Notes from central Taiwan: Taiwan: Island of bosses
Notes from central Taiwan: Taiwan: Island of bossesWant to understand why Taiwan’s birth rate is not going to improve? The childcare subsidies that Premier Su Cheng-chang announced last week will do little to improve Taiwan’s worryingly low birth rate. Low birth rates are also an issue in South Korea and Japan. Further, Taiwanese bosses foster a work culture defined by the ideal of suffering, shaping Taiwan culture in entirely negative ways. Until the culture of Taiwan’s bosses changes, nothing will change.
Source:Taipei Times
May 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
Stephen M. Young On Taiwan: The snakes of Taiwan
Stephen M. Young On Taiwan: The snakes of TaiwanTaking advantage of my Taipei Times editors’ forbearance, I thought I would go with a change of pace by offering a few observations on an interesting nature topic, the many varieties of snakes in Taiwan. Toward that end, they collected exotic snakes from throughout East Asia for experimentation and development of serums to counter snake bites. As a young boy living on the edge of Kaohsiung, I encountered snakes on a regular basis. I remember one morning we found a small snake inside our house. In short, Taiwan has a rich and long history of snakes, yet another small window into the Taiwan I knew over the years.
Source:Taipei Times
May 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
CECC lists places patients visited
CECC lists places patients visitedTRAVELING WHILE CONTAGIOUS: The highest risk of infection is indoors, especially in settings where people take off their masks to eat and drink, an expert warnedBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday posted a list of places visited by people who were recently diagnosed with COVID-19 while they were likely contagious, urging people who visited the sites at the same time to practice self-health management. On Monday, she took a Taoyuan Airport MRT train from Taipei Main Station to Taoyuan Airport Hotel Station from 6:55am to 7:50am, and from Airport Hotel Station to Kengkou Station (坑口站) from 5:40 to 5:55pm, Chen said. Chen said that a few locations and details have been added to the list of places visited by case No. The woman on Tuesday last week visited the Mr Sandwich restaurant in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) from 6:20am to 6:40am, and hypermarket RT-Mart’s Jhongli branch from 6:20pm to 6:35pm, he said. He stayed at the terminal from 1:30pm to 2pm and took a Taoyuan MRT train to Airport Hotel Station between 2pm and 2:20pm, Chen said.
Source:Taipei Times
May 01, 2021 15:56 UTC
DPP Taipei official resigns over allegations
DPP Taipei official resigns over allegationsNO SPECIAL TREATMENT: The Taipei chapter of the DPP has ‘zero tolerance for gangs,’ its chairman said, adding that Chao Chieh-yu’s party membership would be revokedBy Yang Hsin-hui, Peng Wan-hsin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writerAn official at the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Taipei chapter on Friday said he would resign over allegations that his son had been implicated in a narcotics and fraud investigation. Chao Ying-kuang resigned as convener of the Taipei chapter’s review committee after earlier saying that his son should be expelled from the party. Democratic Progressive Party Taipei chapter review committee chairman Chao Ying-kuang in Taipei on Friday announces his decision to resign over his son Chao Chieh-yu’s alleged involvement in gang-related crimes. Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei TimesTaipei chapter head Enoch Wu (吳怡農) said he had no prior knowledge of the accusations against Chao Chieh-yu. Chao Chieh-yu’s party membership would likely be revoked tomorrow as party bylaws require providing three days of advance notice before expelling a member, he added.
Source:Taipei Times
May 01, 2021 15:56 UTC
Kaohsiung’s Tengjhih Forest park to reopen after 12-year hiatus
Kaohsiung’s Tengjhih Forest park to reopen after 12-year hiatusBy Hsu Li-chuan / Staff reporterThe Tengjhih National Forest Recreation Area (藤枝森林遊樂區) in Kaohsiung is to reopen on Friday next week after a nearly 12-year hiatus. The forest park in the city’s Taoyuan District (桃源) has been closed since parts of the park were flooded and many roads were damaged during Typhoon Morakot in 2009. The park would be open to up to 500 visitors from 8am to 5pm daily, officials from the Pingtung Forest District Office said yesterday, adding that no accommodation would be provided. People stand on a walkway in the Tengjhih National Forest Recreation Area in Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan District yesterday. In other news, Tainan’s Baihe District Office yesterday opened its annual lotus festival, a series of events running until the end of July.
