THSR Yilan line proposal sent to MOTC: bureau
THSR Yilan line proposal sent to MOTC: bureauNO DESTINATION YET: Four sites for a terminal station were proposed. Prior to the publication of the final report, the Yilan County Government sent a letter to the bureau suggesting that the terminal station be at a TRA station planned for near Yilan County Hall, which is not scheduled to be built until 2030. The town, which is in the center of the Lanyang Plain, has a complete infrastructure nearby and is close to the county hall, the Yilan County Council Building and the Yilan Science Park, it said. A THSR line to the station there would boost urban development as well as the growth of the high-tech industry there, it said. Travel time to any of the four proposed stations would be about the same, so it would not be a factor in the final decision, the bureau said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 03, 2021 15:56 UTC
New revenue drivers to benefit Chilisin: analysts
New revenue drivers to benefit Chilisin: analystsBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterChilisin Electronics Corp (奇力新), the nation’s largest power inductor manufacturer, would continue to benefit from steady demand for inductor components due to the work-from-home economy, while high-margin molding chokes and low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) components are expected to become new revenue drivers, analysts said. A sign displaying the logo of Chilisin Electronics Corp is pictured at the company’s headquarters in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township on June 20, 2018. The deal — with Chilisin acquiring 100 percent shares of Bothhand for NT$2.8 billion — would hurt Chilisin’s revenue outlook in the short term but benefit its operations in the long term, they said. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of this month, Chilisin said on Dec. 23. Yuanta has retained its “buy” rating on Chilisin with a target share price of NT$135, but forecast that the company’s revenue would decline 10 percent year-on-year this year and net income would drop 4 percent from last year.
Source:Taipei Times
January 03, 2021 15:56 UTC
FEATURE: Taichung still popular pick for LY relocation
FEATURE: Taichung still popular pick for LY relocationBy Huang Hsin-po, Wu Su-wei and William Hetherington / Staff reporters, with staff writerThe issue of relocating the Legislative Yuan (LY) out of Taipei remains a hot topic even a decade after it was first proposed, with Taichung the most popular among the proposed locations, legislators said. Other proposed locations include New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城), Changhua County’s Tianjhong Township (田中) and Yilan County. The Legislative Yuan in Tapiei is pictured on April 30, 2010. The Legislative Yuan building was a girls’ high school during the Japanese colonial era, and the legislature’s administrative offices are in what used to be its dormitory. In 2012, then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) proposed moving the legislature to Taichung.
Source:Taipei Times
January 03, 2021 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: CECC confirms four new imported cases of COVID-19
Virus Outbreak: CECC confirms four new imported cases of COVID-19By Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four new imported cases of COVID-19 — travelers from Eswatini, Germany, the US and the UK — bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Taiwan to 812. Visitors wearing masks yesterday crowd a Taipei park, where a sign at the entrance reminds people to wear masks at eight types of public venues to prevent the spread of COVID-19. She was tested for COVID-19 on Friday and the result came back positive yesterday, he added. The last case is a Swazi man in his 30s who came to Taiwan for work on Dec. 24, he said. He was tested on Friday, and the result came back positive yesterday, he said, adding that a friend of the man who accompanied him to Taiwan was also tested for COVID-19.
Source:Taipei Times
January 03, 2021 15:56 UTC
Sports lottery sales end year down 11%
Agency statistics showed sales revenue in 2019 reached NT$41.6 billion, while the pandemic caused the revenue to drop by about 11 percent. That led the Sports Administration to implement a contingency plan on March 16 to minimize the pandemic’s impact on sports lottery sales. Between March 17 and Dec. 31, Taiwan Sports Lottery offered a total of 28,909 games for betting, creating sales revenue of NT$31.9 billion, the agency said. “We thank the Sports Administration for enforcing the contingency plan and offering relief funds to sports lottery retailers during this difficult time. We continue to improve our service to help the nation expand the economies of scale for sports industry,” Taiwan Sports Lottery said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 03, 2021 15:56 UTC
Educational mentors
THSR Yilan line proposal sent to MOTC: bureauNO DESTINATION YET: Four sites for a terminal station were proposed. Once the plan is finalized, it would take more than a decade to build the line The Railway Bureau’s proposed extension of the Taiwan High-Speed Rail (THSR) system to Yilan County was submitted to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) last week, even though the bureau has yet to decide on the terminus station. Extending the line from Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) — the system’s current northern terminus — to Yilan is part of the ministry’s proposed plans to facilitate transportation between the west and east coasts. Previously, the ministry had planned to build a direct Taipei-Yilan line for the Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) system. The bureau last year began planning for a high-speed rail extension to Yilan,By Shelley Shan
Source:Taipei Times
January 03, 2021 15:56 UTC
Executive Yuan orders watch on prices
Executive Yuan orders watch on pricesBy Lee Hsin-fang and Yang Yuan-ting / Staff reportersThe Executive Yuan has asked the Consumer Protection Committee to monitor pork prices after an eatery raised the price of its lunchboxes made with domestic pork by NT$10. The price hike came in the wake of the central government lifting a ban on imported pork containing ractopamine, which took effect on Friday. The committee said that it would cooperate with local departments to stabilize pork prices if gouging is discovered. Restaurant owner Lee Wei-ing (李偉英) said that due to public concerns about imported pork containing ractopamine, the restaurant switched to domestic pork. “Taiwan-produced pork is more expensive than imported pork,” Yuan said, adding that prices for domestic pork reached about NT$72 per kilogram recently, higher than the same period a year earlier, but still within reason.
