Seoul yesterday threatened to retaliate over what it called Tokyo’s “irrational” plan to quarantine arrivals from South Korea over an outbreak of COVID-19. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday announced that foreign arrivals who have recently been in China or South Korea would be required to spend 14 days in quarantine. South Korea’s two biggest airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, yesterday announced the cancelations of most or all of their flights to Japan once the measure takes effect, while K-pop band Super Junior indefinitely postponed their upcoming shows in Japan. South Korea has reported more than 6,000 COVID-19 cases — the highest total outside China — and about 60 countries and regions have imposed travel bans or quarantine on arrivals from the world’s 12th-largest economy. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced seven more deaths, taking the nation’s toll to 42. However, it has taken particular issue with Japan’s restrictions, with the presidential office calling the decision “irrational” and contrasting its “scientific and transparent” outbreak control campaign with Tokyo’s “opaque and passive” efforts. The South Korean National Security Office agreed to consider “necessary measures based on the principle of reciprocity,” the Blue House said in a statement. Seoul summoned the Japanese ambassador to protest, with South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha telling him: “Japan’s action this time was not only unfriendly, but also unscientific.” The ministry accused Tokyo of ulterior motives, saying in a statement: “We can’t help but question whether Japan has other motives than containing the outbreak.” Japan has reported 360 confirmed cases and six deaths from the illness, and a handful of countries have blocked arrivals from it or imposed restrictions. About 40 countries and regions have banned entry to foreigners who have recently been in South Korea, while more than 20 require quarantine, as do several parts of China. Seoul has not
STILL DEPLOYING: Despite only two of the six satellites being in their proper orbits, with the others to arrive next year, the project has exceeded data delivery estimates Data gathered by the Formosat-7/COSMIC-2 satellite constellation are to be released for global use today, Taiwanese and US officials announced yesterday. The six-satellite constellation, which gathers weather data between 50° north and south latitude, was launched into orbit on June 25 last year, another major Taiwan-US collaborative program following the Formosat-3/COSMIC constellation launched in 2006. After nearly three months of trials, Formosat-7 data are to be released by the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) simultaneously at 10am, National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) president Wang Yeong-her (王永和) told a news conference at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taipei. Data would be released from the previous day, the NARL said, adding that hopefully, near-real-time data would be available later. In addition to improving forecasts, the data would advance projections of space weather events that can affect the precision of information and communication facilities, Wang said. The satellite program showcases what can be achieved through Taiwan-US science and technology cooperation, proving that the two sides are “real friends” making “real progress,” American Institute in Taiwan Deputy Director Raymond Greene said in Mandarin. “Wherever I go, I tell people that Taiwan is a leader in many fields and has much to offer the world,” Greene said. “This satellite mission proves this is true,” he said, adding that he is confident the world would continue to benefit from ongoing Taiwan-US scientific cooperation. The data would supplement observation data in the tropics, where installing facilities is challenging, given the paucity of land there, CWB Deputy Director-General Mark Cheng (程家平) said. After using data from the satellites to track 10 typhoons in the Western Pacific last year, the bureau found that 120-hour forecast precision improved 7 percent, Cheng said. The Formosat-7 program is highly valued worldwide because data can be made available in 30 minutes to one
The latest edition of US-based non-governmental organization Freedom House’s Freedom in the World report ranks Taiwan as the second-freest nation in Asia, with a total score of 93 points, the same as last year. Taiwan garnered 37 out of 40 points in political rights and 56 of 60 in civil liberties, and maintained its “free” rating, the democracy watchdog’s Web site showed. The report is to be published on Wednesday next week in Washington. It designates nations and territories as “free,” “partly free” and “not free” based on political rights and civil liberties. Taiwan was second only to Japan (96 points) in Asia and ranked 25th among 195 nations and 15 territories assessed, the Web site showed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the ranking proves that Taiwan’s adherence to the values of democracy, freedom and human rights is recognized by the international community. The ministry said that it would continue to work with like-minded countries to promote these values, and contribute to democracy and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide. While the latest narrative on Taiwan was not yet available, last year’s report described the nation as a “vibrant and competitive” democracy that has allowed peaceful transfers of power between rival parties since 2000. In a prelaunch news release on Thursday, Freedom House said the state of political rights and civil liberties worldwide is deteriorating. “Countries that suffered setbacks in 2019 outnumbered those making gains by nearly two to one, marking the 14th consecutive year of deterioration in global freedom,” it said. The report also found a global erosion in government commitment to pluralism.
An attack on a political rally in Kabul yesterday left at least 18 people wounded, an official said, while on Thursday, appeals judges at the International Criminal Court said that prosecutors could open an investigation targeting the Taliban, Afghan forces and US military and CIA personnel for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Taliban denied responsibility for the assault, which occurred at a commemoration ceremony for Abdul Ali Mazari — a politician from the Hazara ethnic group, most of whom are Shiite. An Islamic State group-claimed attack on the same ceremony last year killed at least 11 people. Afghan Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said that gunfire had erupted from a construction site near the ceremony. At least 18 people had been wounded, he said. “Soon after the attack, police forces and police special forces units rushed to the scene,” Rahimi told a local news station, adding that sporadic gunfire was ongoing. Photographs on social media showed at least two bodies, but there was no official word on a death toll. The decision in The Hague marked the first time the court’s prosecutor has been authorized to investigate US forces. Washington rejects the court’s jurisdiction and refuses to cooperate with it. In 2018, then-White House national security adviser John Bolton said that the court established in 2002 to prosecute atrocities throughout the world “ unacceptably threatens American sovereignty and US national security interests.” The global court set itself on a collision course with Washington with Thursday’s decision to uphold an appeal by prosecutors against a pretrial chamber’s rejection in April last year of prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s request to open a probe in Afghanistan. Pretrial judges last year acknowledged that widespread crimes have been committed in Afghanistan, but rejected the investigation, saying that it would not be in the interests of justice because the expected lack of cooperation meant