Source:Taipei Times
May 01, 2021 15:56 UTC
Legislature reduces taxes artists pay on sold works
Legislature reduces taxes artists pay on sold worksBy Chien Hui-ju and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Legislative Yuan on Friday passed an amendment to reduce the taxes artists pay on income from auctioned art. Taxes would be calculated as 20 percent of 6 percent of the final transaction amount — which reduces the tax from the income of a sold artwork by 1.2 percent. Companies providing cultural services for government agencies would also be required to have business insurance under the amendment. The amendment brings Taiwan in line with international norms of separating taxation of cultural production from that of individual income, he said. “I hope that this amendment will keep art transactions in Taiwan, and attract large auction houses and other professionals to come here,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
May 01, 2021 15:56 UTC
Platform finds potential antiviral drugs
Platform finds potential antiviral drugsTWO OUT OF MILLIONS: More work has to be done to evaluate the clinical effects of drugs identified through a newly developed platform, a research team member saidStaff writer, with CNAA Taiwanese-Malaysian research team has developed a platform to identify drugs that might inhibit COVID-19 infections, which screens massive databanks of existing medicines. The platform was developed to help scientists find drugs developed to treat other diseases that might prove efficacious against COVID-19, the developers yesterday told a news conference held by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Taipei. The researchers developed the platform to detect modulators that affect the interaction of SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement technique. The platform could also be used to search for medicines for treatment of other infectious diseases or even cancer, Chang said. The Taiwanese team members are from NCKU, NYCU, Chang Gung University, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Changhua University of Education.
Source:Taipei Times
April 30, 2021 15:56 UTC
Inspection finds faucet with excessive lead
Inspection finds faucet with excessive leadStaff writer, with CNAOne out of 10 drinking water faucets failed a government safety inspection, as it was found that the device contained an excessive amount of lead, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) said on Thursday. BSMI section chief Wang Chun-chao (王俊超) said that that vendors have been ordered to remove the Lolat faucet from shelves. People who have the Lolat faucet installed should contact the manufacturer as soon as possible, Wang said. The BSMI has since 2017 conducted inspections of drinking water faucets, the bureau said. The packaging of drinking water faucets should feature a “lead free” label and contain information that water from the devices is drinkable, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 30, 2021 15:56 UTC
Fubon Financial board approves record dividend
Fubon Financial board approves record dividendSUBSIDIARY ACTION: Fubon Life allocated its profit to fund its parent’s cash dividend distribution, although the Financial Supervisory Commission must approveBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterFubon Financial Holding Co’s (富邦金控) board of directors on Thursday approved a proposal to distribute a record cash dividend of NT$3 per share, topping proposals by local peers, data showed. The Fubon Life Insurance Co logo is pictured outside an office building in Taipei in an undated photograph. Photo: Wang Meng-lun, Taipei TimesIts board also approved the issuance of a NT$1 stock dividend, Fubon Financial said. It was the first time in three years that Fubon Life has allocated its profit to fund its parent’s cash dividend distribution, Fubon Financial said. That partly explains why Fubon Financial is able to propose a higher dividend than its peers.
