Eye On Taiwan

Taitung wins national baseball event; will represent Taiwan in LLB Posted: 26 Apr 2020 12:25 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/26/2020 By: Hsieh Ching-wen and Joseph Yeh New Taipei, April 26 (CNA) A junior high school baseball team from Taitung County in southeastern Taiwan beat its rival from northern Taoyuan Sunday to win the county's first championship title in the Hsieh Kuo-cheng Cup for 21 years, gaining a berth to represent Taiwan in the Little League Baseball's (LLB's) Junior League Baseball Asia-Pacific Regional Tournament scheduled to be held in July. Taitung's Pei Nan Junior High School triumphed over Taoyuan's Hsin Ming Junior High School with a 3-1 score at New Taipei's Sanchong Baseball Stadium in a game that was played behind closed doors on account of fears over the COVID-19 coronavirus. The team's head coach, Huang Kuei-yu (黃貴裕), attributed the hard-earned victory to the joint efforts of the team's two left-handed pitchers, Huang Yu-yao (黃宇耀) and Huang Chin-hao (黃錦豪). Starting pitcher Huang Yu-yao gave up one run in five innings, with four strikeouts and four hits, while Huang Chin-hao, meanwhile, had two scoreless innings as a reliever, giving up one hit and no runs. [FULL  STORY]

Monkeys’ slugger hailed despite loss Posted: 26 Apr 2020 12:22 PM PDT Fubon FLOURISH: The Guardians hit three homers to edge out the CTBC Brothers 5-4 yesterday, with closer Chen Hung-wen chalking up a save in the final inning Taipei Times Date: Apr 27, 2020 By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter The Uni-President Lions’ Lin An-ko hits a solo home run during their game against the Rakuten Monkeys in Tainan yesterday. Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times Taiwanese and international sports media lauded slugger Chu Yu-hsien of the Rakuten Monkeys, dubbing him “the new Babe Ruth” and “the world’s home run king” after he blasted another shot out of the ballpark to bring his season total to eight in eight games, but their pitching woes continued as they lost two to the Uni-President Lions over the weekend. Although Rakuten’s first baseman has had hot hands to start the season, he cooled off somewhat last night, picking up only one hit in four at-bats as his team slumped to second straight defeat to the roaring Lions. The Monkeys on Friday had made history with their seventh consecutive win, breaking their own 2011 record of six wins to start a season, behind a pitching gem by starter Wang Yi-cheng in a 14-4 rout of the Lions in Tainan. However, the Lions have awoken from their early-season slumber, scoring 20 runs over the weekend against Rakuten pitching staff and winning 12-5 yesterday.    [FULL  STORY]

Fuel prices in Taiwan fall to lowest point in 20 years Posted: 26 Apr 2020 12:18 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date:\ 04/26/2020 By: Su Ssu-yun, Tsai Peng-min and Chiang Yi-ching CNA file photo Taipei, April 26 (CNA) Taiwan's two major fuel suppliers announced cuts Sunday to their diesel and gasoline prices this week, dropping domestic fuel prices to their lowest level in 20 years. Effective from midnight Sunday, the state-run petroleum refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan will cut its retail gasoline prices per liter by NT$0.9 (US$0.03) and NT$1.0 per liter for diesel, it said. After the adjustments, prices at CPC pumps will drop to their lowest levels since February 2000, with NT$16.1 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$17.6 per liter for 95 octane unleaded and NT$19.6 per liter for 98 octane unleaded, according to CPC data. For super diesel, retail prices will be lowered to NT$13 per liter, the lowest since November 1999, CPC said.    [FULL  STORY]

New mortgages hit record high Posted: 26 Apr 2020 12:15 PM PDT COMPETITIVE RATES: Interest rates from the five state-run banks last month fell to 1.5 percent, which the central bank attributed to competition among lenders Taipei Times Date: Apr 27, 2020 By: Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter New home mortgages from five major state-run banks last month reached the highest level for March, while the average interest rate on new housing loans hit a record low, central bank data released on Thursday showed. Total new mortgages granted by Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) increased 15.83 percent month-on-month and 15.5 percent year-on-year to NT$53.69 billion (US$1.78 billion) last month, the data showed. For the first quarter, total new mortgages extended by the banks amounted to NT$138.3 billion, down 16.6 percent from the previous quarter, but up 5.95 percent from a year earlier, the data showed. The increase in mortgages issued last month reflected recovering demand in the domestic housing market after the Lunar New Year holiday.    [FULL  STORY]