NEW INFECTIONS: The CECC said that a woman who had been in contact with an earlier case and a man who traveled overseas were Taiwan’s 43rd and 44th cases The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday published guidelines for hosting large events amid the rise in COVID-19 cases worldwide, while the number of confirmed cases in Taiwan rose to 44. The agency said that there have been warning signs of community infections in Taiwan; cluster cases involving families and hospitals; and local infections now outnumber imported cases, with the sources of infection in several cases remaining unknown. The guidelines define large events as those attended by at least 1,000 people, including graduation ceremonies, festivals, sports events and religious, political, cultural, academic and non-governmental organizations’ events. The guidelines include six risk indicators for assessment: whether the organizer can secure the travel histories of participants; ventilation at the venue; whether at least 1m of separation can be maintained between participants; whether there are fixed seats; the duration of the event; and if hand disinfection is available and masks should be worn. Organizers can consult local health bureaus or other authorities for an assessment, the guidelines say. If an assessment finds an event to be high risk, organizers should postpone or cancel it, or host it in another form, they say. However, organizers must follow directives from the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) should Taiwan enter the community infection phase, they add. People with chronic pulmonary diseases, cardiovascular diseases, blood disorders, immunodeficiency diseases, or health issues related to the kidneys, liver and nervous or metabolic system, as well as pregnant women, should avoid large events, the guidelines say. All events must include disease-prevention measures, including disinfection of the venue and equipment; ensure sufficient hand-washing facilities and ventilation; and avoid grouping too many people in one room, they say. The guidelines gave no recommendation that masks be worn for attendees, although staff who frequently come into contact with others or must stay in crowded indoor spaces should wear them at all times,
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday approved plans to subsidize furloughed or dismissed workers, as well as companies and entrepreneurs amid business woes caused by COVID-19 outbreak that began in China, with proposed funding totaling NT$4.12 billion (US$137.52 million). The subsidies, which are to be sourced from the Ministry of Labor’s Employment Stabilization Fund and Employment Insurance Fund, would cover new and expansions of existing projects, Workforce Development Agency Deputy Director-General Shih Chen-yang (施貞仰) told a news conference in Taipei. To encourage furloughed employees to undergo training while on leave, the ministry has increased the subsidies for training courses from NT$1.9 million to NT$3.5 million and raised the maximum class time for each worker from 100 to 120 hours per month, Shih said. Employees who undergo training provided by their employers or the ministry would be paid the minimum hourly wage of NT$158, she said. Deputy Minister of Labor Lin San-kuei (林三貴) said that the program was implemented late last month and would last three to six months depending on the COVID-19 situation. People who are laid off amid the outbreak are eligible for monthly unemployment subsidies for six to nine months at 60 percent of their insured salary under their labor insurance plan, Shih said. Parents who are dismissed during the crisis and have children receiving secondary education would receive a subsidy of between NT$4,000 and NT$6,000 per child, while parents of university students are eligible to receive between NT$13,600 and NT$24,000 per child, she said. People who are furloughed can apply for a monthly subsidy of 50 percent of the difference between the monthly minimum wage, NT$23,800, and their insured monthly salary under the labor insurance system, Shih said, adding that the subsidies would be paid for three to six months. For example, an employee whose insured monthly salary is in the highest bracket of NT$45,800 or
‘NO CORRELATION’: Lawyers vowed to appeal the ruling, which said it found no proof to establish a link between illnesses and exposure to toxic elements for most plaintiffs The High Court yesterday ordered Radio Corp of America (RCA) to pay NT$54.7 million (US$1.82 million) in compensation to only 24 of 246 plaintiffs, sparking an outcry among former workers of the US company and their lawyers, who vowed to appeal the verdict. The class-action lawsuit was filed by the RCA Self-Help Association, which is made up of former employees and deceased workers’ families. The suit dates back to 2004 and has gone through several trials. The judges yesterday said that as there was no proof that would clearly establish a correlation between health problems as a direct result of exposure to chemical materials at an RCA plant, it ruled against compensating most of the 246 plaintiffs. In August 2018, the Supreme Court ordered RCA to pay NT$564.45 million in compensation to 262 of the plaintiffs — either former workers who developed cancer or other illnesses, or family members of deceased workers. It found the US company liable for the cancer and other illnesses that some employees had contracted while handling organic solvents, which were later found to be carcinogenic, at its factory in then-Taoyuan County. Investigators had found toxic waste dumped around the factory, contaminating the soil and underground water, and more than 200 employees have since died. The Supreme Court also ordered the High Court to retry the case for 246 other plaintiffs, because “some plaintiffs have no clear manifestation of illnesses ... and no proof of a clear correlation for cause and effect.” Elaborating on yesterday’s ruling, High Court judge Tao Ya-chin (陶亞琴) said that the plaintiffs were divided into three groups: A for former employees who had died; B for those who had developed illnesses; and C for those who had no obvious illness. Compensation was awarded as follows: 10 from group A, eight from group B and six from group C,
FOREIGN ASSISTANCE: The fund will deploy more technologies developed by NARL to assist its nearly 100 foreign aid projects to help the nation’s allies The International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) is integrating more technology into its foreign aid programs for diplomatic allies by working with the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL), including a new project to assist Palau in protecting coral reefs. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperation was signed between ICDF Secretary-General Timothy Hsiang (項恬毅) and NARL president Wang Yeong-her (王永和) on Thursday. The two semi-official agencies are affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Science and Technology respectively. The ICDF promotes nearly 100 foreign aid projects — mainly in public healthcare, environmental protection, disaster prevention and relief, agriculture and food security, information and digital infrastructure — in allied nations every year, it said. Since 2006, the ICDF has used satellite images relayed by NARL’s National Space Organization in several programs for Central American allies, Hsiang said yesterday, adding that the MOU aims to expand cooperation and increase each agency’s international presence. For example, the ICDF is helping Honduras improve forest insect management, assisting Nicaragua in improving disaster response times and helping Belize advance urban infrastructure resiliency, he said. The marine and underwater technologies developed by NARL’s Taiwan Ocean Research Institute (TORI) are to be employed in ICDF’s aid programs for Pacific allies, he said. For example, the ICDF is helping Palau protect its coral reefs, with TORI members forming a delegation to inspect the corals off the coast of Palau last year, he said. Cooperation on ocean technology is beginning with Palau because corals are vital to the nation, while ocean conservation has become a global issue, Hsiang said. At the ICDF’s invitation, TORI associate research fellow Chen Chien-hsun (陳建勳) and National Sun Yat-sen University oceanography professor Keryea Soong (宋克義) last year visited Palau to inspect corals and water conditions, TORI director Wang Chau-chang (王兆璋) said separately. In addition to aid, the institute’s research
