Inspection finds faucet with excessive leadStaff writer, with CNAOne out of 10 drinking water faucets failed a government safety inspection, as it was found that the device contained an excessive amount of lead, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) said on Thursday. BSMI section chief Wang Chun-chao (王俊超) said that that vendors have been ordered to remove the Lolat faucet from shelves. People who have the Lolat faucet installed should contact the manufacturer as soon as possible, Wang said. The BSMI has since 2017 conducted inspections of drinking water faucets, the bureau said. The packaging of drinking water faucets should feature a “lead free” label and contain information that water from the devices is drinkable, it said.

CECC reports three new cases connected to hotelLOOKING FOR ORIGIN: Hotel staff might have contracted COVID-19 after cleaning the rooms of pilots from foreign airlines, the head of the center saidBy Lin Hui-chin / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported seven new COVID-19 cases, including three domestic ones linked to Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. 1,120) had tested positive for the virus, while 412 people at the hotel were moved to government quarantine facilities and received virus tests. Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei TimesAmong them, three hotel employees, all Taiwanese, tested positive for the virus yesterday, Chen said. The government would no longer use Novotel to quarantine foreign pilots and instead has found two other Taoyuan hotels to accommodate them, he said. The four imported cases reported yesterday arrived from Egypt, India, Kazakhstan and the Philippines, the CECC said.

Platform finds potential antiviral drugsTWO OUT OF MILLIONS: More work has to be done to evaluate the clinical effects of drugs identified through a newly developed platform, a research team member saidStaff writer, with CNAA Taiwanese-Malaysian research team has developed a platform to identify drugs that might inhibit COVID-19 infections, which screens massive databanks of existing medicines. The platform was developed to help scientists find drugs developed to treat other diseases that might prove efficacious against COVID-19, the developers yesterday told a news conference held by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Taipei. The researchers developed the platform to detect modulators that affect the interaction of SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement technique. The platform could also be used to search for medicines for treatment of other infectious diseases or even cancer, Chang said. The Taiwanese team members are from NCKU, NYCU, Chang Gung University, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Changhua University of Education.

Fubon Financial board approves record dividendSUBSIDIARY ACTION: Fubon Life allocated its profit to fund its parent’s cash dividend distribution, although the Financial Supervisory Commission must approveBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterFubon Financial Holding Co’s (富邦金控) board of directors on Thursday approved a proposal to distribute a record cash dividend of NT$3 per share, topping proposals by local peers, data showed. The Fubon Life Insurance Co logo is pictured outside an office building in Taipei in an undated photograph. Photo: Wang Meng-lun, Taipei TimesIts board also approved the issuance of a NT$1 stock dividend, Fubon Financial said. It was the first time in three years that Fubon Life has allocated its profit to fund its parent’s cash dividend distribution, Fubon Financial said. That partly explains why Fubon Financial is able to propose a higher dividend than its peers.

Quarantine hotel employee infected: CECCTAKING PRECAUTIONS: With the possibility of person-to-person transmission, the government has activated the highest level of containment measures, the CECC saidBy Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNAA newly confirmed COVID-19 case might indicate person-to-person transmission within a Taoyuan hotel, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as 412 people were moved from the facility to government quarantine centers. One of the domestic cases is a senior housekeeping employee at Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, where many CAL flight crew members stay for quarantine after arriving in Taiwan, the CECC said. According to CECC guidelines, after a guest checks out of a quarantine hotel, a team disinfects their room wearing full protective gear, Chen said. Of them, 207 are employees, 109 are Taiwanese pilots and 76 are foreign pilots, while the rest are visitors, he said. They are eight Taiwanese cargo pilots; three relatives of Taiwanese cargo pilots; a hotel employee; two Indonesian cargo pilots, one of whom was diagnosed in Australia; and two relatives of one of the Indonesian pilots, the CECC said.

KMT lawmakers had ordered Hsieh to appear at the committee after he sparked controversy with remarks about Japan’s plans to discharge water from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Cheng Li-wun, center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. The deadline was issued after consultations with the Ministry of Health and Welfare about how much time Hsieh would need, Liao said. Separately yesterday, the KMT legislative caucus accused Hsieh of avoiding lawmakers. A boat flies the Republic of China flag off Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan on Tuesday.

CTBC executives acquittedBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe Taiwan High Court on Wednesday acquitted former CTBC Financial Holding Co vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒), reversing guilty decisions in the first and second rulings. Former CTBC Financial Holding Co vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr speaks at an event in an undated photograph. “Koo firmly believes that he and the other defendants did not take any action to harm CTBC Financial,” his statement said. Koo, who was CTBC Bank chairman and CTBC Financial deputy chairman at the time, was responsible for ordering the transfers, prosecutors said. Koo — the scion of the Koo family, which controls CTBC Financial — is chairman of the CTBC Charity Foundation, owner of the CTBC Brothers baseball team, and is chairman of baseball’s national body.

Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao answers questions at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei TimesDemocratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said that the ministry was negligent in enforcing its certification process for sports coaches. Why do we still have so many unlicensed instructors coaching in combat sports?” Huang asked. New Power Party Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) said that adults and children should be trained differently, asking why the government does not have coaching certificates with age-specific qualification standards. Coaches for children under 12 years old would be required to undergo additional professional courses, he said.

