Host pulls out of Commonwealth Games
Host pulls out of Commonwealth Games‘HUGELY DISAPPOINTING’: The Commonwealth Games Federation said that Victoria had added sports and venues that raised the costs against the advice of the federationAFP, MELBOURNEThe Australian state of Victoria yesterday pulled out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games citing major cost blowouts, leaving organizers “hugely disappointed” as they scrambled to keep the multisport event afloat. Staff carry the Commonwealth Games Federation flag into the arena during the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Melbourne on March 15, 2006. We have informed Commonwealth Games authorities of our decision to seek to terminate the contract,” he said. Andrews refused to say how much it would cost to terminate the agreement, but said that talks with the Commonwealth Games Federation were amicable. These additional costs were “often against the advice of the Commonwealth Games Federation and Commonwealth Games Australia,” it said, adding that it had received assurances that “sufficient funding was available to deliver the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.”Commonwealth Games Australia president Ben Houston was equally scathing, saying that the new cost estimates were a “gross exaggeration.”“Beyond disappointing for us,” he told reporters.
Source:Taipei Times
July 19, 2023 14:36 UTC
Children must be taught empathy
Children must be taught empathyBy Wang Sou-jane 王守珍In November 2021, it was reported that Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) had been abused by her then-boyfriend Raphael Lin (林秉樞). In October last year, Lin was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison by the New Taipei City District Court. An antisocial person such as Lin has a ruthless personality. Asking an antisocial person to repent and apologize is doomed to failure. It is therefore extremely important to teach children to empathize with others and to have compassion for their suffering.
Source:Taipei Times
July 18, 2023 23:02 UTC
Number of major retail investors in TWSE surges in Q2
Number of major retail investors in TWSE surges in Q2By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterThe number of major retail investors in the local stock market in the second quarter was the highest in the past five quarters as surging share prices attracted more big investors, data compiled by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) showed on Monday. A “big player” is defined as an investor who trades at least NT$500 million (US$16.13 million) in shares on the TWSE in a single quarter. Average daily turnover was NT$269.73 billion in the second quarter, increasing by 23.43 percent from an average of NT$218.53 billion three months earlier, TWSE data showed. Retail investors accounted for 58.2 percent of the market’s turnover in the second quarter, up from 57.71 percent in the first quarter, while foreign institutional investors made up 30.93 percent, down from 31.53 percent. Local institutional investors represented the remaining 10.87 percent, up from 10.76 percent, the TWSE said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 18, 2023 22:36 UTC
Hon Hai unit to build plant in India for iPhone parts
Hon Hai unit to build plant in India for iPhone partsStaff writer, with CNAFoxconn Industrial Internet Co (FII, 富士康工業互聯網), a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), is to build a factory in a southern Indian state to make iPhone components, a Karnataka official said. Patil posted photos showing him meeting with FII chief executive officer Brand Cheng (鄭弘孟) and his team to discuss the investment. FII is expected to produce components such as screens and casings in India to be used in iPhone assembly, Indian daily the Deccan Herald recently reported. Separately, Hon Hai has invested NT$15 billion (US$483.93 million) to set up Foxconn EV Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd, that an industry source close to the investment said is aimed at electric vehicle (EV) development. The company said in a regulatory filing on Monday that establishing the subsidiary in Singapore is a long-term investment.
Source:Taipei Times
July 18, 2023 17:53 UTC
EDITORIAL: Risk of becoming ‘rats on the street’
EDITORIAL: Risk of becoming ‘rats on the street’On the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, and three years since the implementation of the National Security Law, the Hong Kong Police Force this month announced life-long arrest warrants for eight exiled democracy advocates. China-appointed Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) even said that wanted activists should be treated like “rats in the street,” further indicating the end of freedom, human rights and democracy in the territory. Official census statistics show that the territory’s population has declined since 2020, the same year the security law took effect. In the face of China’s ambition to “unite” with Taiwan, Taiwanese have rejected Beijing’s “one country, two systems” proposal, which proved a failure in Hong Kong. They have a choice between protecting the dignity and autonomy of Taiwan, or risking the nation’s sovereignty and becoming “rats in the street.”