Visits to public libraries in the nation last year exceeded 100 million for the first time, an annual Ministry of Education report said. That was an increase of 22.83 million visits, or 24.82 percent, from 2018, the report said. Visitors last year borrowed 81.3 million items, rising 3.39 million, or 4.35 percent, from 2018, it said. While the number of e-books borrowed last year grew 46.55 percent annually to more than 2.55 million, the number of visitors who checked out printed books also increased 3.98 percent, it said. Based on the figures, there was no “crowding-out” effect between the two formats, the Department of Lifelong Education said. On average, Taiwanese last year visited public libraries 4.86 times and borrowed 3.44 items. As of last year, 16.89 million public library cards had been issued, up from 15.95 million in 2018, it added. Among the six special municipalities, Taipei last year had the highest percentage of residents with public library cards at 79 percent, followed by Taoyuan with 72 percent, Kaohsiung at 62 percent, Tainan with 60 percent, New Taipei City at 52 percent and Taichung with 45 percent, the report said. Kaohsiung residents last year visited public libraries an average of 9.76 times, compared with Taipei’s 6.34, New Taipei City’s 5.18, Taoyuan’s 4.98, Taichung’s 4.18 and Tainan’s 3.8, it said. Taipei residents last year borrowed an average of 4.87 items from public libraries, compared with 4.71 in Taichung, 4.42 in Tainan, 4.34 in Kaohsiung, 2.6 in Taoyuan and 2.59 in New Taipei City, it added. Continued growth across various indicators demonstrates public libraries’ commitment to promoting their services, as well as a passion for reading, the department said. The functions of libraries today have gone beyond the scope of traditional services, it said. Besides lending materials to readers, libraries now also offer a diverse range of services that include events and discussions, it
The Taipei District Court on Wednesday turned down appeals to lift travel bans imposed on Hong Kong businessman Lam Yuk (林旭) and Chinese national Su Jianfeng (蘇劍鋒), who prosecutors said are suspected of working for the head of a Chinese spy ring in Taiwan. Taipei prosecutors said that Lam and Su were working for Xiang Xin (向心) and his wife, Kung Ching (龔青), in a case related to self-proclaimed Chinese spy William Wang Liqian (王立強), and all four were placed under travel restrictions as part of an ongoing investigation into the case. Lam’s and Su’s lawyers said that as the two have no connections to Xiang and have not breached the National Security Act (國家安全法), the travel restrictions imposed on Feb. 11 should be lifted. Prosecutors on Wednesday said that Lam is a Hong Kong resident who has entered and exited Taiwan numerous times, making him a flight risk. Su is also a fight risk, they said, adding that the travel restrictions should remain in place. Lam said that as a business owner and head of a business association in Hong Kong, his company would incur massive losses and he would lose his position in the association if he is unable to return to Hong Kong. Su said he has several businesses in China, which have sustained losses because of his long absence. The two reiterated that they had not engaged in any national security related matters in Taiwan. Taiwanese authorities are still investigating the allegations by Wang, who in November last year defected and sought political asylum in Australia. Wang said he worked for China Innovation Investment Ltd, of which Xiang is the executive director and Kung an acting director. Wang told Australian media that the firm is a shell company “whose founding mission was to infiltrate Hong Kong, but was later tasked
A 107-year-old man who underwent an operation more than five years ago to replace an aortic valve is the longest-living person to have received the pioneering heart surgery, Taipei-based Cheng Hsin General Hospital said. The hospital on Tuesday said that its cardiac surgery team performed transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) on the patient, surnamed Chen (陳), when he was 102. The previous record for the oldest living person to have undergone TAVI surgery was a man who had the operation at 99, but passed away before he reached 107, the hospital said. The aortic valve usually opens when blood is pumped from the heart to the rest of the body, hospital superintendent Wei Jeng (魏崢) said. Aortic stenosis is a condition where the aortic valve does not open and close properly, which can result in breathlessness, chest pain, dizziness and heart failure. About 2 percent of people older than 65 develop aortic stenosis, with the ratio doubling to 4 percent for those older than 85, he said. Most of those who have this condition die within two years, Wei said. For people with aortic valve problems, the usual treatment is open-heart valve surgery, which has a 97 percent success rate, he said. However, for people who are too old or who have other medical problems, open-heart surgery might be too risky, he added. For those patients, TAVI, a procedure that allows an aortic valve to be implanted using a long narrow tube called a catheter, is considered preferable to open-heart surgery, he said. The cardiac surgery team at Cheng Hsin is one of the most experienced in the nation at performing TAVI. Of the 2,200 patients who have received such surgeries in the nation, 560 were done at Cheng Hsin, he said. The procedure is not covered by the National Health Insurance program
MISUNDERSTANDING? Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung said that what he meant was that testing would not be conducted ‘simultaneously’ across the nation The government yesterday backpedaled on a plan to suspend breath alcohol tests due to fears about the spread of COVID-19, reiterating its “zero tolerance” stance on drunk driving and saying that testing would continue nationwide. Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) on Thursday told a legislative meeting that to avoid COVID-19 contagion and prevent excessive strain on personnel of the National Police Agency’s Special Police, breath alcohol testing, conducted twice per month, would be suspended. However, local governments would still conduct “regional” testing at their discretion, he said. Hsu’s remarks at the legislature sparked controversy, as they came less than a week after Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told the public that stiffened penalties for drunk driving were taking effect. Prior to a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday, Su was asked by reporters whether the government would go through with the contentious policy. There would be no suspension of breath alcohol testing conducted by the central or local governments, which have a “zero tolerance” stance on drunk driving, Su said. Breath tests would continue, despite the COVID-19 situation, he said, urging people not to add to the government’s already heavy workload by driving under the influence of alcohol during the crisis. Su later said on Facebook that new regulations targeting drunk drivers went into effect at the beginning of this month. People whose driver’s license is revoked for drunk driving and obtain a new one would be required to pay for an ignition interlock device to be installed in their vehicle for a year, he said. Repeat offenders must undergo rehabilitation and 15 hours of courses before they can take another driver’s test, he added, urging people not to try their luck. At yesterday’s question-and-answer session, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said that Hsu’s remarks had angered many people, because 149 people died
