Special charter from Guam lands
The flight, operated by China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with 47 passengers and 13 crew aboard. Passengers who arrived aboard a humanitarian charter flight from Guam are screened by health officials at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. Guam Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero, center in blue dress, is joined by other officials and China Airlines staff and passengers at a ceremony yesterday at Guam International Airport in Tamuning before the departure of a humanitarian charter flight to Taiwan. Photo courtesy of Guam International Airport via CNAThe US Department of State’s announcement that long-standing restrictions on contacts between US officials and their counterparts in Taiwan would be ended would help Guam and Taiwan establish a peaceful and democratic partnership, and discuss economic and political agreements, she said. Meanwhile, the CECC reported six new imported cases of COVID-19, including members of an Egyptian family related to case No.
Source:Taipei Times
January 11, 2021 16:00 UTC
Late TSMC rally boosts TAIEX to a record high
Late TSMC rally boosts TAIEX to a record highFLUSH WITH CASH: The index has repeatedly hit record highs because of a buildup of liquidity, which has also bolstered tech and petrochemical shares, an analyst saidStaff writer, with CNAThe TAIEX yesterday closed at a record high after early losses were reversed by a late rally in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares on hopes that it will have positive news at its investor conference on Thursday, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 93.35 points, or 0.60 percent, at the day’s high of 15,557.30 on turnover of NT$323.597 billion (US$11.36 billion). Photo: Taipei Times file photoForeign institutional investors sold a net NT$1.59 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. TSMC shares rose 0.69 percent to close at NT$584. The market is expecting TSMC to forecast about a 15 percent year-on-year increase in sales this year.
Source:Taipei Times
January 11, 2021 16:00 UTC
‘Double 12’ boosts Momo revenue to a record high
‘Double 12’ boosts Momo revenue to a record highBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterE-commerce operator Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) yesterday posted record revenue of NT$6.48 billion (US$227.5 million) for last month, up 25.6 percent year-on-year on the back of a “Double 12” shopping event that saw sales increase 36 percent year-on-year. Revenue was also boosted by robust sales of electric heaters, dehumidifiers and winter clothing during a spate of cold fronts, the company said in a statement. Photo: Vanessa Cho, Taipei TimesThe strong performance saw fourth-quarter revenue grow 30 percent year-on-year to NT$20.67 billion and boosted full-year revenue to NT$67.2 billion, up 29.6 percent, it added. Local rival PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) on Sunday posted revenue of NT$4.17 billion for last month, up 13.66 percent year-on-year. PChome’s cumulative revenue for last year was a record-high NT$43.87 billion, up 12.82 percent year-on-year, company data showed.
Source:Taipei Times
January 11, 2021 16:00 UTC
Kaohsiung site to develop marine tech
Kaohsiung site to develop marine tech‘GREEN-COLLAR JOBS’: The Marine Technology Industrial Innovation Zone was designed to train an estimated 1,800 people per year to service offshore wind farmsBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterGovernment officials yesterday inaugurated a center for developing oceanic resources in Kaohsiung, which Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said would create an industrial cluster for the development of marine technology. The 6.7 hectare Marine Technology Industrial Innovation Zone (海洋科技產業創新專區) in Singda Harbor (興達港) is ready to start training people in the maintenance and repair of offshore wind farms, Chen said at the opening ceremony. Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times“By cultivating talent for the offshore wind power industry, the innovation zone would support the development of our renewable energy industry,” Chen said. “We have seen from other countries’ experiences that it is expensive to train skilled workers for the offshore wind farm industry,” Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said. The zone would also house a number of laboratories to develop marine technology, including a deep water pool for simulating offshore conditions to be completed in 2023, the MIRDC said in a statement.