At least 5 killed in karaoke fire in Taipei Posted: 26 Apr 2020 12:11 PM PDT rthk.hk Date: 2020-04-26 Firefighters managed to put out the blaze in around half an hour. Photo: AFP At least five people were killed and dozens more hurt in a fire that tore through a karaoke parlour in Taipei on Sunday, in an incident that fire authorities say may have involved ‘gross negligence’. Reports say more than 50 people were hurt – two critically – and were rushed to hospital. Local media reports say the blaze started on the fifth floor of a 14-floor building on Linsen North Road, at a branch of the karaoke franchise Partyworld. The first nine floors of the building belong to the karaoke branch.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese pop star Show Lo’s co-host Linda Chien apologises to Lo’s ex-girlfriend Grace Chow Posted: 26 Apr 2020 12:01 PM PDT Straits Times Date: April 26, 2020 By: Jan Lee Linda Chien (left), who is a co-host with Show Lo (right) on variety programme 100% Entertainment, posted an apology online to Lo’s ex-girlfriend Grace Chow.PHOTOS: Taiwanese pop star Show Lo's ugly break-up with his influencer girlfriend Grace Chow, the most-talked-about scandal in the Chinese entertainment scene currently, has taken yet another turn. The rumoured third party between the couple, Linda Chien Kai-le, 36, one of Lo's co-hosts on long-running variety programme 100% Entertainment, has come out to apologise to Chow. Chien, also known as Butterfly Sister from her early stint as a children's programme presenter, posted the apology on Saturday night (April 25). "I would like to sincerely apologise to Miss Grace Chow here and to say sorry to all those who love me," she wrote. Chien's post is widely seen as an indirect confirmation that she was one of Lo's sexual partners outside of his relationship with Chow.    [FULL  STORY]

Tour scenic attractions in Dongshi, Taiwan Posted: 26 Apr 2020 11:54 AM PDT Dongshi District: a nice place to admire fireflies and lotus flowers Taiwan News Date: 2020/04/26 By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer (Taichung City Government photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Dongshi District (東勢區) in Taichung City, famous for producing fruits year round due to its climate, is also a nice place to admire fireflies and lotus flowers during summer. Dongshi, which can be reached via the Dongfeng Bicycle Green Way, has a lot to offer cooped up city dwellers during the COVID-19 pandemic.    [FULL  STORY]

Taitung to hold annular solar eclipse observation Posted: 26 Apr 2020 11:50 AM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/26/2020 By: Lee Hsien-feng and Evelyn Kao Taipei, April 26 (CNA) An annular solar eclipse will take place on this year's summer solstice on June 21, available to be seen in parts of Taiwan, with the Taitung County government planning to hold a public event for the eclipse that day. The astronomical phenomenon occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth, covering the sun's center and leaving the sun's visible outer rim, or corona, to form an annulus around the moon, according to Yang Yi-ching (楊義清), president of the Taitung Astronomical Association. The eclipse will start at about 2:51 p.m. and end at 5:26 p.m., with people in parts of Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung Nantou, Hualien and Taitung, as well as the outlying Penghu and Kinmen islands able to see 98 percent of the sun covered during the process, while those in other areas will only find the sun at around 94 percent dark, according to Yang. The spectacle will not occur again until 2070 in Taiwan, when the eclipse will pass through only parts of Pingtung.    [FULL  STORY]

Township mayor detained after probe in Kaohsiung Posted: 26 Apr 2020 11:47 AM PDT Taipei Times Date: Apr 27, 2020 By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter township mayor was detained after a massive operation in a probe into alleged graft and bid-rigging by public officials in Kaohsiung. Namasia Township (那瑪夏) Mayor Payan Islituan was detained, 28 people were questioned and two contractors were released on bail over the weekend after more than 100 investigators on Thursday searched 35 locations. Payan was detained pending charges over breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), leaking confidential information and other offenses in the Criminal Code, said Hsieh Chao-ching (謝肇晶), head prosecutor at the Ciaotou District (橋頭) Prosecutors’ Office. Four contractors allegedly paid NT$5 million (US$166,223) to secure bids on public projects, Hsieh said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan OFW to be deported for ‘nasty’ online posts against Duterte Posted: 26 Apr 2020 11:43 AM PDT Philippine Daily Inquirer Date: April 26, 2020 By:: Jovic Yee – Reporter MANILA, Philippines — For her “nasty and malevolent” posts against President Rodrigo Duterte, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) based in Taiwan will be deported to face charges of cyberlibel. According to Labor Attaché Fidel Macauyag, caregiver Elanel Ordidor will be flown back to the country because her Facebook posts against Duterte were intended “to cause hatred amid the global health crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.” When labor officials went to Ordidor’s workplace in Yunlin County on Monday to tell her of the charges she might face for her posts, she “committed to delete all her uploaded videos against the President and promised not to do it again,” Macauyag said. She also promised to issue a public apology, he added. “However, hours after the visit, several posts were seen on the Philippine Overseas Labor Office Taichung Facebook page from several fake accounts (supporting her) cause,” Macauyag said, adding that labor officials learned that the caregiver was using four other accounts and a group “to discredit and malign the President and destabilize the government.”    [FULL  STORY]