Source:Taipei Times
July 18, 2023 17:08 UTC
More needed to thwart fraudsters
More needed to thwart fraudstersBy Jeng Shann-yinn 鄭善印Many people have received phone calls from scammers, especially in the past three years. The Executive Yuan formulated its action strategies on the basis of four major tasks, namely identifying fraud through educational campaigns, preventing fraud on telecommunications networks, intercepting fraud by following money flows and capturing fraudsters through law enforcement. It set the ultimate goals of preventing fraud, destroying the tools of fraud, blocking the flow of stolen money and cleaning up criminal groups. The FSC is responsible for handling dummy accounts, but it has repeatedly been passive in its response. With regard to financial institutions that have a particularly high proportion of dummy accounts, the FSC should investigate them and hold them accountable.
Source:Taipei Times
July 17, 2023 22:14 UTC
Resignations hit Singapore ruling party
Resignations hit Singapore ruling partySIX-DECADE RULE: Tan Chuan-jin’s resignation as speaker comes at a risky time for the PAP, which is battling voter unhappiness and navigating a leadership successionBloombergSingapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has been rocked by two unexpected resignations, including that of parliament speaker Tan Chuan-jin (陳川仁), further fueling one of the biggest political crises in the city-state’s history. Once seen as a potential prime ministerial candidate by political observers, Tan, 54, stepped down from positions in government and the party, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said in a statement yesterday. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong attends the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore on May 31, 2019. “For me personally, this recent episode has added to the hurt I have caused my family,” Tan wrote in the letter published by the Singaporean Prime Minister’s Office. “It seems here now that when it rains, it pours,” said Eugene Tan, a law professor at Singapore Management University.
Source:Taipei Times
July 17, 2023 22:14 UTC
Global debt hangs over G20 finance ministers summit
Global debt hangs over G20 finance ministers summitSENSITIVE TOPIC: Although Yellen and Suzuki reiterated their support for Kyiv, some were concerned that discussing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would derail talksAFP, GANDHINAGAR, IndiaG20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs yesterday opened talks on debt restructuring deals, multilateral bank reform and finance to tackle climate change, as they aim to bolster a sagging global economy. US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, left, and Indian Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman issue a joint statement ahead of the G20 finance ministers meeting in Gandhinagar, India, yesterday. Photo: AFPTalks would also focus on “critical global issues such as strengthening the multilateral development banks and taking coordinated climate action,” Sitharaman added. A top official from G20 chair India said there had been a “not so encouraging response” from Beijing on shared debt understanding. “In the Global North, climate change means emissions reductions,” World Bank president Ajay Banga wrote in an op-ed ahead of the meeting.
Source:Taipei Times
July 17, 2023 21:17 UTC
Fuel prices rise NT$0.4 per liter today
Fuel prices rise NT$0.4 per liter todayBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterGasoline and diesel prices are to increase by NT$0.4 per liter today after global crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said in separate statements yesterday. Crude oil prices last week increased as an explosion at an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico affected output by about 700,000 barrels, while Saudi Arabia and Russia have decided to cut oil production next month, CPC said. Based on CPC’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil last week increased 3.84 percent from a week earlier, it said. Gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are today to increase to NT$29.5, NT$31.0 and NT$33.0 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$27.7 at CPC stations, and NT$27.5 at Formosa pumps, they said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 16, 2023 20:33 UTC
Ko’s Matsu argument irrational
Ko’s Matsu argument irrationalBy Chin Ching 秦靖Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) tries to give the impression that he has sympathy with the deep-green side of Taiwanese politics. Ko seeks to use this argument to distort the green camp’s call for “resisting China, protecting Taiwan” (抗中保台), and thereby ingratiating himself with the blue camp to attract their votes. Many Taiwanese believe in China’s Matsu and Guan Gong, the Chinese god of war, and that is an expression of freedom of religion. In that case, how can China’s Matsu and Guan Gong be the CCP’s fellow travelers, as Ko says? These fellow travelers of China always assume unilaterally that the Democratic Progressive Party government has been provoking Beijing.