Source:Taipei Times
January 11, 2021 16:00 UTC
Doctor urges lung cancer screenings
Doctor urges lung cancer screeningsBy Chien Hui-ju / Staff reporterPeople who have cases of lung cancer in their family should ask their doctor for regular screenings, as the survival rate for lung cancer that is detected early is nearly 100 percent, a researcher at National Taiwan University said. Before her surgery, Chung wrote on Facebook that her mother and one of her aunts had died from lung cancer. Especially non-solid nodules, of which 80 percent are malignant, are an indicator of lung cancer, as they often precede cancerous growth, he said. The National Health Insurance since June last year subsidizes lung screenings for high-risk groups, including long-term smokers and people with cases of lung cancer in their family. Health Promotion Administration officials have said that the subsidized low-dose computed tomography is the best tool to detect early-stage lung cancer, allowing physicians to start treatment at a stage with a high likelihood of recovery.
Source:Taipei Times
January 09, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taiwan in Time: The ‘civil servant crooner’
An 86-year-old Cheng Jih-ching performs at a tribute show to Hung Yi-feng in 2010. Photo courtesy of Taiwan Film InstituteALWAYS SINGINGCheng was born in 1924 in today’s Guting (古亭) area in Taipei. When the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took over Taiwan, he kept his job and was moved to the highway department. Cheng befriended future stars like Hung Yi-feng (洪一峰) and began singing with them on stage after they noticed his talent. Chengsheng Broadcasting Corporation hosted one of the three singing competitions Cheng Jih-ching won in 1957.
Source:Taipei Times
January 09, 2021 15:56 UTC
Technology products lift exports 12% to new record
Technology products lift exports 12% to new recordBROAD RECOVERY: Technology exports took the lead amid favorable demand, while non-technology shipments rose 2 percent to 15 percent in their respective sectorsBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterTaiwan’s exports last month clocked another 12 percent upturn from a year earlier to a record US$33 billion, as 5G smartphones and other new technology applications ramped up business for local component suppliers, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said yesterday. Meanwhile, strong demand for laptops, servers, and other information and communication technology (ICT) products showed no sign of receding as COVID-19 infections spike around the world, Tsai said. Electronics exports soared 22.2 percent to US$12.76 billion, while shipments of ICT products gained 17.6 percent to US$4.77 billion, jointly contributing about 50 percent to overall exports, ministry data showed. Optical products, mainly flat panels, posted the fastest advance of 27 percent year-on-year, Tsai said. Exports rose 11.7 percent year-on-year to US$97.21 billion last quarter, stronger than the November forecast of 7.8 percent by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Tsai said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 08, 2021 15:56 UTC
Forex losses, falling prices cause Nanya profit drop
Last quarter, net profit plunged 43.6 percent to NT$911 million (US$32.01 million), compared with NT$1.61 billion in the previous quarter. Earnings per share fell to NT$0.3 last quarter, compared with NT$0.53 a quarter earlier and NT$0.42 a year earlier, the lowest since the second quarter of 2016. For the whole of last year, net profit contracted 19 percent to NT$7.67 billion, from NT$9.83 billion in 2019. Excluding the effect of unfavorable foreign exchange rates, the chipmaker said that net profit last quarter would have surpassed that of 2019. To fund the technology upgrade, Nanya plans to raise capital expenditure for this year to NT$15 billion, from NT$8.47 billion last year.
