Eye On Taiwan

Local baseball in full swing, even if fan-less Posted: 25 Apr 2020 01:19 PM PDT Taipei Times Date: Apr 26, 2020 By: AP, New Taipei City A Brothers batter snaps his bat in their CPBL game against the Fubon Guardians at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City on Friday. Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP When Wang Wei-chen had a base hit for the CTBC Brothers, no one booed or cheered from the stands at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City, no one hurled insults at the umpires, and no one yelled the Chinese-language line of encouragement “add oil” to either team. The 12,150 blue plastic seats on Friday night were devoid of fans for the game between the CTBC Brothers and the Fubon Guardians, down from the average crowd of 6,000 at local professional baseball games. No fans have come to any local games since play started on April 11. The five-team CPBL is barring spectators over concerns of spreading COVID-19 in a crowded space, but the league decided it was safe to let in players, coaches, cheerleaders, costumed mascots, mask-wearing batboys and the media, as the nation has relatively few cases of the coronavirus. “We’d like to have fans coming into the stadium to cheer us on, yet due to the outbreak, they can’t,” said Wang, an infielder for the Brothers. “We are still lucky, since we have not stopped our season and people can still see us in this way.”    [FULL  STORY]

COVID-19 forces more movie theater closures (update) Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:31 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/25/2020 By: Chang Jung-hsiang, Wang Jsin-yu, Wu Chehau and Frances Huang Taipei’s Dynasty Theater. Taipei, April 25 (CNA) With the movie theater industry falling victim to the COVID-19 coronavirus that has kept many consumers at home amid fear of infection, two more cinemas in Taiwan have announced that they will close temporarily from next week. Changhua Cinemas and Taiwan Cinemas in Changhua City, two of the only three movie theaters in Changhua County, announced that they will suspend operations starting from April 27 until the pandemic eases. The announcements from the two theaters came after Taipei's Dynasty Theater, which said Thursday that it will close for three months from May 4 due to the virus, and Tainan's Madou Cinema, which announced Friday that it will close for two months from April 27. Neither Changhua Cinemas nor Taiwan Cinemas, which also blamed the COVID-19 spread for the closures, gave a fixed timeframe for reopening.    [FULL  STORY]

Tech stocks drag TAIEX down 0.18% Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:28 PM PDT LINCHPIN: The broader market was unable to escape weakness in the electronics sector following Intel Corp’s lower-than-expected guidance for the second quarter Taipei Times Date: Apr 26, 2020 By: Staff writer, with CNA and AP Local shares on Friday closed slightly lower as the bellwether electronics sector remained in the doldrums after Intel Corp gave lower-than-expected guidance for the second quarter, dealers said. Lingering concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic were also a factor after the Financial Times cited WHO documents as saying that experimental drug remdesivir did not improve the conditions of COVID-19 patients in a clinical trial in China, they said. The TAIEX on Friday ended down 19.15 points, or 0.18 percent, at 10,347.36, after moving between 10,324.20 and 10,386.93, on turnover of NT$125.342 billion (US$4.17 billion). That was a drop of 2.4 percent from a close of 10,597.04 on April 17.    [FULL  STORY]

CORONAVIRUS/Academia Sinica and Polish counterpart hold talks on virus control Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:21 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/25/2020 By: Lin Yu-li and Matthew Mazzetta Photo courtesy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Prague Berlin, April 24 (CNA) Taiwan's government-funded research institution Academia Sinica held discussions with the Polish Academy of Sciences on Thursday via video conferencing to share Taiwan's experience in fighting the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. The talks, which were arranged by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Prague, were attended by the Polish academy's president, Jerzy Duszyński, and three epidemic prevention officials from the Polish government, while Taiwan was represented by Academia Sinica President James C. Liao (廖俊智) and two research scientists. According to a representative office official, Liao explained how Taiwan learned from its experience fighting a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, and how it had established a central epidemic command center in the early days of this current outbreak to coordinate the government's response. The two sides also exchanged views on testing technologies, infection modeling and various public health measures, the official said.    [FULL  STORY]

I tried Pizza Hut in Taiwan and it’s nothing like the US locations, especially when it comes to its menu Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:14 PM PDT Insider Date: April 25, 2020 By: Martha Sorren I visited a Pizza Hut in Taipei, Taiwan, and it was so much different from locations in the US.  The chain's locations in Taiwan had some tasty and unique menu items, like a bubble-tea dessert pizza and a pie that's covered in seafood.  In Taiwan, Pizza Hut pies cost slightly more than they do in the US and delivery options are a bit more limited.  Here’s what it’s like visiting a Pizza Hut in Taiwan and trying some iconic pies. Martha Sorren for Insider Some chains are pretty ubiquitous around the world — but that doesn't mean they're the same everywhere you go. Recently, I visited the international fast-food chain Pizza Hut while in Taipei, Taiwan, and I was surprised at how different it was from locations in the United States. Here's what Pizza Hut in Taiwan is like, and how it compares to US locations.     [FULL  STORY]

