-19: Retailers need to accelerate change: expert
COVID-19: Retailers need to accelerate change: expertStaff writer, with CNADepartment store and shopping mall operators should accelerate their adoption of new sales models in the face of challenges brought by the COVID-19 outbreak, an expert said on Sunday. That has been especially true after Taiwan imposed a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert on May 19, when case numbers surged. An employee at a food court in Taipei cleans seating partitions yesterday in readiness for the relaxation of regulations as the government mulls lowering the nationwide COVID-19 alert level. Department stores and shopping malls were among the retail spaces hardest hit by the COVID-19 restrictions. Retailers should also speed up their membership marketing, which allows them to send tailored and precisely targeted messages and personalized discounts to boost sales, Wang said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Canadian security think tank to host forum in Taiwan
The Washington-based group of security officials from the world’s democratic states has said it would cohost HFX Taipei with the Institute for National Defense and Security Research. “The [Halifax] think tank is heavily funded by the Canadian government,” DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said. “The HFX Taipei forum is effectively a form of semi-official cooperation between the two state-level think tanks.”Politico had reported that the Canadian government had warned the forum not to give the award to Tsai for fear of angering Beijing. DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said the institute would discuss security issues regarding China at the forum. That Canadian lawmakers have stood by the forum in honoring Tsai suggests that Canadians’ views on China have changed, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Typhoon In-Fa to bring heavy rain to north
Typhoon In-Fa to bring heavy rain to northLAND ALERT UNCERTAIN: The CWB was waiting to observe how In-Fa shifts as it moves north to determine when to issue a land alert, a forecaster at the bureau saidBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterResidents of northern Taiwan should brace for heavy rain today and tomorrow as Typhoon In-Fa approaches the northeast, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. A land alert for the typhoon would be issued depending on the angle at which it moves north today, the bureau said. A cyclist in rain gear, visor and mask rides through the rain in Taipei yesterday. “If the typhoon veers to the east after it turns north, the radius of the storm would not reach Taiwan,” Hsieh said. Intermittent rain began to fall in the northern and northeastern regions yesterday, Hsieh said, adding that extremely heavy rain is forecast for mountainous areas in northern Taiwan today.
Source:Taipei Times
July 22, 2021 15:56 UTC