Lin Wen-yuan elected Tatung chair
New Tatung Co chairman Lin Wen-yuan, left, and Shanyuan Group chairman Wang Kuang-hsiang hold a news conference in Taipei yesterday. “It was Wang’s idea, and Lin Kuo accepted,” Lin Wen-yuan said. Former Tatung chairman Lin Wei-shan (林蔚山) has been jailed for embezzlement and Lin Kuo, his wife, took over as chairwoman. Lin Wen-yuan is to remain the chairman of Eastern Broadcasting Co.“Strong CEOs make for relaxed chairmen,” Lin Wen-yuan said. “I cannot promise when Tatung will pay a dividend again, but I can promise that in a year they [investors] will have a new Tatung,” Lin Wen-yuan said.
Source:Taipei Times
November 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Adimmune reassures amid vaccine concern
Adimmune reassures amid vaccine concernLOW RISKS? Adimmune Corp chairman Steve Chan is pictured at the company’s office in Taichung on Aug. 23. The deaths have raised public concern, with many wondering if they should still take flu vaccines if they have health conditions or chronic diseases. Adimmune has supplied the government with 3.7 million flu vaccines for this year — or 60 percent of all government-funded flu shots — but the ratio of people having an adverse reaction to the vaccine is very low at 116 cases, he added. Adimmune yesterday reported record-high sales of NT$614 million (US$21.24 million) for last month, 2.75 times higher than a year earlier.
Source:Taipei Times
November 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
First Financial aims to boost loans to SMEs: chairwoman
First Financial aims to boost loans to SMEs: chairwomanBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterState-run First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) plans to boost lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to support the government’s policy, newly installed chairwoman Chiou Ye-chin (邱月琴) said yesterday. First Financial Holding Co’s new chairwoman Chiou Ye-chin poses for photographs yesterday after a handover ceremony at the company’s headquarters in Taipei. Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei TimesChiou, a former president at state-owned Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), said that under her leadership, First Financial would seek to emulate Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), the most profitable state-run financial conglomerate. First Financial would not rule out merger and acquisition opportunities to grow its assets after losing the competition for Prudential Life Insurance Co of Taiwan (保德信人壽) to Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) in August, Chiou said. With a bachelor’s degree in economics from National Taiwan University, Chiou has served at different positions at Bank of Taiwan for the past 37 years.
Source:Taipei Times
November 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Group slams plan to promote new lay judge system
Group slams plan to promote new lay judge systemBy Chen Yu-fu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerA Judicial Yuan plan to budget NT$120 million (US$4.15 million) next year for a public marketing campaign to promote a lay judge system is an attempt to mislead society on “wrongly implemented” reforms, a civic group said yesterday. The Taiwan Jury Association, which has been pushing for a jury system instead of the government’s preferred lay judge approach, said the Judicial Yuan should face up to the core judicial reform issues that need to be addressed. The Judicial Yuan should promote impartial trials and improve the judiciary for those working within it, rather than throwing money at “propaganda,” the association said. “If no improvements are made to judicial proceedings, then what is the point of hiring Internet celebrities to promote the system?” he said. Internet Gazette Law Paper (法治時報社) publisher and legal expert Huang Yueh-hung (黃越宏) said that the Judicial Yuan was using taxpayer money to promote its lay judge system, while abandoning a proposed jury system, which the Democratic Progressive Party calls for in its charter.
Source:Taipei Times
November 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Cabinet, police go a year without a security meeting
Cabinet, police go a year without a security meetingBy Hsieh Chun-lin and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Executive Yuan and the National Police Agency have not held an interagency public security meeting for a year, despite a mandate to convene every two months, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said yesterday amid public outcry over the murder of a Malaysian student. At a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee, legislators questioned Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) about public security after the abduction and murder of a Chang Jung Christian University student surnamed Chung (鍾) in Tainan on Thursday last week. Public security does not just concern law enforcement and the Ministry of the Interior, but also other agencies and local governments, Chiang said, asking Hsu when the last meeting was held. Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung, right, gestures while answering a question at a meeting of the Internal Administration Committee at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Hsu promised to immediately approach the Executive Yuan to recommend convening a public security meeting.