It is “very likely” that COVID-19 would spread across North America and Europe in 30 days, and the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) is doing all it can to prevent such a scenario from affecting the nation, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) told lawmakers yesterday. During a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) asked Chen for his view on a report published on Sunday that said the US Department of Defense expects COVID-19 to become a “global pandemic” in the next 30 days. It is “very likely” that the epidemic would spread across North America and Europe in the next 30 days, said Chen, who heads the center. Taiwan has escaped the first wave of COVID-19 outbreaks that began in China and contained the virus, and the center is making preparations against a second wave of outbreaks that are likely to originate in Europe, he said. Quoting Chen, who said that it is impossible for the nation to avoid a community spread of COVID-19 “in the long term,” Hung asked Chen to define “long term.” “We hope to make it as long term as possible,” Chen said. Asked if it meant three months, six months or a year, Chen said that if the nation could prevent a community spread for a year, it would “have won the battle,” and if it is able to prevent such an occurrence in six months, it would be “quite a success.” However, the nation would still be at risk of a community spread over the next three months, which is the “critical period” to determine the likelihood of such a scenario, he said. Hung then asked why the CECC has not issued a level 3 “warning” travel advisory for Japan, which, as of yesterday, had “more than 1,000 confirmed
The National Theater & Concert Hall (NTCH) yesterday announced that all of this weekend’s shows have been canceled or postponed to allow for the full disinfection of both venues, following confirmation that an Australian composer and violist, who performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Concert Hall on Friday and Saturday last week, had tested positive for COVID-19 in Australia. At a late-night news conference on Thursday, the Central Epidemic Command Center said that the composer, who arrived in Taiwan on Feb. 23 and left on Monday, had earlier in the day been confirmed as a coronavirus case. Australian health authorities said the composer left London on Feb. 22 and transited through Bangkok before arriving in Taiwan. He arrived in Brisbane on Tuesday and took another flight to Adelaide, where he was due to take part in the Adelaide Festival. He is being treated in an isolation ward at Royal Adelaide Hospital. While Thursday night’s news conference was told that the Concert Hall would be closed for disinfection yesterday, the NTCH later said that both venues would be closed to the public over the weekend, with the National Theater being disinfected today and normal operations expected to resume on Monday. It had contracted a professional cleaning company to disinfect not only the four performance areas and lobbies, but all backstage and office areas in the two buildings, as well as the parking lots, although they would operate normally over the weekend, the NTCH said. The Taiwanese musical Love Song — Rhyme for you Revival (我為你押韻—情歌Revival), which was due to open last night for a four-show run, has been postponed to a later date. Roger Chih-I Chiang’s Violin Recital (新逸2020首席再起系列音樂會姜智譯小提琴獨奏會), which was scheduled for tomorrow night, has been rescheduled for April 26, while tomorrow’s Liao Chiao-han Piano Recital IX (廖皎含鋼琴獨奏會系列 Ⅸ), part of the “Music From Formosa”
The Tainan Tourism Bureau is collaborating with local wedding, travel and hospitality companies to promote outdoor wedding services, hoping to boost tourism amid the COVID-19 outbreak. As people avoid crowded indoor spaces to prevent infection, outdoor tourist destinations are gaining popularity, inspiring the city to launch a special campaign to promote the local wedding and tourism industry, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said yesterday. People interested in taking part in the Tainan Outdoor Weddings Promotional Activity can apply until Nov. 30, with the first 10 approved applicants to receive from the mayor the same 12 wedding gifts that the city government gave to Taiwanese model Lin Chi-ling (林志玲) when she got married in her parents’ hometown in November last year, bureau Director-General Kuo Chen-hui (郭貞慧) said. The other approved applicants would receive six of the gifts, Kuo added. The 12 auspicious gifts Lin received from Huang were bamboo charcoal, rice, sesame oil, salt, soy, vinegar, tea, a silk quilt, longan honey, burdock roots, a rush-woven bag and a wedding cake. “Tainan has a lot to offer, including tasty food, nice tourist sites and great wedding-related services, so the city hopes that people follow in Lin’s footsteps and choose it as the place they tie the knot,” Huang said. Information about the promotion is available online at www.twtainan.net/zh-tw/event/activitydetail/3881.
A SHIFTING LANDSCAPE: The hotel, which has had only one profitable year since it opened, would close on Monday, as it faces increasing competition and high rent Landis Hospitality Group (麗緻餐旅集團) yesterday approved plans to close Landis Taichung Hotel (台中亞都麗緻飯店) next week, as the COVID-19 outbreak sharpens losses in an increasingly crowded market. “As the virus outbreak is to persist for a while, the board decided it is better to shut down the Taichung property to rein in losses,” Landis Hospitality director of finance and accounting Kay Ku (古亦敏) told a news briefing at the Taipei Exchange Market. The 13-year-old property is the first five-star hotel to exit the Taiwanese market as tourist arrivals fall and local travelers forgo gatherings over fear of the flu-like disease. The outlet has accumulated NT$350 million (US$11.7 million) in losses as of the third quarter of last year, with slim chances of generating profit against growing competition and operation costs, the hotel and restaurant operator said. The group — which also runs the Landis Taipei Hotel (台北亞都麗緻飯店) and has franchise relationships with four other hotels in New Taipei City, Hsinchu and Tainan — also said that high rent expenses contributed to the closure, which is to take effect on Monday. Landis Hospitality said that it would seek arbitration if the landlord, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), claims damage beyond the premature cancelation fees stipulated in the lease. The group reportedly sought rent concessions, but to no avail. High rent forced Westin Taipei (台北威斯汀六福皇宮) out of the market in 2018. Despite its convenient location in central Taichung, Landis Taichung struggled in an increasingly crowded market that has been joined by the Place Taichung (台中大毅老爺行旅) and Millennium Hotels and Resorts (台中日月千禧酒店), as well as other international hotel brands that are expected to open in the area. Landis Hospitality would help more than 200 employees find jobs at other hotels and provide full refunds for hotel and restaurant vouchers, group chairwoman Michelle Hsu (徐儷萍) said. With a focus on business travelers, the hotel
