The fast-fashion chain opened 2 shops in 2015

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/01
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – United States-based fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 will close its last remaining store in Taiwan before the end of the month, reports said Friday.

The move will leave 58 people out of a job, less than four years after the company entered the highly competitive Taiwanese market, the Apple Daily reported.

The U.S. firm founded by a South Korean immigrant first opened a shop in June 2015 at the ATT 4 Fun shopping mall close to Taipei 101.

Just one month later, another three-floor store opened on the Taiwanese capital’s Zhongxiao East Road section 4, another popular shopping area.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/01
By: Lin Yu-lin and Elizabeth Hsu

Berlin, Feb. 28 (CNA) An e-scooter sharing service using Taiwan-made Gogoro electric scooters is expanding in Berlin, Paris and Madrid after its successful launch in Berlin in 2016, according to Coup, the service provider.

Five hundred more Gogoro scooters will join the Coup e-scooter fleets in those cities this year, raising the company’s network to 1,500 Gogoro e-scooters in Berlin, 2,200 in Paris and 1,350 in Madrid, said Coup CEO Bernd Schmaul on Thursday.

Under the expansion, Paris will have the highest concentration of Gogoro vehicles for Coup with 29 units available per square kilometer, followed by 19 in Madrid and 16 in Berlin, Schmaul said.

Berlin-headquartered Coup is a subsidiary of the Bosch Group, one of the world’s leading providers of parts and components for automobiles.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 28 February, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

Flowers from the genetically modified orchid display (picture from Council of Agriculture)
The 15th Taiwan International Orchid Show is set to open on Saturday in Tainan. The show is one of the top three orchid shows in the industry, attracting as many as 250,000 people.

Taiwan is one of the world’s major orchid producers and is known as the Orchid Kingdom. From January to September 2018, Taiwan exported US$140 million in orchids. The main destinations for those exports are the US, Japan, Vietnam and Holland.

This year’s theme is Orchid Land. The show will be held at the Tainan Orchid Plantation Park through March 11.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/27
By: Frances Huang

Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed flat Wednesday after late session buying boosted select

large cap stocks to help the broader market recoup most of its earlier losses, dealers said.

While the bellwether electronics sector remained sluggish, the financial sector, which had lagged behind in recent sessions, got a boost from bargain hunting to stabilize the market, they said.

The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), the Taiex, ended down 2.38 points, or 0.02 percent, at 10,389.17, after moving between 10,343.56 and 10,403.05. Turnover was NT$133.16 billion (US$4.32 billion).

The Taiex opened down 5.74 points but soon regained its footing to breach the 10,400-point mark early in the session before selling set in, especially in the tech sector, to push the Taiex into negative territory, dealers said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 27 February, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

Taiwan’s convenience stores are, well, convenient. They’re the places people go to take care of life’s most pressing issues: paying the bills, getting packages, booking tickets, and buying coffee.

The list of services these stores offer is impressive. Now, though, a few stores are rolling out a new service that puts even them into new territory.

For many busy Taiwanese people, the answer to the question “What’s for dinner?” is often “Something from the convenience store”.

Taiwan’s convenience stores are stocked with a bounty of frozen and ready-to-eat options, more than enough to make a meal of. But what about something fresh from the oven?    [FULL STORY]

The ambitious program seeks to provide satellite broadband to the world

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/02/27
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese technology businesses ought to be clambering to be a part of Elon

Musk’s ambitious new Starlink program, Business Next claims.

Musk’s aerospace manufacturing company SpaceX is currently recruiting global businesses to be a part of the supply chain for the Starlink low-Earth orbit satellite project. The venture provides Taiwanese tech firms with the perfect opportunity to flex their muscles in the international arena as part of a potentially groundbreaking project.

Starlink is the planned launch of satellites around the globe into a constellation that will provide everyone, everywhere with internet access. SpaceX needs to send 4,425 satellites into orbit to bring the idea to fruition, which will require a heavy amount of fuel, rockets and investment.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/27
By: Yu Hsiao-han and William Yen

Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) Rules governing the number of foreign workers allowed to be hired by local companies that shift their operations back to Taiwan from China are to be relaxed, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Wednesday.

To take advantage of the loosening of the rules, companies that relocate back to Taiwan from China will need to show that they have been affected by the trade dispute between the United States and China, have invested in China for over two years, and have incorporated smart technology into their production lines, the MOL said.

In addition, the companies will also need to meet the condition of belonging to the “five plus two” innovative industries plan, be in a key component industry that manufacture high value-added products or have their own brands with international marketing.
[FULL  STORY]