Food delivery data show credit card spending is surging
Food delivery data show credit card spending is surgingBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterCredit card spending on food delivery services rose to NT$1.06 billion (US$36.36 million) in June, double that of a year earlier and higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating that people have continued using such services, despite the pandemic easing, the National Credit Card Center said in a report last week. Food delivery drivers attend a training course in Taichung on Aug. 17. Most people pay for food delivery with a credit card, although some platforms only accept cash, the center said. However, the rise in credit card spending on deliveries did not offset a decline in sales at restaurants, it said. “It seems that food delivery merely cushioned the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry and helped restaurants weather the crisis,” the center said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 02, 2020 16:07 UTC
City leaders mark Taipei’s centennial
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) hosted of the event, which he touted as a special chance for the ideologically distant mayors to mark a rare milestone together. From left, former Taipei City Council deputy speaker Chen Chin-hsiang, Taipei City Council Speaker Wu Pi-chu, former Taipei mayors Hau Lung-bin, Chen Shui-bian, Wu Poh-hsiung, Hsu Shui-teh, Huang Ta-chou and Ma Ying-jeou, former deputy council speaker Chen Chien-chi and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je attend a special exhibition to celebrate the city’s centennial in Taipei yesterday. The city used to flood and the water would shut off practically every other day, but now those problems have been solved, he added. Chen said he was happy that the former leaders could put aside their differences and come together for the event. The city of Taipei is only here thanks to the efforts of those who built up the area before its incorporation, he added.
Source:Taipei Times
October 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Highways and Byways: A gift from the gods
The alleyways around Sishu Old Street (喜樹老街) were proving every bit as confounding as those in Sikunshen (四鯤鯓), where I’d started the day’s wanderings. The Wang Ye boat housed in the south wing of Tainan’s Wannian Temple. Placards used in religious processions stored inside Tainan’s Wannian Temple. So Wannian Temple’s resident deities could inspect their earthly domain, the latter vessel used to be sailed along the Erren River (二仁溪). A motorcycle rusts in a ruin near Tainan’s Sishu Old Street.
Source:Taipei Times
October 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taipei schedules series of Pride Month events
Taipei schedules series of Pride Month eventsBy Tsai Ya-hua and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerTaipei is marking Pride Month this month with a series of activities, starting with “rainbow” bus tours set to begin tomorrow and finishing with a weekend of light shows outside Taipei City Hall starting on Oct. 28, the Taipei City Government said on Wednesday. Officials made the announcement at a news conference held atop a “rainbow road” that has been painted on a stretch of pavement in the plaza in front of Taipei City Hall, similar to the Rainbow Sixthat adorns the crosswalk in front of Ximen MRT Station Exit 6. Photo: Tsai Ya-hua, Taipei TimesThere is still a lot of work to be done to achieve LGBT and gender equality, but officials and Taipei City Council members would do everything in their power to support LGBT causes to show that the city cares, Liu said. The department commissioned Weary World to design a 1.2m by 1.4m statue based on the theme “fundamental [chicken] rights” (雞本人權) that would be erected in front of city hall in the coming weeks. Information on the Pride Month events can be found at the department’s Web site, Travel Taipei.
Source:Taipei Times
October 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
New agency aims to increase area of irrigated farmland
New agency aims to increase area of irrigated farmlandNO EXPROPRIATION: The director pledged to prove to farmers that the new central department works for them better than its predecessor agenciesBy Yang Yuan-ting and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Agency of Irrigation was yesterday officially established, with its main aim being to increase the number of fields that are irrigated, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said. The Legislative Yuan on July 2 passed the third reading of a bill to convert the nation’s 17 irrigation associations into a central government body. The agency would promote the use of intelligent irrigation systems and modern equipment, he said, pledging that it would prove to farmers to be better than its predecessor. Agency Director Tsai Sheng-fu (蔡昇甫) said that its priority would be to step up agricultural irrigation construction projects, adding that the agency would later also focus on investigating and handling incidents of water pollution. Most importantly, the agency must supervise the provision of water to an additional 370,000 hectares of farmland outside of the irrigation zone and not just the 310,000 hectares in the zone, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Mobile payments surge 127%
Photo: Lee Ching-hui, Taipei TimesThat some consumers chose to redeem their Triple Stimulus Vouchers via mobile payment services could also boost online transactions, the commission said. It was the first time that transactions through e-payment services outperformed those via mobile credit cards, the data showed. Mobile credit cards reported the second-largest transactions, with NT$36.6 billion in the first seven months, followed by mobile debit cards with NT$35 billion, mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) with NT$2.7 billion and electronic stored-value cards with NT$1 billion, the data showed. Although mobile payments still make up a comparatively small part of non-cash payments, which surpassed NT$3 trillion last year, they are expected to continue growing this year, the commission said. Taiwan started mobile payment services in 2016, with accumulated transactions reaching NT$299.1 billion as of the end of July, the data showed.
