I’ll promote parliamentary system, Jaw says
I’ll promote parliamentary system, Jaw saysBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterBroadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) yesterday said that if he is elected president, he would push for a parliamentary system of government in his first year in office. He said that he is not the first person in the nation to propose a parliamentary system. Describing the parliamentary system as more inclusive, Jaw said that the “winner-takes-all” approach of the presidential system is unfair. He said he hopes that Tsai would push for the implementation of a parliamentary system, but if she does not, he would promote a parliamentary system in his first year in office should he be elected president. He disclosed his proposal for a parliamentary system yesterday because proposals for constitutional amendments are set to be debated at the Legislative Yuan, Jaw said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2021 15:56 UTC
Normal spring weather forecast
Normal spring weather forecastLA NINA WEAKENING: Rainfall in March and May are expected to fall within the normal range, but would be slightly lower than average in April, the CWB saidBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterRainfall in spring is expected to be normal or less than usual, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday, adding that the average temperatures from next month to May would be normal. A Central Weather Bureau official during a news conference in Taipei yesterday reviews the seasonal weather conditions from December last year to this month. As for the weather in spring, Lu said that atmospheric data collected from the central and east equatorial Pacific show that the La Nina effect is weakening, and the weather is expected to return to normal in summer. “We estimate that rainfall in March and May will be normal, but lower than average ... in April. As for the weather on 228 Peace Memorial Day on Sunday, Weather Forecast Center specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that a northeast monsoon would arrive on Friday and continue to affect the nation until Saturday.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2021 15:56 UTC
Advocates urge lower poll deposits
“The system should be open for ordinary citizens to run for public office. It should not have thresholds to rule out people based on wealth and assets,” Fan told a news conference in Taipei. From left, Taiwan Democracy Watch director Chang Feng-yi, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun and Green Party Taiwan convener Liu Chung-hsien hold signs at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Taiwan Democracy Watch director Chang Feng-yi (張烽益) said that requiring high deposits excludes poor people from running for public office. Green Party Taiwan convener Liu Chung-hsien (劉崇顯) said that other reforms are needed as well.
Source:Taipei Times
February 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
MOF to extend tax rebate for energy-saving appliances
MOF to extend tax rebate for energy-saving appliancesStaff writer, with CNAA tax incentive package to encourage purchases of energy-efficient home appliances that is set to expire on June 14 would be extended by an additional two years, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said yesterday. The ministry has proposed a draft amendment to the Commodity Tax Act (貨物稅條例) that would extend the tax breaks on select energy-saving appliances until June 14, 2023. A model poses with energy-saving air conditioners at a product promotion event in Taipei on July 12, 2019. The Ministry of Finance yesterday said it plans to extend a tax incentive package to encourage purchases of energy-efficient home appliances by an additional two years until June 14, 2023. As of the end of last year, 2.657 million applications for tax deductions had been filed, which translates into NT$4.47 billion in tax rebates, finance ministry statistics showed.
Source:Taipei Times
February 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Largan proposes record cash dividend
Largan proposes record cash dividendStaff writer, with CNALargan Precision Co (大立光), a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc, has proposed a record cash dividend per share of NT$91.5 based on last year’s earnings. The cash dividend represents a payout ratio of about 50.03 percent, the first time in 11 years that it has surpassed 50 percent. Largan, a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc, yesterday said its board of directors has proposed a record cash dividend per share of NT$91.5 based on last year’s earnings of NT$182.9 per share. Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei TimesLargan’s dividend payout ratio over the past decade has ranged between 30 and 40 percent. If shareholders approve the proposal, Largan would distribute a total of NT$12.27 billion in cash dividends, its highest in history.
Source:Taipei Times
February 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Web bank offers new rate packages
Web bank offers new rate packagesBUILDING BASE: To mark its one-month anniversary, Rakuten Bank is offering a 50% discount on personal loans and 0.55% interest for a CPBL-linked 66-day fixed depositBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterRakuten International Commercial Bank Co (樂天國際商銀), the nation’s first Web-only bank, aims to attract new clients by offering more attractive lending and deposit rates, but is cautious about funding young borrowers without credit records, the bank said yesterday. The virtual bank allows customers to open accounts and file for loan applications via its mobile app. Rakuten International Commercial Bank chairman Chien Ming-ren, left, and chief executive officer Kazuhiko Saiki show their bank’s app at an event in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Kao Shih-ching, Taipei TimesPeople aged 30 to 50 were the bank’s major group of customers in the past one month, Rakuten Bank chief executive officer Kazuhiko Saiki said. Asked how the bank assesses lending risks and sets interest rates for new customers, Saiki said it has built a model to calculate risks, with factors including age, assets and income.
Source:Taipei Times
February 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Legislators reveal what they do to relieve work stress
Legislators reveal what they do to relieve work stressBy Lin Liang-sheng and Peng Wan-hsin / Staff reportersLawmakers have different ways of relieving stress from work, from paying musical instruments to hiking and arranging flowers. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲) said that playing the piano helped her relax even ahead of last year’s tight legislative elections. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Hui-yuan demonstrates her flower arranging skills at her office at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Feb. 3. Photo: Peng Wan-hsin, Taipei TimesHowever, she said she never gave up and used her first salary to buy a piano in installments. DPP Legislator Lai Hui-yuan (賴惠員) said she has been interested in flower arranging since she was a child, adding that she joined a flower arranging club at university.
Source:Taipei Times
February 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Notes from central Taiwan: Who is shaping Taiwan’s future?