US Navy plane nears Taiwan airspace Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:08 PM PDT A US P-3C Orion flew near southwestern Taiwan marking 12th similar incident this month Taiwan News Date: 2020/04/25 By: Kelvin Chen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer U.S. Navy P-3C Orion TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A U.S. Navy P-3C Orion anti-submarine aircraft flew near the southern waters of Taiwan on Saturday (April 25) morning, marking the 12th time a U.S. military aircraft entered Taiwanese airspace this month. At the Ministry of Defense’s (MND) "Goodwill Fleet" epidemic investigation press conference on Friday, MND Spokesman Major General Shih Shun-wen (史順文) said the nation’s military was fully in control of the situation. He also emphasized that though the situation in the Taiwan Strait continues to be precarious, the nation’s military stays prepared. “Aircraft Spots,” a Twitter account dedicated to tracking aircraft movement, showed a U.S. Navy P-3C Orion aircraft was in the southern waters of Taiwan, traveling from northeast to southwest toward the South China Sea, CNA reported. According to information publicly disclosed by the MND and “Aircraft Spots,” Saturday’s incident was the 12th U.S. military aircraft had flown near Taiwan this month. The MND stated Thursday the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Liaoning aircraft carrier and its strike group entered the South China Sea via the Bashi Strait on April 12, and crossed it again on April 22 after training in the disputed waters. The MND also announced for the first time that aerial photos of the Liaoning were taken.    [FULL  STORY]

Almost 16,000 chickens culled due to avian flu Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:05 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/25/2020 By: Kuo Chih-hsuan and Frances Huang Courtesy of the Pingtung County Animal Disease Control Center. Taipei, April 25 (CNA) Nearly 16,000 chickens raised on a farm in Pingtung County, southern Taiwan, were culled Saturday after they were confirmed to be infected with the highly pathogenic H5N5 avian influenza virus, according to the Pingtung County Animal Disease Control Center. The center said that a total of 15,826 chickens around six weeks old were culled on the farm in Yanpu Township. The authorities said the owner of the farm reported to the center on Wednesday that some of his chickens had recently died strangely, prompting the center to take samples from the farm for testing. The test results came out Saturday showing that the chickens had contracted the H5N5 virus and the center immediately took action to have them culled.    [FULL  STORY]

Court sentences man to nearly four years for fatal DUI Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:01 PM PDT Taipei Times Date: Apr 26, 2020 By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter A Taoyuan man on Wednesday was found guilty of killing a man while driving under the influence (DUI) in April 2018. The man, surnamed Liao (廖), was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison, and ordered to pay compensation to the victim’s family. The Taoyuan District Court explained its ruling, saying that Liao (廖) fled after hitting a man surnamed Chen (陳), who was just about to open the door to his parked vehicle. Investigators said that Liao did not stop to report the accident, as required by law, but drove off and was flagged down an hour later by Taoyuan police, who gave him a breath alcohol test. The test found that Liao had a blood alcohol level of 0.51mg per liter (mg/L), above the legal limit of 0.15mg/L.    [FULL  STORY]

Why Hank from Tigertail looks so familiar Posted: 25 Apr 2020 11:58 AM PDT Looper Date: April 25, 2020 By: Mike Floorwalker Tigertail debuted on Netflix on April 10, 2020 to widespread acclaim. Written and directed by former Parks and Recreation scribe Alan Yang in his feature directorial debut, Tigertail tells a moving and deeply personal tale of the immigrant experience (Yang himself is the son of Taiwanese immigrants) that has resonated with viewers of all backgrounds. The film follows Pin-Jui (Hong-Chi Lee), an individualist young man who leaves behind his life (and love) in Taiwan to move to America in hopes of a better future. As Pin-Jui grows older (this version played in the film by Tzi Ma) — living in an arranged marriage to Zhenzhen (Fiona Fu) without true love or care, working a tedious job, and struggling to connect with his daughter Angela (Christine Ko) — he knows he must find himself again. In the past lies Pin-Jui's future — one he hopes will be filled with happiness. There are a few well-known faces among the cast of Tigertail, but one in particular is likely to be quite familiar — if perhaps a bit difficult to place. The character of Hank, Zhenzhen's new husband after she and Pin-Jui divorce, is a relatively minor one. However, if you've watched television in the last four decades or so, you've definitely seen the actor who plays him before.   [FULL  STORY]

Web over virus: Taiwan sommelier takes wine tasting online Posted: 25 Apr 2020 11:52 AM PDT Reuters Date: April 25, 2020 Peter Petrus, 37, a Taiwanese sommelier, conducts an online wine tasting class from his studio, during the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Taipei, Taiwan, April 24, 2020. . REUTERS/Ann Wang TAIPEI (Reuters) – A young Taiwanese sommelier is taking his wine tasting classes online to keep his business afloat, as social distancing rules to contain the spread of the new coronavirus prevents large gatherings. Live streaming from his studio in Taipei, Peter Petrus, the professional name he uses for his business, teaches the art of wine-tasting online to people across the island. The containment measures have had a big impact on business, Petrus told Reuters. “So I started contemplating if there might be a way to work around this situation – at the end of the day the company has to keep going.”    [FULL  STORY]