Source:Taipei Times
January 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
E-cigarette resellers target youth: HPA
E-cigarettes contain a higher concentration of carcinogens, like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, than cigarettes, he said. Similarly, an increasing number of high-school students are using e-cigarettes, with 5.6 percent using them in 2019, up from 3.4 percent in 2018, it added. Opportunistic resellers are taking advantage of young people and trying to depict e-cigarettes as trendy on Instagram, the HPA said. The study also found that e-cigarette resellers were using keywords like “ejuice” to evade censorship on social media platforms, said Chung Chi-hui (鍾起惠), a professor at the university. The researchers also identified a correlation between the amount of money a student has at their disposal and the likelihood of them using e-cigarettes, she said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
Doctor urges no eating near monkeys
Doctor urges no eating near monkeysBy Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNAPeople must be cautious in the vicinity of monkeys, especially while eating, experts warned, after a woman got her hand severely injured by a macaque at Kaohsiung’s Shoushan Zoo last month. Lee reportedly tried to drive away the monkeys when one of them scratched her left hand, severing the tendon of her ring finger. When a monkey reaches for their food, people should let go of it and walk off, as the animal is likely to leave them alone, Lin said. In response, Shoushan Zoo director Chuang Hsuan-chih (莊絢智) said that the macaques in the zoo have adapted their behavior to being fed by visitors. “When visiting Shoushan, you should keep food items in your backpack and check the trees for macaques before you eat,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
New Taipei eatery owners cater for students in need
New Taipei eatery owners cater for students in needBy Weng Yu-huang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe owners of a Japanese-style izakaya food pub in New Taipei City’s Lujhou District (蘆洲) have through 2019 and last year prepared 300 lunchboxes per month for disadvantaged students, free of charge. Hsu Jui-hsi, left, and Hsu Pin-jui on Friday hold lunch boxes at their izakaya in New Taipei City’s Lujhou District. Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Taipei TimesThey hope that those who received the lunchboxes will prosper and one day also help others, they said. Until 2009, when Hsu Jui-hsi graduated from high school, they had not often been able to eat out, the brothers said. About 120 students at the school benefit from the project every month, Shen said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taiwan in Time: The house of Sanmao’s dreams
Of course, there’s joy mixed in as well, but not much.”A portrait of the late writer Sanmao. The friends from Chingchuan visit me in my dreams almost every night, and these people’s faces make my heart ache,” she continued in the letter. This photo shows Sanmao’s house in Chingchuan around 2005, just after it was fixed up by the government for tourism. “The Little Prince sobbingly told me that he could no longer return to the Sahara,” Sanmao wrote. Martinson writes he received numerous calls asking about the house, and countless people from across Taiwan passed through due to Sanmao’s calling.
Source:Taipei Times
January 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
Groups march for Trump in Taipei and extend an invitation
Groups march for Trump in Taipei and extend an invitationBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterPeople rallied in Taipei yesterday to support US President Donald Trump and called for Taipei and Washington to normalize the relationship between the two nations. The group held banners and shouted: “Support President Trump, protect Taiwan,” “Welcome Trump to visit Taiwan” and other slogans while waving US flags, along with green-and-white flags bearing an image of Taiwan and its outlying islands. People march in Taipei yesterday to support US President Donald Trump. “I am here to thank President Trump, because he has done so much for Taiwan in the past four years,” Ong said. The groups invited Trump to visit Taiwan and expressed their hope that formal Taiwan-US ties would be restored.
Source:Taipei Times
January 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
Ma’s office rejects Tsai’s account of pork promise
The Tsai administration has surrendered without a fight on an issue that past presidents have proved could be withstood, it said, adding that the actions are not a solution, but instead create more problems. “We ask that President Tsai take responsibility for her administration’s own actions, instead of blaming previous administrations,” the statement said. Local governments should take their lead from the central government, Li said. If local governments impose fines for “violating local ordinances,” companies should be able to seek compensation from the central government. The KMT has pledged to help local governments seek a constitutional interpretation on the legality of the government’s move to invalidate local ractopamine bans.
Source:Taipei Times
January 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
Library, museum feature Maxwell, literature, art
Library, museum feature Maxwell, literature, artBy Wu Chun-feng and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNAThe grand opening of the Tainan Main Municipal Library today is to feature exhibitions on James Maxwell, a Scottish Presbyterian missionary and physician, and the literature of Tainan’s coastal areas, the Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau said yesterday. The main branch of the Tainan Public Library is pictured yesterday. Two exhibitions about late British doctor James Maxwell and local literature development are set to take place at the venue starting today. The library is to display texts authored by Gustave Cheng (鄭順聰), illustrations of Tainan’s coastal landscape by Da Chang (大昌) and installation art pieces, the bureau said. For visually impaired visitors, the museum would provide a special audio guide and replicas of the chairs in the portraits, which visitors are allowed to touch, it added.
Source:Taipei Times
January 01, 2021 15:56 UTC
Rules to tie heavy electricity use to renewable power
Rules to tie heavy electricity use to renewable powerBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterEntities that require a lot of electricity are tied to a five-year “green” energy consumption plan with the promulgation of “heavy electricity user” rules this year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday, although experts added that the regulations would have a limited effect on the renewable energy market. The total installed electrical capacity in Taiwan is 44.7 gigawatts (GW), Taiwan Power Co (台電) manager Chang Ting-shu (張廷抒) said. Taiwan Power Co solar panels are pictured in Penghu County’s Cimei Township on Sept. 18 last year. According to Huang’s analysis, any government requirements regarding energy from renewable sources for large users is dwarfed by the appetite of the firms themselves. “This makes renewable energy seem more expensive than it really is,” she said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 01, 2021 15:56 UTC