Source:Taipei Times
October 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Former Nanya president quits Tsinghua Unigroup
Former Nanya president quits Tsinghua UnigroupBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterFormer Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) president Charles Kau (高啟全) has reportedly quit his job at China’s Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd (清華紫光) after his five-year contract expired. Kau joined Tsinghua Unigroup in 2015 after retiring from Nanya Technology, the biggest DRAM chipmaker in Taiwan. Former Nanya Technology Corp president Charles Kau speaks at a Monte Jade Science and Technology Association forum on Oct. 20, 2014, in Taipei. Photo: CNALast year, Tsinghua Unigroup appointed Kau as chief executive officer of its newly formed unit, Yangtze Memory Technology Corp (長江存儲), aiming to develop and produce China’s first 3D NAND flash memory chips. Kau confirmed that he did not renew his contract with Tsinghua Unigroup when it expired, Central News Agency reported yesterday.
Source:Taipei Times
October 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
TaiGen teams up with Luminarie to tap into N America
TaiGen teams up with Luminarie to tap into N AmericaBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterTaiGen Biopharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd (太景醫藥研發控股) on Wednesday said that it is venturing into the North American market through its partnership with Luminarie Canada Inc, which would develop and commercialize its antibiotic Taigexyn in Canada. Photo: Chen Yung-chi, Taipei TimesLuminarie would purchase Taigexyn at a pre-negotiated price from TaiGen for its commercialization, it said. TaiGen also licensed Luminarie to seek another company that would commercialize Taigexyn in the US, to leverage the Canadian pharmaceutical company’s network in North America, it said. “We are interested in Luminarie because we share the same innovative vision for Taigexyn,” TaiGen chairman Philip Huang (黃國龍) said in a statement. Through the partnership with Luminarie, TaiGen has expanded the drug into 35 markets, including Taiwan and China, said the official, who declined to be named.
Source:Taipei Times
October 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Star Lin An-ko sets league and club home run records
Star Lin An-ko sets league and club home run recordsBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterUni-President Lions outfielder Lin An-ko on Tuesday blasted two homers to set league and club records, and lead the Lions to a 14-1 rout over the CTBC Brothers as the CPBL heads into the final month of the season. Uni-President Lions outfielder Lin An-ko arrives at the dugout to congratulations from teammates after his second home run against the CTBC Brothers at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tainan on Tuesday. Lin was in 2018 drafted by the Lions, after he pitched left-handed on Taiwan national youth teams, at the high-school and university levels. Although in his second season, Lin is in the running to be named Rookie of the Year. Lin leads the league with 30 homers and tops the RBI chart with 94.
Source:Taipei Times
September 30, 2020 16:30 UTC
No to pork import surcharge: Chen
No to pork import surcharge: ChenRACTOPAMINE: Levying a health surcharge on US pork imports might be deemed a nontariff barrier, Chen Shih-chung said, while leaving room for further discussionsBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterMinister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) yesterday said that he is not in favor of imposing a health surcharge on imports of US pork containing traces of the feed additive ractopamine. At a meeting of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s National Health Insurance Committee on Sept. 18, several members proposed imposing a food safety surcharge on US pork. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, center, answers questions about US pork containing traces of ractopamine at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee yesterday. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Liou Wan-ju (廖婉汝) said that she supports the idea of imposing a health surcharge on importers of US pork containing ractopamine, which could balance out the difference in prices between US and local pork. Chen said that imposing a health surcharge on US pork might be deemed a nontariff trade barrier.
