Donations oversight body to be set up
Donations oversight body to be set upTAROKO INCIDENT: The committee would regulate how public donations for victims of Friday’s train accident, which have exceeded NT$60 million, would be usedBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterThe government has collected about NT$60 million (US$2.1 million) in donations through Line Pay and convenience stores for victims of last week’s fatal train accident and plans to establish an oversight committee to determine how the funds should be used to help them, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday. The exterior of Taipei 101 in Xinyi District yesterday displays an electronic message of condolence for victims of Friday’s train accident in Hualien County. The Ministry of Health and Welfare is in charge of accepting public donations. The ministry would also set up an oversight committee to strictly regulate the use of the funds, he said. The agency has not confirmed if Lee breached the agency’s order of not working on the construction site from Thursday to yesterday, Yen said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 05, 2021 15:56 UTC
More than 500 authoritarian symbols remain
More than 40 statues or other authoritarian symbols have been excised since August last year, after the central government removed an additional 11 and local governments eliminated 32, data showed. A bronze statue of former president Chiang Kai-shek stands at the Shihmen Reservoir in Taoyuan yesterday. The Examination Yuan is also to change the names of three locations and remove two bronze statues under its jurisdiction, it added. Meanwhile, the Veterans Affairs Council has moved five of the 61 authoritarian symbols under its jurisdiction to storage or the National Property Administration, and is awaiting approval for them to be removed permanently, the commission said. A bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek remains at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, as do two administered by the Council of Agriculture, it added.
Source:Taipei Times
April 05, 2021 15:56 UTC
Monthly births hit all-time low
It comes after the ministry reported a record low 165,249 births last year, which was lower than the 173,156 deaths recorded last year. The nation experienced negative population growth for the first time last year, ministry data found. Photo: Copied by Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei TimesThe number of births in January also dropped from a year earlier, when there were 12,510 births. The ratio was 110.08 males for every 100 females in 2003 and 110.57:100 in 2004, ministry data showed. Whether the pandemic was the main cause of the decline in births in January could be judged by whether the number of births subsequently rises or falls, Cheng said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 05, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taipei pilot project to give students free menstrual pads
Taipei pilot project to give students free menstrual padsBy Tsai Ya-hua / Staff reporterTo tackle the issue of “period poverty,” the Taipei Department of Education is considering offering free menstrual pads to female junior-high school students. Referencing New Zealand’s experience, department officials said they have discussed the matter with junior-high school administration officials and teachers. The pilot program, to be launched as early as June, would provide menstrual pads provided by corporate sponsors to 1,500 of the about 25,000 female junior-high school students in the city, she said. Boys and girls have different needs, and girls using menstrual pads should be seen as normal, not embarrassing, Pan said. Female students at the school were not in agreement over how free menstrual products should be distributed.
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2021 15:56 UTC
Train accident injuries rise, death toll drops to 50
Train accident injuries rise, death toll drops to 50Staff writer, with CNAThe number of people injured in a Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) train accident in Hualien County on Friday has increased to 200, the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) said. As of press time last night, the confirmed death toll had been revised from 51 to 50 by the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office after DNA testing. Workers use cranes and diggers to remove a train wreckage from a stretch of railroad in Hualien County yesterday. The first five carriages of the train derailed and piled up inside the narrow, single-track tunnel. From the sixth day after their arrival, they would be allowed to take a PCR test every three days if they need to apply for compassionate leave from quarantine, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2021 15:56 UTC
TAROKO EXPRESS CRASH: Minister offers verbal resignation
TAROKO EXPRESS CRASH: Minister offers verbal resignationKEEPING FOCUSED: Premier Su Tseng-chang was said to have commended Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung, but said the tragedy takes priorityStaff writer, with CNAMinister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has submitted a verbal resignation in the wake of the Taroko Express No. Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung talks to reporters in Hualien County yesterday. Properly dealing with issues in the aftermath of a tragedy is also a way of taking responsibility, Su told the minister, and he declined to discuss the offer at this time, Lo added. Asked whether he had submitted a formal resignation, Lin would only say that his priority was to minimize the damage caused by the crash. The position is being filled in an acting capacity by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-chung (祈文中).
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2021 15:56 UTC
DBS provides two-year SLL worth NT$1bn to Wistron
DBS provides two-year SLL worth NT$1bn to WistronBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterDBS Bank Taiwan (星展銀行) has provided a two-year sustainability-linked loan (SLL) worth NT$1 billion (US$35.05 million) to Wistron Corp (緯創), with the loan’s interest rate set to fall next year at the soonest if Wistron’s sustainability performance improves, the lender said on Wednesday. That marked DBS Taiwan’s second major sustainability-linked loan after a NT$2 billion loan to AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) in 2019. The DBS Bank logo is pictured at the bank’s Tianmu branch in Taipei on Jan. 12. “It has been a global trend to balance business and sustainable development.” DBS Taiwan general manager Lim Him Chuan (林鑫川) said in a statement. DBS Taiwan was the first bank in the nation to issue an SLL, followed by HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) and Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行).
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2021 15:56 UTC
New vehicle sales grow 15.9 percent
New vehicle sales climbed to 43,000 units last month, the best figure for March in 16 years. In the January-to-March quarter, total new vehicle sales rose 16.85 percent to 121,575 units, compared with 104,046 vehicles a year earlier, the report said. Hotai’s market share climbed to 32.5 percent from 28.4 percent, to hold on to its leading market position. Honda Taiwan Co (台灣本田) followed with a market share of 7.2 percent, with vehicle sales increasing 76.1 percent month-on-month to 3,132 units, while Yulon Nissan Motor Co’s (裕隆日產) market share was 7 percent, with sales rising 39.6 percent to 3,008 units. Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd’s (台灣賓士) sales grew about 22.5 percent to 2,856 units, but the luxury vehicle importer’s market share fell to 6.6 percent from 8.6 percent in February.
