Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/12/2021
By: Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Jan. 12 (CNA) The Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) will feature the winning entries from the European Union Prize for Literature and the 2020 Bologna Children's Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition, when it opens later this month, the organizers said Tuesday.

The winning artworks from the Italian children's book fair will be displayed live for the first time, since it was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Page Tsou (鄒駿昇), the designer of the illustrators' booth at the Taipei exhibition.

A total of 171 illustrations by 76 artists of 24 nationalities, including six Taiwanese, will be on display at a special booth, Tsou said at a press conference.

"Many of the artworks to be displayed are very soothing, so if people get tired of reading books, they can come to our booth for a change of pace," he said, with a laugh.   [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 13, 2021
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

PANDEMIC PRECAUTION: Demand for hotel rooms for quarantine is expected to be strained further when a ‘one person, one room’ policy is implemented on Friday

The Tourism Bureau is renting hotel rooms for the short term to increase the supply of rooms available to people who need to undergo quarantine after returning from overseas for the Lunar New Year holiday.

The availability of quarantine hotel rooms has come under scrutiny as Taiwanese returning home for the biggest holiday of the year have had trouble booking a room at a quarantine hotel.

Demand is expected to be strained further when the Ministry of Health and Welfare enforces a “one person, one room” quarantine policy on Friday.    [FULL  STORY]

Joint battalions from Army's 269th Brigade deploy for live fire drills

Taiwan News
Date: 2021/01/077
By: Kelvin Chen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Army on Thursday (Jan. 7) continued its Lienyung exercise (聯勇操演), which was launched in Pingtung the day before.

The Army’s 269th mechanized infantry brigade put its newly formed joint battalions to the test, deploying snipers, armored vehicles, attack helicopters, and shooting live ammunition.

In order to strengthen the combat capability of the military, the 269th brigade kicked off its annual Lienyung drills at the Armed Forces Joint Operations Training Base Command in Pingtung to assess its combat capabilities. Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Qiu Shu-hua (丘樹華) oversaw the drills, Military News Agency reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/07/2021
By: Chang Jung-hsiang, Yang Sz-ruei and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Jan. 7 (CNA) Eight adults and 14 children were hospitalized on Thursday after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning at a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) swimming pool in Tainan, southern Taiwan.

The city's Fire Bureau sent officers and ambulances to the pool at about 5 p.m., after receiving reports that many patrons were feeling unwell, light headed or had vomited.

A carbon monoxide detector showed that the level of the toxic gas in the basement heated swimming pool was 499 parts per million (ppm), far higher than average indoor levels of 0.5 to 5 ppm.

A carbon monoxide detector shows that the level of the gas was 499 ppm. Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Government's Fire Bureau

The 22 people affected by the gas were taken to five different hospitals in Tainan, and are all in stable condition, according to the bureau.
[FULL  STORY]

‘BAD BEHAVIOR’: A woman who ordered the meal that led to the disagreement told police that an argument over her address was no reason to resort to violence

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 08, 2021
By: Liao Hsueh-ju / Staff reporter

Hsinchu County police were yesterday investigating a brawl in Jhubei City (竹北市), involving two food delivery drivers over a dispute with a security guard.

The incident allegedly started on Wednesday afternoon, when an Uber Eats driver, surnamed Hsu (徐), got into an argument with a security guard, surnamed Liu (劉), while delivering to a residential building, a police official said.

“Initial information indicated that the Uber Eats driver did not have detailed address information for a customer in the building who ordered the meal, so the security guard could not pass on the order. The Uber Eats driver then became angry and threatened to throw the meal at the building’s entrance, and they started to argue, leading to an altercation,” said Hu Tsung-wei (胡淙惟), head of Jhubei’s Lioujia District (六家) police station.

“Hsu then used a messaging app to contact two friends, one of whom is a delivery driver for Foodpanda. When they arrived to help their friend, it further escalated into a brawl,” Hu said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 04 January, 2021
By: John Van Trieste

Premier Su Tseng-chang says that all imported pork will now be subject to rigorous inspections by multiple government agencies. That’s as Taiwan begins allowing in US pork containing the additive ractopamine.

The move to allow the import of ractopamine-treated pork has removed a major stumbling block in US-Taiwan trade ties. However, it has proved controversial, with many in Taiwan concerned about the additive’s safety for human consumption.

On Monday, Su led a delegation of Cabinet ministers to the Port of Taipei to get an overview of the toughened inspection process for imported pork.

Pork importers will need to submit applications to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine and the Food and Drug Administration.   [FULL  STORY]

Food Panda severs ties with Fu Wang Duck after manager threatens driver for complaining about slow service

Taiwan News
Date: 2021/01/04
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(acebook, Baoyuan Commune screenshot)[/caption] TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Food Panda on Monday announced that it has severed ties with a duck restaurant after an employee there was captured on camera verbally abusing and threatening physical violence against a delivery driver in central Taiwan.

On Saturday (Jan. 2), video surfaced on the Facebook group Baoyuan Commune (爆怨公社) showing an employee of Fu Wang Duck Specialty Shop (富王鴨肉專門店) in Taichung's Beitun District ignore a Food Panda driver for nearly 20 minutes before berating her and threatening to assault her after she complained about the restaurant's slow service.

The incident prompted many netizens to pile complaints onto the eatery's Facebook page and post scathing 1-star reviews on Google.

In the caption for the video, the female Food Panda driver wrote that she had already waited for 10 minutes to pick up an order. When the video begins, at the 11:14 mark, she can be heard telling restaurant employees that she is No. 26. At 11:22, she asks a staff member when the order will be ready and is told that she will need to wait approximately 10 more minutes.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/04/2021
By Yang Su-min, Chen Chun-hua,
Liang Pei-chi and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) Taiwan's government on Monday began publishing data on the volume of domestic pork on the market and the amount of pork Taiwan imported the previous day, although no imported pork has been recorded so far.

The data is being published on a new government website, and comes as Taiwan opens its market to imports of American pork containing residue of the livestock drug ractopamine.

The controversial policy has been widely seen as an effort by the government to satisfy persistent U.S. demands that Taiwan open its market to meat containing traces of ractopamine before there can be negotiations on a bilateral trade deal.

Currently, the website is only available in Chinese. It is updated on regular workdays at 11 a.m. and shows data collected from the previous day.    [FULL  STORY]

BIG BROTHER? While dozens of people under self-health management were found near Taipei’s New Year’s event, Ann Kao said rules must be set for personal data use

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 05, 2021
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The government should evaluate the standards for obtaining personal data for COVID-19 prevention after the pandemic ends to allay privacy concerns, Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Ann Kao (高虹安) said yesterday.

Kao made the remark during an interview with radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) in response to public concerns about the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) “electronic fence 2.0” system that was launched last week.

The system is intended to detect people who attend major public events while under self-health management orders.

The CECC on Dec. 22 announced that people under self-health management are banned from large events, and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the system would be used to find people who contravene those rules.    [FULL  STORY]