Nation sends oxygen machines to IndiaJUST THE BEGINNING: The government is planning to buy more machines, as well as raw materials to build them, to help India, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saidBy Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNAThe nation is to ship 150 oxygen machines to India this weekend, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, while confirming that talks are underway to conduct clinical trials of a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine in Paraguay. Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, second left, is pictured at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in Taipei yesterday. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Miguel Tsao (曹立傑) on Wednesday told lawmakers that the oxygen machines and other aid would be sent to India on China Airlines (華航) cargo flights. “Participating in clinical trials means not only contributing to science, but also guaranteeing vaccines for our country,” he said, inadvertently revealing that discussions had already begun. Both sides expressed a “high degree of willingness” to cooperate on conducting clinical trials in Paraguay, she added.

Rain delivers 16m tonnes of water to reservoirs: WRASMALL RESPITE: The past few rainy days, which came after one month of virtually no rain on the west coast, did not ease Taiwan’s water shortage problems, the CWB saidBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterA weather system from southern China has over the past three days replenished Taiwan’s reservoirs with almost 16 million tonnes of water, giving Taiwan a slight relief from a water shortage, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) said yesterday. From 12am on Tuesday to 4pm yesterday, about 15.97 million tonnes fell in the catchment areas of the nation’s reservoirs, which is slightly more than Taiwan’s average daily water use, it said. Average accumulated rainfall in February was 53.9mm, which was about 55 percent of that month’s average, it showed. In March, the average rainfall dropped to 50.7mm, 53 percent of that month’s average, the data showed. No rain was recorded in Tainan, while Taipei, Hsinchu City and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) recorded less than 1mm of accumulated rainfall, it showed.

China readies big Tencent fine in crackdown: reportBloombergChina is preparing to slap a fine on Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) as part of its antitrust crackdown on the nation’s Internet giants, Reuters said, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Tencent might face a fine of at least 10 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion), which is less than the US$2.8 billion levied upon fellow titan Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), the report said. Photo: ReutersThe campaign against China’s tech giants has already ensnared Alibaba and Meituan, and analysts have widely regarded Tencent as possibly being next in line. The investigation by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation focuses partly on Tencent Music Entertainment Group (騰訊音樂娛樂集團), the report said. China’s antitrust authorities had investigated Tencent’s dealings with the world’s three biggest record labels, but the probe was suspended, people familiar with the matter said in February.

India’s virus deaths surge again; global aid flown inDESPERATE SEARCH: ’We rushed to multiple hospitals, but were denied admission everywhere,’ said the son of an 84-year-old woman, who ended up dying at homeAFP, KOLKATA, IndiaIndia’s COVID-19 disaster yesterday deepened with its daily death toll surpassing 3,600, as more international aid was flown in, with the US sending nearly 1 million test kits. Among the most devastating of those waves is in India, where the death and infection rates have been rising exponentially throughout this month. A woman breathes with the help of oxygen provided at a gurdwara, a place of worship for Sikhs, beside a road in Ghaziabad, India, yesterday. Photo: AFPYesterday, India reported 3,645 deaths for the previous 24 hours, while confirmed new cases of COVID-19 were a global record at more than 379,000. A first US military flight, carrying 960,000 rapid tests and 100,000 masks for frontline health workers, was to arrive yesterday.

DBS Taiwan reveals positive outlookBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterDBS Bank Taiwan (星展台灣) has a positive outlook for its profitability this year in light of recovering consumption, increasing popularity of green loans and a booming wealth management business, DBS general manager Lim Him-chuan (林鑫川) said yesterday. The bank mainly offers loans to ground-mounted solar power plants and floating solar projects, he added. Loans to solar energy developers are often based on concrete projects and require expertise, Lim said, adding that the bank sends staff for training at the headquarters of DBS Bank Ltd in Singapore. “Over time, with more talent familiar with project financing, and more solar and offshore wind projects under development, Taiwan can become a regional hub for solar energy project financing,” he said. Although DBS Bank Ltd is reportedly bidding for parts of Citigroup Inc’s consumers business in Asia, Lim said that no decision has been made, adding that the Singaporean bank is open to any opportunity to increase efficiency.

Fewer presale housing units enter local marketBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe number of presale and new housing units on the market declined last quarter from the previous quarter, but selling prices continued to climb, defying policy measures to reverse the trend, a survey by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) showed yesterday. The number of presale and new housing projects fell 22 percent from the fourth quarter of last year to 230, while the overall number of housing units on the market fell 7.6 percent to 21,812, the quarterly survey showed. The housing market appeared to have cooled down in Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, judging by the supply, Cathay Real Estate said. Housing prices averaged NT$308,100 per ping (3.3m2) nationwide, gaining 2.01 percent from three months earlier, while 30-day sales rates shed 2.41 percentage points to 11.71 percent, it said. Prices in Tainan rose 0.55 percent to NT$236,600 per ping, while prices in Kaohsiung increased 0.46 percent to NT$240,700 per ping, it showed.

TSMC fabs to stay in Taiwan, ministry saysSUPPLY CHAIN RACE: The president of TSMC’s European subsidy is reportedly to meet with an EU trade official to talk about ‘chip sovereignty’By Angelica Oung / Staff reporterTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) most advanced technology would stay in Taiwan, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said yesterday in response to lawmakers’ queries on talks between the manufacturer and the EU. Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua speaks at a meeting at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. Wang played down the suggestion that TSMC might partner with the EU in its efforts to reach “chip sovereignty” with advanced nodes. A worldwide semiconductor shortage, which according to TSMC might persist until next year, has raised awareness of Taiwan’s pivotal role in chip supply chains. Separately, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) yesterday announced that the second round of the Taiwan-US Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue would be held this summer.