Source:Taipei Times
July 16, 2023 18:34 UTC
Grocery bus caters to isolated German village
Grocery bus caters to isolated German villageAFP, LOHNE, GermanyIn the western German village of Lohne, where the only grocery store closed its doors earlier this year, residents do their food shopping on board a red-and-green supermarket bus that rolls into the main square once a week. Customers shop in an REWE grocery bus delivering daily needs in Lohne, Germany, on July 6. From Monday to Saturday, the supermarket bus covers a 600km route, stopping at 23 villages. The prices on board “are the same” as in the REWE supermarkets, said Joern Berszinski, who manages the supermarket bus. The bus project has not gone unnoticed in Germany, where nearly 2,000 supermarkets of fewer than 400m2 have closed over the past decade, EHI retail research group said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 16, 2023 11:05 UTC
UK’s China response lacking: report
UK’s China response lacking: reportThe GuardianThe UK’s approach to a “whole of state” assault by China on its economy, politics, civil infrastructure and academia is completely inadequate, an influential British parliamentary committee has found. The committee, which completed its inquiry into the Chinese threat in May, was scathing about the failure of the UK to wake up to the scale of the challenge. The government’s focus, was still dominated by short-term or acute threats, the report said. “It has consistently failed to think long term unlike China, which historically has been able to take advantage of this,” it said. This presents a serious commercial challenge but also has the potential to pose an existential threat to liberal democratic systems.”
Source:Taipei Times
July 16, 2023 04:46 UTC
Agencies offer cross-strait group tours despite ban
Agencies offer cross-strait group tours despite banBy Ting Yi and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerSome Taiwanese and Chinese travel agencies are allegedly offering fake self-guided tours in China, despite reciprocal bans on tourism groups issued by the two governments, sources said. A number of China-based travel agencies promoted China’s scenic attractions and packaged tours but refrained from giving out information on tour dates or price. The information on self-guided tours was later removed from the Web site. Group tours were allegedly being billed as self-guided tours with complimentary services to dodge regulations, he said, adding that such tourism packages could be legal depending on circumstances. The bureau is monitoring the situation and would impose sanctions on travel agencies that breached the ban, Lin added.
Source:Taipei Times
July 16, 2023 04:42 UTC
AC replacement subsidy bolstered
AC replacement subsidy bolsteredBy Lin Ching-hua and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Ministry of Economic Affairs has allotted an additional NT$3.3 billion (US$106.82 million) for its program subsidizing purchases of energy-saving air-conditioners and refrigerators after demand outpaced this year’s budget, an official at the ministry said yesterday. The program’s NT$8 billion budget was originally intended to help families exchange their old appliances for ones with the Grade 1 energy label over four years beginning this year, the official said. A previous iteration of the appliance replacement scheme ran into the same problem in 2019, compelling the ministry to change the budget plan, they said. The NT$2 billion already spent was estimated to have replaced 640,000 appliances and probably saved up to 383 gigawatt-hours this year, they said. The new funding means that an additional 1.7 million of the energy-wasting alliances could be replaced, increasing total energy savings to more than 1 terawatt-hours this year, the official said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 16, 2023 04:29 UTC
EDITORIAL : Dengue fever can be beaten
EDITORIAL : Dengue fever can be beatenThe number of local dengue fever cases has rapidly increased since the first case was reported on June 13, jumping to more than 300 cases in a month. The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) disease surveillance data on Wednesday confirmed 322 local dengue cases — the highest number for the same period since 2017. The reports have prompted experts to warn about secondary dengue (infection with another serotype after a previous infection), which is linked to greater risk of developing more severe symptoms, including dengue shock syndrome and dengue hemorrhagic fever. A 2015 study by the CDC and National Taiwan University on dengue hemorrhagic fever cases between 2003 and 2013 found that people aged 60 or older with DENV-2 were most at risk for developing dengue hemorrhagic fever after infection, and that fatality risk grows 10-fold in those aged 60 or older with diabetes and who have dengue hemorrhagic fever. No specific method exists to treat dengue fever and averting mosquito bites is the best way to prevent it.
Source:Taipei Times
July 15, 2023 17:08 UTC