SIDESTEPPING THE VIRUS: The chipmaker said it has not experienced major effects from the virus outbreak, as it makes chips in Taiwan, and as 5G-related orders continue Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), which makes memory chips used in Nintendo Co’s game consoles, has had a strong start to this year. It yesterday posted 36 percent annual growth in revenue for the past two months, undaunted by a global outbreak of COVID-19. However, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker told investors that the epidemic has dimmed the business outlook for the current quarter, as it prior to the outbreak forecast that chip prices would rise. In the first two months of the year, revenue expanded to NT$5.53 billion (US$184.09 million), compared with NT$4.07 billion in the same period last year, the company said in a statement, adding that on a monthly basis, revenue rose 0.8 percent from NT$2.76 billion. Macronix said that it has not seen any major effects from the epidemic, as it makes chips in Taiwan, nor has it seen any virus-induced order cuts, as 5G infrastructure deployments continue worldwide. Separately, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange that its board of directors has approved a cash dividend of NT$1.2 per share, flat from last year, with the payout ratio climbing from 24 percent to 73 percent. Earnings per share were NT$1.64 last year, down from NT$4.94 in 2018, it said. The board also gave the go-ahead to raise funds through the issuance of 360 million new shares for existing shareholders in the form of global depository receipts or corporate bonds, the filing said. Up to 180 million shares are to be offered via a private placement for local and overseas investors, it said. The proceeds would be used to finance operations, the filing said. Macronix plans to spend NT$8.7 billion on ramping up 3D NAND flash memory chip production at the end of this year, it said. The chipmaker said in a separate filing that it plans to retire a less-advanced 6-inch fab
The nation’s net foreign fund outflow totaled US$3.89 billion last month, the first outflow over the past six months, as foreign institutional investors continued to sell local shares amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) data showed. Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$129.24 billion (US$4.3 billion) of shares in the local equity market last month, higher than the NT$36.46 billion sold in January, the data showed. Foreign investors dumped a net NT$129.8 billion of local shares of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, while they purchased a net NT$627 million on the Taipei Exchange, lower than the NT$6.53 billion bought a month earlier, the data showed. “That reflected weak confidence among foreign institutional investors amid the ongoing outbreak. They were concerned with local companies’ profitability, with the outbreak disrupting supply chains and delaying companies’ resumption of operations,” a commission official surnamed Wu (吳) told the Taipei Times. The benchmark TAIEX recovered its previous loss in the middle of February, but steadily went down with the escalating outbreak, the TWSE data showed. Equity markets in neighboring countries also witnessed a retreat. Due to the sell-off, the value of foreign institutional investors’ equity assets accounted for 40.69 percent of total last month, down from 41.23 percent a month earlier, Wu said. However, the commission was not concerned about last month’s net outflow, as the amount was not particularly big, Wu said. “The movement of foreign funds is volatile in Taiwan, with net inflow and outflow. We already saw net inflow of foreign funds earlier this week,” Wu said. Last month’s difference between the amount of fund outflow and the amount of foreign institutional investors’ selling could be because some investors did not immediately move their funds out of Taiwan, Wu said. Those investors might plan to buy local stocks again in the near term or simply wait for the
Some of Taiwan’s manufacturing giants and best-known brands found themselves in the international spotlight this week, and not for a good reason. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co — known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group — Acer, Asustek Computer and HTC Corp were among the 83 companies named as “directly or indirectly benefiting” from China’s deployment of tens of thousands of Uighurs as forced labor in 27 factories in nine provinces from 2017 to last year, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in a report, titled Uyghurs For Sale, released on Sunday. More than 80,000 Uighurs were moved from the Xinjiang region to work in the factories, where they were barred from leaving to visit family or practicing their religion, and needed to take ideology and Mandarin classes outside of working hours, the report said, adding that the number was a conservative estimate and that the real figure is likely much higher. Foxconn has been an active participant in Beijing’s “Xinjiang Aid” scheme, which aims to assign work to “idle” Uighurs in the name of poverty alleviation and help Sinicize them by reforming their “backward qualities,” the report said, adding that Uighurs had been employed at the firm’s giant Zhengzhou factory in Henan Province. The institute’s report is the latest in a line of investigations by rights groups, The Associated Press, the BBC and other media outlets into the abuse of Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, but that did not stop the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday from slamming the report’s “lack of factual basis” as a bid to smear China’s “efforts to oppose terrorism and fight extremism.” China had said that it was transferring “surplus” labor out of Xinjiang as part of poverty alleviation efforts, but when deciding who to believe, companies that source products from the manufacturers and
A poll conducted by Focus Survey Research has found that 83.2 percent of Taiwanese see themselves as strictly Taiwanese, 6.7 percent see themselves as both Taiwanese and Chinese, and 5.3 percent identify as only Chinese. The remainder had no opinion or declined to respond. These figures provide powerful insights into Taiwan’s present-day democracy and the imagined community that it signifies. In 1991, when the yearly poll was first conducted, only 13.6 percent identified as strictly Taiwanese — there has been a nearly 70 percentage point increase in less than 30 years. What happened then, and later, to cause this change? The term “imagined community” was coined by political scientist Benedict Anderson. It seeks to encapsulate how nations have become social constructs created for political and economic ends. Taiwanese politics had a pivotal year in 1991, when the nation definitely took on a democratic identity. Martial law ended in 1987 and a multiparty system was allowed. In 1992, the members of the Legislative Yuan were directly elected in the first democratic vote, followed by a presidential election in 1996. Thus, 1991, the year that the poll was first taken, was significant. Taiwan was, at that time, on the cusp of becoming a democratic nation. What followed can be called the “wearing off” of Taiwan’s Stockholm syndrome — a condition where hostages develop positive feelings toward their captors during a kidnapping — which had developed while the nation was a political captive of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the KMT-controlled media. The KMT came to Taiwan at the end of World War II at the behest of the US military government, the chief victor in the war. For many Taiwanese, it was the last of Taiwan’s many colonizers. To justify its authoritarian rule, the KMT was bent on Sinicizing the people with the message: “We are all Chinese.” It kept Taiwan