Source:Taipei Times
November 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Groups petition against sheep show
Groups petition against sheep showPASTORAL LIFE: The show involves sheep being held down to shear their wool and they become scared when chased by a shepherd’s dog, animal welfare groups saidBy Tung Chen-kuo and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerAnimal welfare groups have launched an online petition to end a signature sheep show at Nantou County’s Cingjing Farm (清境農場), drawing mixed reactions from the public. Sheep huddle in a pen at Nantou County’s Cingjing Farm on Oct. 1. As a public enterprise, Cingjing Farm should respect animal life and stop the show to set an example for other farms, it added. Cingjing Farm said that it respects the opinions of the groups and would give a full explanation if the petition reaches the 5,000 signature threshold. If this way of life should be criticized, the petition should have been launched on an international platform to protest all countries that use shepherd dogs to herd sheep, they said.
Source:Taipei Times
November 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Prosecutors meet family of Malaysian student who was murdered last week
Prosecutors meet family of Malaysian student who was murdered last weekBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterPublic prosecutors yesterday met with the family of a Malaysian student who was murdered in Tainan last week, while a traditional ritual was also held for her. The 24-year-old Chang Jung Christian University student, identified only by her surname, Chung (鍾), was abducted on Wednesday last week while walking near the school in Gueiren District (歸仁), police said. Staff and students at Tainan’s Chang Jung Christian University yesterday tie ribbons on trees on campus in memory of a Malaysian student who was murdered in Tainan last week. Chung’s classmates joined the family for a traditional ritual near where she had been abducted. Separately yesterday, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) ordered the formation of a school safety task force to inspect all of the city’s schools and their surrounding areas, and make recommendations to improve safety measures.
Source:Taipei Times
November 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Mayor criticizes double standard on ractopamine
Mayor criticizes double standard on ractopamineIMPORTS VERSUS DOMESTIC: The central government must clearly explain its policy on lifting the import ban if it wants local governments’ help, Ko Wen-je saidBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterTaipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday criticized the central government for allowing imports of US pork products containing ractopamine residue, but banning the use of the leanness-enhancing feed additive by Taiwan’s pig farmers. “My attitude is simply ‘yes or no’ — [the government] just [needs to] clearly explain the policy and publicize the procedure, and we will raise our hands with questions if we have different opinions,” Ko said. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je looks at reporters from inside an art installation made of bamboo at the Guandu International Nature Art Festival in the city’s Beitou District yesterday. Did you not say it is safe to eat?” he said. In related news, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) yesterday responded to Ko saying on Saturday that he wanted to ask the minister just how much pork containing ractopamine would be imported in the first year after the ban is lifted.
Source:Taipei Times
November 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Hiking trails see a surge in popularity and complaints
Hiking trails see a surge in popularity and complaintsBy Lo Hsin-chen, Su Chin-feng and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writerWith international travel restricted because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Forestry Bureau has reported a surge in people turning to hiking as a recreational activity, but there have been complaints about the state and safety of some hiking trails. The visitor counts in July and August were 2,400 and 2,100 respectively, compared with 1,200 and 1,000 last year, it said. Chu said that the bureau has failed to fully inform hikers of the situation on hiking paths. The bureau should have erected protective facilities along the trail and provided adequate maps, she said. The trail, touted by the bureau as an “exceptional hiking trail,” has quite a way to go to live up to such standards, she said.
Source:Taipei Times
November 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taoyuan International Airport Corp turns 10
Taoyuan International Airport Corp turns 10‘PASSIONATE AND PROFESSIONAL’: The celebration, attended by many government officials, took place yesterday morning, featuring the unveiling of a special fragranceStaff writerDrawing inspiration from Taiwan’s forests, temples and tea culture, Taoyuan International Airport Corp unveiled a special Country Gate fragrance to mark its 10th birthday yesterday. On Nov. 1, 2010, the Taoyuan International Airport administration transitioned into a state-run corporation. Taoyuan International Airport Corp chairman Lin Kuo-hsien, third left, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan, center, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-chung, third right, and other guests pose for a photographer at a news conference in Taoyuan yesterday. Instead of standing still, it made use of the lull to speed up various construction projects while providing extra training to staff, Chi said. He added that Taoyuan would continue to work closely with the airport to offer a superb first impression of Taiwan to visitors.