Source:Taipei Times
January 08, 2021 15:56 UTC
New passports ready for distribution from Monday
New passports ready for distribution from MondayBy Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNAThe first batch of 500,000 passports with a new design is ready for distribution from Monday, and foreign governments, airlines and government agencies have been notified about the change, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. Preparations for the rollout are complete, with 500,000 passports ready for distribution, Bureau of Consular Affairs Director-General Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) told a regular news conference in Taipei. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Central Taiwan Office head Weng Ying-min holds new, left, and old passports at the office in Taichung’s Nantun District on Wednesday. People can apply for the new passport no matter where they are or when their current passport expires, she said. This means that about 1.3 million passports have expired or are set to expire in less than a year, Yeh said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 08, 2021 15:56 UTC
First snow of season blankets nation’s peaks
The Lalashan Forest Reserve (拉拉山自然保護區), home to more than 120 Formosan cypresses estimated to be more than 500 years old, was also covered with snow. Visitors to the Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area in Yilan County yesterday enjoy snow-clad views along one of the area’s footpaths. People wave the national flag after climbing to the top of Qixingshan in Taipei’s Yangmingshan National Park yesterday. A snowman made by visitors to Qixing Park in Taipei’s Yangmingshan National Park is pictured yesterday. As cold weather is expected to persist into next week, people should be mindful of staying warm, especially those with seniors, children or people with chronic conditions in their homes, the department said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 08, 2021 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Medigen to begin phase 2 vaccine candidate trials
Virus Outbreak: Medigen to begin phase 2 vaccine candidate trialsBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterMedigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗) on Wednesday said it plans to begin phase 2 clinical trials next week for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate and expects to apply by the end of June for emergency use authorization for the drug. The company received NT$1.7 million in government subsidies for its phase 1 trials and would receive another NT$300 million for its phase 2 trials. Hsieh said that he is confident about the phase 2 clinical trials, as Medigen’s vaccine candidate showed good immunogenicity in the phase 1 trials and no participants showed any serious adverse reactions or fever. Medigen is thus far the only company in Taiwan to proceed to phase 2 clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine. It would be given access to a government Web site that has recruited more than 200,000 volunteers for domestic COVID-19 vaccine trials.
Source:Taipei Times
January 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Police investigate delivery driver brawl in Jhubei City
Police investigate delivery driver brawl in Jhubei City‘BAD BEHAVIOR’: A woman who ordered the meal that led to the disagreement told police that an argument over her address was no reason to resort to violenceBy Liao Hsueh-ju / Staff reporterHsinchu County police were yesterday investigating a brawl in Jhubei City (竹北市), involving two food delivery drivers over a dispute with a security guard. An image captured from a closed-circuit camera shows an altercation between an Uber Eats driver and a residential security guard in Hsinchu County on Wednesday. Photo: Tsai Ya-hsuan, Taipei Times“Hsu then used a messaging app to contact two friends, one of whom is a delivery driver for Foodpanda. It was bad behavior and the delivery driver needs better training,” the police quoted her as saying. Uber Eats said in a statement that it regretted the incident.
Source:Taipei Times
January 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Caution likely to limit presale units
The central bank has capped the loan-to-value ratios for purchases by corporate and multiple home owners at 55 to 65 percent, as well as on unsold houses and land financing, in a bid to curb price hikes. “The presale market has a chance of breaking records this year on the back of continued economic growth, excessive liquidity and low interest rates,” My Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said. The under-construction Diamond Tower complex, an urban renewal project near the Zhongxiao-Fuxing MRT Station in Taipei, is pictured yesterday. Presale projects in Hsinchu last year fell 10 percent to NT$100 billion, weighed down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Presale projects in northern Taiwan last year rose a total of 27 percent to NT$1.28 trillion, compared with the 13 percent increase seen in 2019, My Housing Monthly reported.
Source:Taipei Times
January 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Tsai urged to ask US to save ship’s crew
18’s vessel monitoring system (VMS), Fisheries Agency Deputy Director-General Wang Cheng-fang (王正芳) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. The Taipei Rescue Coordination Center and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been brought in to request US assistance in locating the ship, he said. The agency coordinated with four nearby ships to visit the last known coordinates of the unresponsive ship, Wang said. Tsai has instructed Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) to call Lee’s family to express her concern to them, he added. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Honolulu has asked the US Coast Guard to send ships to help with search-and-rescue efforts, the ministry said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
US Capitol riot regrettable, foreign minister Wu says
US Capitol riot regrettable, foreign minister Wu saysBy Lee Hsin-fang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerMinister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday expressed regret over the riots at the US Capitol on Wednesday, while reminding Taiwanese in Washington to remain on high alert. Asked to comment on the riots at a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei, Wu said that it was regrettable to hear of the incident and that the ministry would continue to monitor the situation. Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu answers questions from reporters at a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday. In contrast with the state department’s announcement, the Executive Yuan only said that the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was witnessing a peak in US-Taiwan relations. Both sides have worked closely on regional security and trade issues, and any international collaborations that would aid in efforts to maintain Taiwan’s democracy would be fully supported by the government, the Executive Yuan said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 07, 2021 15:56 UTC