Source:Taipei Times
April 30, 2021 15:56 UTC
CECC reports three new cases connected to hotel
CECC reports three new cases connected to hotelLOOKING FOR ORIGIN: Hotel staff might have contracted COVID-19 after cleaning the rooms of pilots from foreign airlines, the head of the center saidBy Lin Hui-chin / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported seven new COVID-19 cases, including three domestic ones linked to Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. 1,120) had tested positive for the virus, while 412 people at the hotel were moved to government quarantine facilities and received virus tests. Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei TimesAmong them, three hotel employees, all Taiwanese, tested positive for the virus yesterday, Chen said. The government would no longer use Novotel to quarantine foreign pilots and instead has found two other Taoyuan hotels to accommodate them, he said. The four imported cases reported yesterday arrived from Egypt, India, Kazakhstan and the Philippines, the CECC said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 30, 2021 15:56 UTC
KMT caucus calls for resignation of envoy to Japan
KMT caucus calls for resignation of envoy to JapanBy Chen Yun and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday demanded that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) remove Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) as the nation’s representative to Japan and issue a public apology over his statements about wastewater discharge. Japan on April 13 announced that it plans to release treated wastewater from the disabled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant into the ocean, despite protests from neighboring countries. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus hold placards while staging a protest in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei yesterday, demanding that President Tsai Ing-wen dismiss Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh. KMT lawmakers yesterday marched to the Presidential Office to voice their complaints. In response, the Presidential Office said that Hsieh has adequately conveyed the Taiwanese government’s concern regarding its plan to pump irradiated water out to sea in two years.
Source:Taipei Times
April 30, 2021 15:56 UTC
KMT fumes at envoy’s absence
KMT lawmakers had ordered Hsieh to appear at the committee after he sparked controversy with remarks about Japan’s plans to discharge water from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Cheng Li-wun, center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. The deadline was issued after consultations with the Ministry of Health and Welfare about how much time Hsieh would need, Liao said. Separately yesterday, the KMT legislative caucus accused Hsieh of avoiding lawmakers. A boat flies the Republic of China flag off Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan on Tuesday.
Source:Taipei Times
April 29, 2021 15:56 UTC
China readies big Tencent fine in crackdown: report
China readies big Tencent fine in crackdown: reportBloombergChina is preparing to slap a fine on Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) as part of its antitrust crackdown on the nation’s Internet giants, Reuters said, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Tencent might face a fine of at least 10 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion), which is less than the US$2.8 billion levied upon fellow titan Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), the report said. Photo: ReutersThe campaign against China’s tech giants has already ensnared Alibaba and Meituan, and analysts have widely regarded Tencent as possibly being next in line. The investigation by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation focuses partly on Tencent Music Entertainment Group (騰訊音樂娛樂集團), the report said. China’s antitrust authorities had investigated Tencent’s dealings with the world’s three biggest record labels, but the probe was suspended, people familiar with the matter said in February.
Source:Taipei Times
April 29, 2021 15:56 UTC
CTBC executives acquitted
CTBC executives acquittedBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe Taiwan High Court on Wednesday acquitted former CTBC Financial Holding Co vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒), reversing guilty decisions in the first and second rulings. Former CTBC Financial Holding Co vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr speaks at an event in an undated photograph. “Koo firmly believes that he and the other defendants did not take any action to harm CTBC Financial,” his statement said. Koo, who was CTBC Bank chairman and CTBC Financial deputy chairman at the time, was responsible for ordering the transfers, prosecutors said. Koo — the scion of the Koo family, which controls CTBC Financial — is chairman of the CTBC Charity Foundation, owner of the CTBC Brothers baseball team, and is chairman of baseball’s national body.
Source:Taipei Times
April 29, 2021 15:56 UTC
Nation sends oxygen machines to India
Nation sends oxygen machines to IndiaJUST THE BEGINNING: The government is planning to buy more machines, as well as raw materials to build them, to help India, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saidBy Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNAThe nation is to ship 150 oxygen machines to India this weekend, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, while confirming that talks are underway to conduct clinical trials of a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine in Paraguay. Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, second left, is pictured at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in Taipei yesterday. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Miguel Tsao (曹立傑) on Wednesday told lawmakers that the oxygen machines and other aid would be sent to India on China Airlines (華航) cargo flights. “Participating in clinical trials means not only contributing to science, but also guaranteeing vaccines for our country,” he said, inadvertently revealing that discussions had already begun. Both sides expressed a “high degree of willingness” to cooperate on conducting clinical trials in Paraguay, she added.
Source:Taipei Times
April 29, 2021 15:56 UTC