Source:Taipei Times
November 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Mountain rescue missions double from last year: MOI
Mountain rescue missions double from last year: MOIBy Huang Hsin-po and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe government from January to September launched 100 mountain search-and-rescue missions, twice as many as the same period last year, with the number of rescuers dispatched being almost three times as many, Ministry of the Interior (MOI) statistics showed on Saturday. The National Airborne Service Corps in the first nine months of this year conducted 3,211 search-and-rescue missions, 81 down from last year, mainly due to a decrease in maritime rescue missions, the statistics showed. While 100 missions were launched for search-and-rescue services in mountainous areas, the number of such missions was only 50 in the same period last year, with the number of rescuers dispatched increasing from 18 to 52, the data showed. Members of the Taitung County Fire Department’s Kuanshan Branch rescue an injured hiker in Taitung on Thursday. Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Taipei TimesThe annual number of mountain accidents in Taiwan averaged 159 from 2002 to last year, it showed.
Source:Taipei Times
November 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
INTERVIEW: Pandemic draws Taiwan, Czech Republic closer
There are not many people in the Czech Republic who have maintained contact with Taiwan for more than 30 years, he said. Unlike Taiwan, the pandemic situation in the Czech Republic is getting worse, and various measures implemented by the government have sometimes been chaotic, he said. The Czech Republic in April signed a cooperation agreement with Taiwan on fighting the pandemic, making it the first European country to do so. Asked if the Czech Republic should side with the US in security issues, Drahos said that the US is a much more important partner for the Czech Republic than either China or Russia. Nevertheless, the Czech Republic fully understands the situation in Taiwan and Taiwan’s effort to remain a democratic and free country, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
November 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Poya’s expansion boosting earnings, KGI Securities says
Poya’s expansion boosting earnings, KGI Securities saysBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterCosmetics chain operator Poya International Co Ltd (寶雅國際) is to see earnings grow 10 to 15 percent year-on-year this year, as store openings would offset lower-than-expected single-store sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, KGI Securities Investment Advisory Co (凱基投顧) said in a note. With faster store expansion and better operating leverage, Poya’s earnings growth is likely to accelerate next year, KGI said on Tuesday. People walk past the entrance of a Poya International Co outlet on Xinyi Road in Taipei on April 16. It is expected to open 25 Poya outlets and 30 Poya Home stores next year, which would lift its earnings by 27 percent from this year, they added. In light of the strong third-quarter results and Poya’s expansion strategy, KGI has adjusted its EPS forecast for this year from NT$21.15 to NT$21.96, and predicted that next year’s would reach NT$27.79.
Source:Taipei Times
November 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Homers from Yueh brothers tie series 1-1
Homers from Yueh brothers tie series 1-1By Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe CTBC Brothers yesterday leveled the Taiwan Series with a 9-1 victory at home in Taichung, taking an early lead with two home runs from the Yueh brothers, while the Brothers added four late runs to defeat the Uni-President Lions. The CTBC Brothers’ Yueh Cheng-hua bats during Game 2 of the Taiwan Series against Uni-President Lions at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium yesterday. It was the first time in the CPBL post-season that two brothers recorded home runs in the same inning, and appropriately it was the key to the Brothers’ Game 2 win. Melville was tagged with the loss, giving up five runs on eight hits, including the Yueh brothers’ home runs, but also had three strikeouts and two walks in six innings. Games 1 and 2 hosted 15,600 spectators, while in Tainan, Game 3 has already sold out for its limited 7,800 seats.
Source:Taipei Times
November 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taiwan in Time: The woman who washed her face with tears
She was 23 years old at the time, and her father was Mona Rudao, the immortalized leader of the rebellion. In the aftermath, Mahung became known as the “woman who washed her face with tears,” as she never got over what happened. The descendants of the Wushe Incident perform a ceremony in front of Mona Rudao’s grave every year on Oct. 27. “In Gluban, each family had suffered immense tragedy; the Wushe Incident was not just about Mona Rudao’s family,” Mona Pawan says. Two years ago, Lubi began frequently dreaming of Mona Rudao, who always said that he was feeling wet and cold.
Source:Taipei Times
October 31, 2020 15:56 UTC