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2021 15:56 UTC
Notes from central Taiwan: Please burst my bubble
Notes from central Taiwan: Please burst my bubbleThe nation needs to raise its electricity prices now to fully achieve its renewable energy goalsBy Michael Turton / Contributing reporterThis week, the government announced that electricity prices would not be raised for the next six months. However, the committee in charge decided to wait until September to see the effects of adjustments to Taiwan’s power generation structure. Photo courtesy of TaipowerSUBSIDY BUBBLEAnd so, once again, the government declined to let Taiwan’s consumers leave their bubble of low prices. Both media and industry observers have criticized the government’s renewable energy policy, arguing its mandates are too small. To decouple electricity prices from implementation of renewable energy, the government needs to start raising electricity prices yesterday.
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2021 15:56 UTC
Climate groups call for cleaner Kaohsiung air
Climate groups call for cleaner Kaohsiung airDIFFERENT PRIORITIES: Residents of Kaohsiung prefer breathable air over holiday fireworks displays, a spokesman of South Taiwan Air Clear saidStaff writer, with CNAEnvironmental protection groups in Kaohsiung yesterday protested against air pollution and global warming, urging the local and central governments to pay attention to the effects of air pollution on people’s health in southern Taiwan. The groups demanded that the coal-fired Singda Power Plant (興達) in Kaohsiung be closed; China Steel Corp, the nation’s biggest steelmaker, close one blast furnace; the threshold for air pollution emergency response measures be lowered; and air purifiers be installed in all classrooms. The average life expectancy of Kaohsiung residents is the lowest among the nation’s six special municipalities, South Taiwan Air Clear spokesman Lee Chien-cheng (李建誠) said. Members of an environmental protection group, one wearing a mask in the likeness of Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, participate in a street performance at a protest in Kaohsiung yesterday. Kaohsiung residents would prefer better air quality to protect their children over this year’s Double Ten National Day fireworks display, which Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai’s (陳其邁) announced last month would be held in the city, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2021 15:56 UTC
Evergreen denies it was sued over Suez blockage
Evergreen denies it was sued over Suez blockageBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterEvergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) on Friday dismissed a foreign news report that it was being sued by the Japanese owners of the Ever Given container ship, saying that Evergreen is just “an involved party” listed in the lawsuit. Evergreen Marine Corp president Eric Hsieh speaks at an investors’ conference in Taipei on Thursday. The lawsuit listed two defendants in the case — Evergreen Marine and all other persons claiming or being entitled to claim damages — the Indian news outlet reported. “Although the shipowners listed Evergreen as a defendant in a form in the lawsuit, they did not sue us. “It would not make sense if the shipowners sued us.
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2021 15:56 UTC
First COVAX vaccines arrive in Taiwan
The 199,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were shipped from Amsterdam on a China Airlines (中華航空) plane and arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5:21am. The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines allocated to Taiwan through the global vaccine sharing program COVAX is offloaded after its arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. Taiwan has so far received 316,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as the first batch that arrived last month comprised 117,000 doses. Meanwhile, Taiwan yesterday reported two imported cases of COVID-19: a Taiwanese man who returned on a medical charter flight and an Indonesian student. The 14 passengers who sat close to him on the flight to Taiwan have been placed under home isolation, Chuang added.
Source:Taipei Times
April 04, 2021 15:56 UTC
Kwang Yang pushes new electric scooter name Ionex
Kwang Yang Motor Co chairman Allen Ko stands in front of two Ionex electric scooters at a news conference in Taipei on March 18. Gogoro holds 77 percent of the domestic electric scooter market, while Kwang Yang only has 4 percent, according to the Industrial Development Bureau’s tallies. “You will not see KYMCO in our electric scooter commercials anymore.”The company has replaced the KYMCO label with Ionex for its new electric scooters, he said. Kwang Yang offers electric scooters to GrabWheels, an electric scooter sharing service arm of Grab Holdings Inc, in Indonesia, he said. To speed up deployment, Kwang Yang is considering signing up electric scooter riders who have space that can be turned into a small-scale battery swap station, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
TAIEX likely to consolidate next week: analysts
TAIEX likely to consolidate next week: analystsBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe TAIEX is likely to consolidate with an upward bias next week after rallying to a record high of 16,571.28 on Thursday, analysts said. Heavyweight tech plays, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), could lead the charge after its American depositary receipt gained more than 5 percent to US$124.8, Chifar Securities Co (啟發投顧) said. The local bourse is closed until Tuesday next week for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday. More Rich Securities Co (摩爾投顧) said that listed companies are about to release earnings results for the first quarter, with the figures likely to beat expectations. Still, investors should be cautious, as the TAIEX could meet resistance above the record high, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 02, 2021 15:56 UTC
Siemens Taiwan expects revenue to pick up further
Siemens Taiwan expects revenue to pick up furtherDEMAND-DRIVEN: The company expects an even better year after beating its forecast last year, backed by growth in infrastructure, chips and other sectorsBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterSiemens Taiwan expects revenue growth to gather pace this year, benefiting from an uptrend in demand for its energy management solutions from local semiconductor companies and machine tool manufacturers, which were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue last year beat expectations as business activity returned to normal, thanks to the government’s fast and appropriate response to contain the pandemic, Siemens Taiwan president and chief executive officer Erdal Elver said on Tuesday in Taipei. “Overall, we had a good year, backed by growth in different sectors, such as semiconductors and infrastructure,” Elver said. “Energy management and infrastructure should grow faster than last year. Siemens Taiwan derives its revenue from five categories: digital industries, smart infrastructure, mobility, health and energy management.
Source:Taipei Times
April 02, 2021 15:56 UTC