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is taking extreme measures again, announcing his decision to end the Visiting Forces Agreement with the US, which has been in place for 21 years. The agreement allows for a unilateral notice to end the pact, which then ceases after 180 days. Since it is the cornerstone of Philippine-US military cooperation, the decision is a direct challenge to the White House. The abolition would void two other agreements between the nations: the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. It is difficult to predict the effect of this decision on future relations, but Duterte’s blunt move could give Taiwan an edge. Since his 2016 election, Duterte, who has some Chinese ancestry, has been very China-friendly. On Oct. 7 that year, he notified the US that he would suspend joint patrols in the South China Sea, and he also terminated annual joint military exercises. The US Congress has since made successive Taiwan-friendly moves, such as US President Donald Trump receiving a congratulatory phone call from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) following his election victory and the inclusion of Taiwan in the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy through the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018. Last year, the former Coordination Council for North American Affairs was renamed the Taiwan Council for US Affairs, and a US-Taiwan deal confirmed the sale of F-16V fighters to Taiwan. Taiwan-US relations have indeed improved thanks to Duterte. The US military patrols in the Taiwan Strait last month also prove the US’ determination to protect Taiwan. It is rather curious that the Philippines has been a “good neighbor” for the past 400 years. Japan ruled Taiwan for 50 years, and China has always claimed it, and its saber rattling and threats continue unabated. The Philippines alone does not threaten Taiwan. During World War II, US Army general Douglas MacArthur was so eager
CALAMITOUS COLLAPSE: The Waratahs took a 14-13 advantage into halftime, but conceded six tries in the second half to the Chiefs to crash to a 51-14 defeat Defending Super Rugby champions the Crusaders yesterday survived a 24-20 scare against the Queensland Reds, as the Brumbies romped past the virus-disrupted Sunwolves and the Chiefs smashed the Waratahs. The Queenslanders outscored the Crusaders by four tries to three, but missed all of their conversions and a penalty, letting the 10-time champions off the hook. The result puts the Crusaders on top of the Super Rugby ladder alongside the Brumbies on 18 points, overhauling the Stormers on 17, who have a bye this week. It also extends the Crusaders’ undefeated home record to 34 matches, but captain Scott Barrett admitted that they failed to dominate a committed, young Reds side. “We were ill-disciplined and tried to push too many passes, we didn’t play that smart really,” he said. Reds skipper Liam Wright said that he was “incredibly proud” of his side, even though they posted their fifth loss in six matches and an eighth straight defeat to the Crusaders. The Crusaders opened the scoring when Joe Moody barged between the posts in the 12th minute, but the Reds hit back immediately, working the ball wide to winger Chris Feauai-Sautia. The Queenslanders locked up the score at 10-10 when Harry Wilson edged the ball through a crush of players onto the line and they were unlucky not to be ahead at the break. The two sides exchanged tries after the restart, but the Reds — who saw botched kicks from Jock Campbell, Scott Malolua and Bryce Hegarty — could not convert, while Richie Mo’unga slotted home to make it 17-15. The Crusaders scored their third through Leicester Fainga’anuku before Henry Speight sparked a Reds resurgence with a try-scoring break and the Queenslanders chased the win until the final moments. Earlier, the Brumbies, semi-finalists last year, made it four wins from five in a seven-try 47-14 thrashing of Japan’s Sunwolves. The
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has challenged Manchester United to compete on three fronts after they on Thursday moved into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 3-0 win at Wayne Rooney’s Derby County. Solskjaer’s side were never in danger of a shock fifth-round exit against the second-tier Rams as Luke Shaw’s opener and Odion Ighalo’s double booked a quarter-final trip to Norwich City. Rooney, United’s record goal-scorer, is back in English soccer after moving to Derby from DC United in January and he was twice denied by Sergio Romero in his first meeting with his old club since 2018. However, United were always on top and extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine games ahead of tomorrow’s derby showdown with Manchester City at Old Trafford. They remain in the hunt for the FA Cup, the UEFA Europa League and still have a chance of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League via the Premier League, where they are fifth, three points behind Chelsea. Solskjaer has urged his players to keep their foot on the gas as they look to turn a troubled season into a memorable finale. “Today was the highest priority, because we’re not going to pick and choose games or competitions. We have to go for everything, that’s what it is to be at Manchester United,” Solskjaer said. “It’s another away draw, we’re used to that now. Is it a seventh in a row? We’ll have to do it the hard way if want to go all the way. We’ve got a chance now,” he said. “I’m very pleased with the performance and to go through. You never know, away from home, being the favorites and having City on Sunday how it’ll affect their mindset, but it was professional,” Solskjaer said. “We’ve found form and defended well, we’ve had seven clean sheets in those nine games,” he
The Formula One season starts in Melbourne next week, but teams already have their sights set firmly on next year and a rules revolution. The big question most face is when to stop developing the shiny new cars that have yet to turn a wheel in competitive action, and throw time and resources at the next generation instead. Get it right and a midfield team can hope to make the sort of big gains next year that are out of reach when rules are stable. For top teams, the consequences of getting it wrong can be dramatic and this is the last opportunity to throw cash at development before a budget cap comes in. The likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have been working on next year for some time, but they also want to win titles before then. “This year’s championship is a two-year championship,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said. “There’s such a massive regulatory change for 2021 that balancing your allocation of resource will be crucial... If you get it wrong and you’re months behind, you might be half-a-second behind.” Next year’s regulations represent one of the biggest revamps in the sport, with revised aerodynamics and bigger wheels and tires. Mercedes have won the past six constructors’ and drivers’ championships, an era that started in 2014 when 1.6 liter V6 turbo hybrid power units replaced the old 2.4 liter V8s. Until that point, Red Bull had won four in a row. In 2009, it was Brawn GP who took advantage of a rule change with a “double-diffuser” that resulted in six wins in the first seven races for Britain’s Jenson Button and ultimately both titles. The car was a result of underperforming Honda effectively writing off a season to focus on the year after, even if the Japanese manufacturer left the sport abruptly at the
Japanese star swimmer Rikako Ikee, who last year stunned fans with news that she was battling leukemia, has launched an urgent appeal for people to give blood after steps to curb the spread of COVID-19 led to a sharp drop in donations. Ikee, who finished treatment in December last year and has vowed to target the 2024 Paris Olympics, said on Twitter that there were people whose lives depended on donations and that the “drastic decrease” was causing anxiety. “It’s a difficult time due to the spread of the coronavirus, but even now blood donations are needed with the cooperation of many people,” Ikee said. “I was also in the hematology department, so I deeply feel the importance of blood transfusions,” she added. “Even one life can save many people’s lives.” The 19-year-old burst into the spotlight at the 2018 Asian Games, where she won six titles. She was seen as a strong medal contender for this year’s Tokyo Olympics until she was diagnosed with leukemia in February last year. She has since also become an inspiration outside the pool for others fighting their own medical battles, and has now used her public platform to bring attention to the decline in blood donations. Blood donations are crucial for a wide range of patients, from those with cancer or anemia to accident victims and women with labor complications. However, the Japanese Red Cross Society said that measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak, including the cancelation of public events and encouraging people to stay home for work, have made it hard to carry out blood drives. About 13,000 donations are needed every day, but the group has missed this target since the week of Feb. 16. “This situation is expected to increase and it is feared it will be difficult to maintain a stable inventory of blood products as the number