Notes from central Taiwan: Who is shaping Taiwan’s future? Johnny Chiang? Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang at the legislature in Taipei on Thursday. Whoever constructed and approved that finance deal to support wind power here “shaped our future” far more than Johnny Chiang ever will. Let us hope that is a future Johnny Chiang never has a chance to shape.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2021 16:07 UTC
Tainan City councilor calls for adopting Romanization
Tainan City councilor calls for adopting RomanizationCHANGING IT UP: With Bopomofo rarely used outside of Taiwan, the lawmaker said that Romanization would help the government in its internationalization effortsBy Tsai Wen-chu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerTainan City Councilor Lee Chi-wei (李啟維) yesterday called for the use of Romanized spellings to make Taiwanese dialects and languages internationally recognizable. Tainan City Councilor Lee Chi-wei yesterday in Tainan points at a whiteboard with “Celebrate International Mother Language Day” and “Save the Taiwanese mother tongue” written in Romanized Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and Chinese characters. Taiwan uses English letters for its license plates, because this is the international standard, so the country’s dialects should also be written according to this standard, he said. “Zhuyin fuhao has 37 symbols, which are usable only to describe Chinese phonetics. “Perhaps if it weren’t for missionaries who wrote down Taiwan’s dialects for use in proselytizing, they would not have survived until today,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2021 16:05 UTC
More than 200 march in Taipei in memory of 228
More than 200 march in Taipei in memory of 228‘MAKING FORMOSA’: Before their march to the Executive Yuan, an organizer asked the crowd to imagine the kind of country they wanted and to ‘speak while we still can’By Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterMore than 200 people yesterday marched in Taipei ahead of the 74th anniversary of the 228 Incident. Participants hold a banner and signs at a march in Taipei yesterday to commemorate the 228 Incident. Dozens of groups, including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Covenants Watch and the 228 Memorial Foundation, were represented at the march, they added. She urged people to think about the kind of country they wanted, adding: “We should continue to speak while we still can.”The names of people who died during the 228 Incident were also read aloud during the march. “I hope that everyone can get our mother language back together,” she said in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese).
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2021 16:05 UTC
Documents on White Terror era released
Academia Historica historian Wu Chun-ying presents images of documents about the Henry Liu murder case at a book launch in Taipei on Saturday. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei TimesAmong the works released was the three-volume Documentary Collection on Political Incident: The Henry Liu Case on the Oct. 15, 1984, killing of China-born US writer Henry Liu (劉宜良), who used the pen name Chiang Nan (江南). Former White Terror prisoner Tsai Kuan-yu in Taipei on Saturday holds a newly published book about his life. Another book revealed at the news conference was on White Terror victim Tsai Kuan-yu (蔡寬裕). After graduating from university in the 1950s, Tsai became a target of the KMT regime, and was arrested and charged twice, spending a total of 13 years in prison.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2021 16:05 UTC
Key genes in orchids determined
Key genes in orchids determinedBy Su Meng-chuan and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerNational Chung Hsing University (NCHU) researchers have discovered certain genes in orchids that can be used to manipulate flower hue, prolong the flowering period and prevent wilting, which could reduce the time needed to produce new orchid varieties from seven years to two months. Photo: Su Meng-chuan, Taipei TimesFive years ago, a research team led by Yang developed the “perianth password” theory, which discovered the L and SP complexes behind orchid petal formation. The SP complex determines sepal and petal formation, while the L complex determines the identity of the lip. Three of the genes involved in the creation of the SP complex can change the color of the flower, Yang said. Yang said the discovery refutes the assumption that the genes governing flower formation retreat after the floral organs are formed, showing that these mechanisms remain important in other stages of flower development.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2021 16:05 UTC
Brazil travelers face new restrictions
Brazil travelers face new restrictionsMORE RISK? Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei TimesIn line with the rules for travelers who have been to the UK, South Africa or Eswatini within 14 days of entering Taiwan, who are also subject to centralized quarantine, travelers from Brazil would not need to pay an accommodation fee for centralized quarantine, Chen said. The three found to have the Brazilian variant are cases No. 903, 904 and 906, a Taiwanese family of four who returned from Brazil, Chen said, adding that the other family member, case No. However, Lo said that there is not yet clear scientific data to prove that the Brazilian variant is more transmissible or makes vaccines less effective.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2021 15:56 UTC
FEATURE: Start-up takes air out of bike tires
To achieve this, experts developed airless tires, which are also called solid tires. Unlike traditional bicycle tires and tubes, which are made of rubber and need to be inflated, airless tires are made of various materials, depending on the manufacturers. As expanded TPU and expanded polypropylene, which is another material used in Air Fom, are lightweight, Air Fom tires weigh 280g to 320g per wheel, he said. Air Fom tires simulate air pressure of 40 to 70 pounds per square inch, which is close to the range in inflated tires used in commuter bikes, he said, adding that the company can manufacture products with different simulated air pressures. While regular consumers have yet to appreciate the benefits of Air Fom tires, some bike-sharing operators in Europe already have.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2021 15:56 UTC
Tax revenue slips 2.9 percent despite GDP growth
Tax revenue slips 2.9 percent despite GDP growthBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterConventional wisdom holds that tax revenue increases amid a growing economy. Government statistics show that GDP expanded 3.11 percent year-on-year last year, but tax revenue fell 2.9 percent, following a 3.5 percent increase in the previous year. It was the first decline in 11 years, mainly due to decreased corporate income tax revenue and commodity tax revenue,” the Ministry of Finance said in a report on Saturday. The ministry reported preliminary tax revenue data for last year on Jan. 12, and it offered more accurate and detailed statistics on Saturday, including tax data from other government agencies and deferred tax revenue from December last year. Among all tax items, the securities transaction tax, business tax, tobacco and alcohol tax, and vehicle license tax generated the highest revenue on record last year, while the personal income tax, inheritance tax, customs duty and house tax reported the second-highest level on record, the report said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2021 15:56 UTC