Source:Taipei Times
September 30, 2020 16:18 UTC
Reports on accidents ready soon
However, lawmakers during a question-and-answer session pressed the board to announce specific timelines for releasing final investigative reports on the two accidents. Taiwan Transportation Safety Board Chairman Young Hong-tsu speaks at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee in Taipei yesterday. As for the report on the bridge collapse, Young said that the board was set to finalize a draft of the report in a meeting yesterday afternoon. Young said that the board could not deliver the report on the bridge collapse sooner due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a shortage of investigators for highway and freeway accidents. “We only have four investigators for highway accidents, but we would need 11 to handle the workload,” Young said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 30, 2020 16:18 UTC
Moon exhibits look to draw tourists during long break
Moon exhibits look to draw tourists during long breakBy Kuo Hsuan-hsuan and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerLocal governments have set up art installations or exhibitions featuring images of the moon to attract tourists during the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival starting today. Illustrator Jimmy’s installation art “A Wish to the Moon” is pictured at Bitan in New Taipei City’s Sindian District on Monday ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival today. The Chiayi City Government said that it is hosting the nation’s biggest light exhibition at Beisianghu Park (北香湖公園) daily from 6pm to 10pm throughout this month. Besides a giant moon installation floating over the lake in the park, there are seven other light displays themed around the four seasons, the city government said. The exhibition is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors before it closes on Oct. 11, the theater said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 30, 2020 16:18 UTC
Tsai urged to ‘rectify’ nation’s name
Tsai urged to ‘rectify’ nation’s name‘LONG OVERDUE’: The Republic of China is a military-political regime of the KMT that illegally occupied Taiwan, Taiwan Republic Office director Chilly Chen saidBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterIndependence advocates yesterday at a rally called on government leaders to “rectify” the nation’s official name as “Taiwan” as they denounced Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu’s (吳釗燮) remark of “not seeking formal ties with the US” during a media interview. Members of the Taiwan Republic Office demonstrate outside Democratic Progressive Party headquarters in Taipei yesterday. “Therefore it is long overdue to rectify nation’s name as ‘Taiwan.’ Only by doing so can we establish full normal diplomatic ties with the US and other countries,” Sim said. “We condemn Wu for his statement that Taiwan is not seeking full diplomatic relations with US at this moment during an interview with Washington-based National Public Radio,” he said. “We want to know if Wu is receiving instructions from President Tsai, or was he under political pressure to say so to hide some sensitive issues?
Source:Taipei Times
September 30, 2020 16:18 UTC
Court lowers ex-FSC official’s sentence
Lee Chin-cheng (李進誠), a former prosecutor who served as director-general of the commission’s Examination Bureau in 2005, had a previous six-year sentence reduced to one year by the High Court after it was ordered by the Supreme Court in July 2017 to review the case. Lee Chin-cheng, a former prosecutor who served as director-general of the Financial Supervisory Commission Examination Bureau in 2005, is pictured at the High Court in Taipei on April 24, 2006. He was found guilty of leaking information about a government investigation into the company to Lin Ming-da (林明達), who reportedly profited from the information. On appeal, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the High Court for review, and in 2013, the High Court found that there was a lack of evidence regarding some of the charges, but not corruption. The verdict was appealed again, and the Supreme Court sent it back to the High Court for another review.
Source:Taipei Times
September 30, 2020 15:56 UTC
Cabinet backs extending domestic travel subsidies
Cabinet backs extending domestic travel subsidiesRESCUE PACKAGE: Stimulus measures have generated about NT$63.5 billion for businesses, and mitigated the damage that could have hit the local tourism industryStaff reporterThe Executive Yuan supports a plan by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to extend the subsidies for domestic travelers until the end of next month, the Tourism Bureau said on Monday night. To promote the second phase of the nation’s “disease prevention tours,” which were launched in July, the bureau has been offering NT$1,000 (US$34.30) subsidies per hotel room. The second phase of “disease prevention tours,” the Triple Stimulus Vouchers and incentives offered by other government agencies have boosted consumer confidence and maintained positive momentum for domestic tourism, the bureau said. The program has given NT$8.91 million in subsidies to independent tourists traveling nationwide, while more than 9,500 hotels have participated, bureau data showed. “It has influenced some travel agencies that previously organized outbound tours to invest resources and personnel in developing domestic tour packages.”
Source:Taipei Times
September 29, 2020 16:30 UTC