‘VILLAIN HITTING’: Under a bridge considered an ideal spot for dispelling evil, people can pay older women who are professional beaters to place a curse on their enemies Hong Kongers are seizing on an ancient ritual to relieve their frustration after months of political upheaval, turning to “villain hitting” to curse troublesome people. Under a bridge considered an ideal spot for dispelling evil, older women who are professional beaters can be paid to place a hex on enemies. Although a year-round tradition, villain hitting, also known as a “petty person beating,” is considered more effective on Jing Zhe — the year’s first thunder according to the lunar calendar, which occurred this week. Still recovering from last year’s pro-democracy demonstrations that rocked the financial hub for seven months, Hong Kongers on both sides of the political divide are using the popular practice to expel their anger. “[The government] doesn’t act in the interest of us people and tax payers, so many people come to curse the government and the corrupted police,” Ana Hong said. While the rallies and clashes have died down, partly due to exhaustion and arrests, but also because of the COVID-19 outbreak, tensions remain. “We want to release some of the hatred vibe inside... We purposely target our chief executive, Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥),” Mai said. Further along the pavement, Chou Hung Sheng said that he has “had enough of the destruction of Hong Kong,” which he blames on the demonstrators. “We’re here today to hit the petty persons. We’ll beat them to the ground,” he said, holding up a picture of a pro-democracy lawmaker. “We’ll beat them out of Hong Kong. We’ll cleanse their minds and souls with the beating, and afterward we can have good days ahead.” For HK$50 (US$6.43) to HK$500, the women wave incense sticks and murmur curses, while using an old shoe to beat paper effigies, often with the unfortunate person’s name and birthday written on it, in front of a makeshift shrine. On Jing Zhe, paper tigers, representing bad luck, also
Centuries before Captain James Cook claimed Australia for Britain in 1770, Muslim Makassan sailors from Indonesia regularly traveled thousands of kilometers across open sea to trade with Aboriginal people in Australia’s far north. Now, a voyage in a specially constructed replica boat has rekindled ties between the Makassans from Sulawesi Island and the Yolngu community in northeast Arnhem Land, providing a powerful message about belonging for young Australian Muslims. The project is the brainchild of the Abu Hanifa Institute, an organization promoting education, identity and inclusiveness for Muslims in Sydney. “We ran a workshop with young people and we asked them what it meant to be an Australian and many people really could not identify with that concept,” Wesam Charkawi of Abu Hanifa said. “They felt that the discourse that they hear on a daily basis — ‘Go back to where you came from,’ ‘You don’t belong here,’ ‘Love it or leave it’ — that it alienated them.” Muslims make up less than 3 percent of Australia’s population and many report experiencing prejudice or hostility regarding their faith. The 60,000 year history of Australia’s “First Nations,” and their long and deep relationship with the Makassans resonated with many Muslim youth. The two peoples traded sea cucumbers, exchanged ideas and language, intermarried and lived among each other from the 1500s or possibly earlier, historians have said. The 15m vessel was built by Makassan artisans on a beach in Sulawesi using traditional methods and local timber. Launching the boat was just one of many challenges the project had to overcome. “On the day, we didn’t realize how we were going to get it [into the sea], then all of a sudden, hundreds of people turned up and they began pushing this thing, digging the sand with their own hands — not with shovels, but their own hands — to try and
The mayor of Easter Island has called for vehicle restrictions to be introduced around its archeological sites after a pickup truck hit one of the famous stone statues, causing “incalculable” damage. A Chilean man who lives on the island in Polynesia was arrested after the incident on Sunday and has been charged with damaging a national monument, the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio de Valparaiso said. The platform on which the statue stood was also damaged in the crash, it reported. ANCESTRAL SPIRITS About 1,000 of the figures, known as moai, dot the island, which local people call Rapa Nui. Indigenous Rapa Nui islanders believe that the moai carry the spirits of prominent ancestors and they are seen as living incarnations of their relatives. Camilo Rapu, president of the Ma’u Henua Community, which looks after the moai, said that the crash might have been done deliberately. “As people know, the moai are sacred structures that possess a religious value for the people of Rapa Nui,” he said. “Something like this isn’t just dreadful, it’s an offense against a living culture that has spent the last few years fighting to regain its historic and archeological heritage.” TRAFFIC RULES Easter Island Mayor Pedro Edmunds Paoa told El Mercurio that the collision appeared to have been the result of brake failure. He said the incident demonstrated the need for stricter traffic controls. “Everyone decided against establishing traffic rules when it came to vehicles on sacred sites — but we, as a council, were talking about the dangers and knew very well what the rise in tourist and resident numbers could mean,” the mayor previously told the paper. Easter Island’s population has risen from 8,000 to 12,000 since 2012, he said, adding that the island hosts about 12,000 tourists a month. “They didn’t listen to us and this is the result,” the mayor said. In June
There is plenty of lore in the kitchen, and a fair amount of myth, too. Here are four common cooking myths that are in need of a bit of a rethink MYTH 1 You should cook with the same good wine you’re drinking The main reason we use wine in cooking is to provide an umami, savory taste, which doesn’t depend on what specific bottle or even variety of wine you’re using. There are aromas from the wine that come into the dish, but not even the best sommeliers could tell you the specific vintage or side of the hill that a wine came from after it’s been boiled with onions, garlic, carrots and a kilogram of beef. You can bet your butt that the fancy French restaurant you’re eating at didn’t use the same Chateau La-whatever they’ve matched with your meal to make the demiglace or the coq au vin. Don’t tell the wine snobs, but I’ll sometimes even use wine that’s gone “bad” to cook with. Wine goes “bad” by oxidation and souring and while that might make them terrible to drink, a little of either isn’t necessarily a bad thing for cooking. Deliberately oxidized wines such as sherry and madeira are prized as cooking wines, and a touch of sourness can freshen dishes in the same way the old French saucier’s trick of a splash of vinegar before serving does. Trust your nose — it’s a better assistant in the kitchen than any rigorous set of rules. MYTH 2 Blanching vegetables keeps them crisp Blanching is a process of cooking (usually vegetables) by quickly boiling, then chilling by plunging into iced water. Some say this helps to retain texture and color, but sadly it also makes the vegetables cold, watery, and robs them of seasoning. You don’t need to blanch vegetables at all. The technique reached
Four roads cut through the Coastal Mountain Range in Taiwan’s east. From north to south, they are: Highway 11A (台11甲線); Hualien County Road 64 (花64線), sometimes called Ruigang Industry Road (瑞港產業道路); the newish Highway 30 (台30線), also known as the Yuchang Highway (玉長公路); and Highway 23 (台23線). A determined walker could tramp the length of any of the first three roads in a single day. For cyclists and hikers, however, the southernmost route is a significantly greater challenge. The distance from the inland end of Highway 23 in Hualien County’s Fuli Township (富里鄉) to its western terminus, on the coast in Taitung County’s Donghe Township (東河鄉), is 45.5km. What’s more, a good bit of it is uphill. Fuli Railway Station (富里火車站) is at an elevation of 227m, while the highest point on the road — which also happens to be the border between the counties of Hualien and Taitung — is 637m above sea level. This perhaps explains why, when we drove from Fuli to Donghe a few weeks back, we didn’t see a single cyclist, despite the weather being just about perfect for a long bike ride. If going all the way to the coast doesn’t fit in with your plans, but you find yourself in the vicinity of Fuli, do make an effort to drive or ride part of Highway 23. Excellent scenery can be found less than 4km up the road. Turning a corner as we approached the two-church village of Fengnan (豐南), we were treated to an entrancing combination of rice paddies and steep green hills. Surprisingly, nobody seems to have thought of marketing this area as “Little Guilin” (小桂林). For those who don’t know it, Guilin is one of the most famous scenic attractions in China. It’d be hyperbole — but no more unreasonable than other claims made by
[ Editor’s note: Following Thursday night’s confirmation that an Australian composer and violist who performed with the National Symphony Orchestra in the National Concert Hall on Feb. 28 tested positive for COVID-19 upon his return to Australia, the National Theater Concert Hall today announced that this weekend's shows have been cancelled to allow for the full disinfection of both venues over the weekend. The “I Rhyme for You-Love Song Revival" production has been postponed to a later date.] Love won and lost, longing and connections and memories are the common elements of two disparate musical productions taking place this weekend as part of the Taiwan International Festival of Arts in Taipei and Taichung. Opening tonight at the National Theater in Taipei is the Yang Ensemble’s (楊景翔演劇團) production of Love Song — Rhyme for you Revival (我為你押韻—情歌Revival), commissioned for this year’s festival by the National Theater Concert Hall. Love Song — Rhyme for you was first performed by the Creative Society Theatre Company (創作社劇團) at the Wenshan Theater in May 2011 and became an immediate hit. It has toured extensively in Taiwan in the intervening years as well as traveling to Beijing and Shanghai. Written by award-winning playwright Birdy Fong (馮勃棣) and directed by Yang Ching-hsiang (楊景翔), the show, a melodrama centering on a mysterious woman and a suicidal playwright suffering from creative block, features almost 100 love songs, mostly from the 1990s, as it seeks to portray the love affairs of ordinary people. Think karaoke meets Romeo and Juliet, Taiwanese style, or the kind of daydreaming when all the confusion and upsets in your romantic life can be explained and resolved through song. The nine-member cast of the revival features Sun Ke-fong (孫可芳) as the female lead and original cast members Wang Hong-yuan (王宏元) and Ling Chia-chi (林家麒) as the two male leads. Live
From Feb. 24 to March 1, Russians celebrated Maslenitsa, possibly the oldest Slavic religious and folk holiday. Also known as “butter week” or “pancake week,” Maslenitsa is a way to welcome spring by eating pancakes, which represent the sun. The name Maslenitsa dates to the 17th century, when the festival was officially recognized by the Russian Orthodox church. Before that, it was a pagan festival. It used to have a pagan name, “Komoyeditsa,” which means “feeding bears.” “Kom” is an old Russian word for “bear,” the sacred animal of Slavs, and according to one theory people would offer them pancakes when they woke from their winter hibernation. At the beginning of the week the community builds a female effigy of Lady Maslenitsa out of straw. This is paraded around the area. The final day is a day of forgiveness, in which people ask relatives and friends to forgive them. The celebration ends with the burning of the Maslenitsa effigy to symbolize the imminent end of winter. (Paul Cooper, Taipei Times) 俄羅斯人在二月二十四日至三月一日過「謝肉節」，這或許是斯拉夫民族最古老的宗教與民間節慶。 謝肉節亦稱為「奶油週」或「烤薄餅週」，人們吃代表太陽的薄餅，以迎接春天的到來。 謝肉節名稱「Maslenitsa」之由來，始於十七世紀俄羅斯東正教教會對該節慶的正式承認。它原為異教節慶，名為「Komoyeditsa」，意思是「餵熊」。「Kom」是古俄文，意為「熊」。熊是斯拉夫民族的神獸，其由來有一說是認為，熊自冬眠甦醒後，人們會拿薄餅餵熊吃。 在這為期一週的節慶之始，居民用麥桿紮成草人「馬斯列尼察女神」，在附近遊街。節慶最後一天是寬恕之日，人們請求親戚朋友的原諒。謝肉節的慶祝活動以焚燒女神草人畫上句點，象徵冬天即將結束。 （台北時報林俐凱譯）
A : Another area Beethoven excelled at was creating music that kept pace with the changing times: His style was constantly evolving. Listen to this recording of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata played on a piano from the period. B : The instrument sounds like a synthesizer, but it has a greater resonance than a harpsichord. A : It’s played on a predecessor to the modern piano, called a fortepiano. A : 貝多芬厲害的另一個地方，在於他的創作跟著時代不斷演變。你聽聽看《月光奏鳴曲》這段音樂，這是用他當時的鋼琴演奏的唷。 B : 聽起來好像合成樂器哦，可是又比大鍵琴多了一點共鳴。 A : 這是用現代鋼琴的前身──古鋼琴演奏的。 English 英文: Chinese 中文:
Singer 2020, the eighth season of the hit singing competition, attracted much attention by inviting Japanese pop singer Misia to compete. The other six starting contestants for this season include Taiwan’s Jam Hsiao, a co-host of the show, LaLa Hsu, and China’s Hua Chenyu, Tia Ray, Mao Buyi and Zhou Shen. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the reality TV show premiere had been repeatedly postponed, before finally being broadcast on Feb. 7. In order to avoid home quarantine, all the singers have recorded their weekly performances separately in five different locations — Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Taipei and Tokyo — without a live studio audience since Episode 3, while a 500-member audience watches the live stream from home and then casts its votes via an app. In Episode 3, Misia performed her 2011 classic Ashita E, literally Toward Tomorrow, at a Japanese venue where 10,000 candles were lit up to cheer those fighting the epidemic. The 42-year-old singer was voted No. 1, as her heartfelt performance in Japanese successfully crossed the language barrier. (Eddy Chang, Taipei Times) 熱門歌唱競賽《歌手》系列已進入第八季，《歌手2020》因邀請日本流行天后米希亞參賽引發廣大關注。本季另外六位首發參賽者包括︰兼任主持人的台灣歌手蕭敬騰、徐佳瑩，及中國歌手華晨宇、袁婭維、毛不易、周深。 受新冠肺炎爆發影響，該實境節目屢次延期，最終在二月七日開播。為避免遭到居家隔離，所有歌手自第三集起，每週分別在北京、上海、長沙、台北、東京五個不同的地點錄製表演，現場觀眾也全部取消，改由五百名觀眾於線上觀看後，透過手機APP進行投票。 第三集節目中，米希亞演唱了她二○一一年的經典《向著明天》，在日本的演出現場還點起一萬支蠟燭，為和肺炎疫情奮戰的人們打氣。這位四十二歲歌手真誠的日語演唱成功跨越語言障礙，更在當晚奪下第一名。 （台北時報張聖恩〉
| New Taipei City | 19-22 | 10% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 18-21 | 10% |  |
| Hsinchu City | 18-21 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 19-22 | 10% | |
| Miaoli County | 17-21 | 10% | |
| Taoyuan City | 18-21 | 10% | |
| Keelung City | 18-21 | 20% |  |
| Yunlin County | 19-24 | 0% | |
| Taichung City | 20-25 | 0% | |
| Nantou County | 19-25 | 0% | |
| Changhua County | 19-23 | 0% | |
| Chiayi County | 19-25 | 0% | |
| Chiayi City | 20-25 | 0% | |
| Tainan City | 22-25 | 0% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 23-27 | 0% | |
| Pingtung County | 21-27 | 0% | |
| Yilan County | 19-23 | 30% |  |
| Hualien County | 20-23 | 20% | |
| Taitung County | 21-25 | 30% | |
| Kinmen County | 17-20 | 10% | |
| Penghu County | 20-22 | 0% | |
| Lienchiang County | 14-16 | 90% |  |
RSS