Straits Times
Date: Nov 9, 2020
By: Jan Lee

On the first night of her Taipei concert on Friday (Nov 6), Mandopop singer Rainie Yang fell from a high stage.

She escaped with only slight injuries to her hands and legs, but her husband, Chinese singer-songwriter Li Ronghao, was clearly concerned.

Yang, 36, told audiences in a break between performances that she fell down early in the concert, after the lights dimmed when she had finished her rendition of her new song Bad Lady.

She said: "It's the first accident of my life in 20 years." The Taiwanese singer thanked a staff member who caught her in his arms as she fell.    [FULL  STORY]

Joe Biden chosen as 46th American president

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/08
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Joe Biden has won the U.S. presidential election with an insurmountable advantage over President Donald Trump in the state of Pennsylvania, thus providing him with enough electoral votes to break the threshold of 270.

Major U.S. news outlets, including CNN, AP, The New York Times, and even Fox News, are reporting that Biden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes. With 98 percent of the vote counted, Biden has garnered 3,345,724 votes to Trump's 3,311,310, an advantage of 34,414 votes.

Biden's win is history-making. At 77, he is the oldest man to be elected president, and his running mate Kamala Harris is the first female and person of color to serve as vice president. Biden has also gained a record number of votes with 74,847,834 and counting.

Despite the fact that he has earned 4,256,303 more votes than his Republican rival, he had to scratch and claw for them in a handful of swing states to win, thanks to America's byzantine electoral college system. The vote-counting process was brought to a crawl due to the fact that the election was held during the worst pandemic to strike the U.S. in over 100 years, which compelled many Democrats to vote by mail.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/08/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) Taipei Fubon Braves star player American forward Charles Garcia encouraged migrants in Taiwan, especially those from the Philippines who love basketball to follow their dreams.

Garcia was born in the United States to first generation migrants from the South American country of Belize. He told CNA Sunday that he hopes to give confidence to migrants playing basketball in Taiwan, especially when there are such great opportunities in the country.

Taiwan, renowned internationally for its swift and successful COVID-19 prevention work, is also home to almost 700,000 migrant workers, including over 151,000 from the Philippines who love basketball, with many playing in Filipino leagues across Taiwan.

"That's what I want to do when I'm playing basketball as well. I want to bring kids exposure, kids from the Philippines, you know. There is great talent from all over the world. You never know, those kids who came from the bottom might be something," Garcia said.    [FULL  STORY]

‘BUILT ON SCIENCE’: It is time to put away the harsh rhetoric, Joe Biden said, adding that he would set up a task force to develop a plan against the coronavirus

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 09, 2020
By: 1AP, WILMINGTON, Delaware

Joe Biden used his first national address as US president-elect to vow to heal a deeply divided nation, declaring it was time to “let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end” and reaching out to the millions of people who voted against him to say: “Let’s give each other a chance.”

His calls for reconciliation at a Saturday evening victory celebration came even as US President Donald Trump continued to argue that the election had been stolen from him, an indication that the divisive politics that have gripped the US over the past four years are far from over.

It also suggested that even as Biden seeks to build out a government during his transition to the presidency, Trump has little interest in helping him do so.

“For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment,” Biden said during a drive-in event in Wilmington, Delaware. “It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again.”    [FULL  STORY]

Straight
Date: November 7th, 2020
By: Andy Kang-I Chen

While many countries around the world are battling hard against coronavirus surge, Taiwan has achieved a record of 200 days without a single locally transmitted case.

Thanks to a rapid response and advance preparedness, Taiwan’s per-million cases and deaths are very low: 0.03 deaths per 100,000. Taiwan with a population of 23.5 million has just 568 infections and seven deaths.

Meanwhile, life and work have continued much as normal for the majority of people. For instance, Taiwan’s National Day celebration took place in Keelung City earlier in October with a crowd of about 12,000 people.

On October 31, approximately 130,000 people attended the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride in Taipei, making it the world’s biggest in-person LGBTQ celebration since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
[FULL  STORY]

AIER American Institute For Economic Research
Date: November 7, 2020
By: Amelia Janaskie 

In 2020, most countries in the world locked down their societies with the goal of controlling the Covid-19 pandemic. There were some outliers. Sweden, Belarus, Tanzania, and some US states deployed little in the way of “nonpharmaceutical interventions.” 

Another fascinating outlier – often cited as a case in which a government handled the pandemic the correct way – was Taiwan. Indeed, Taiwan presents an anomaly in the mitigation and overall handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In terms of stringency, Taiwan ranks among the lowest in the world, with fewer controls than Sweden and far lower than the U.S.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/07
By:  Central News Agency

A swam of hornets attacked about a dozen runners during the Taroko Gorge Marathon in the eastern county of Hualien on Saturday, leaving 2 hospitalized, but none of the injuries were life-threatening, the organizer said.

Chang Chih-chiang (張志強), who heads the Hualien County Marathon Road Running Association, said one of the athletes went into anaphylactic shock but has since regained consciousness and is being treated at Hualien Armed Forces General Hospital.

Another runner had an allergic reaction to the wasp stings and is currently being treated at a local hospital, Chang said, noting that the rest of the injured runners were seen by emergency workers at the scene and continued the marathon.

The incident happened at around 8:50 a.m., when staff members reported the hornet attack on a section of the Buluowan plateau, he explained, noting that the event otherwise proceeded as planned.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/07/2020
By: Wen Kuei-hsiang and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday honored doctors who have made major contributions to combating COVID-19, including the discoverer of a cluster infection in Taiwan's Navy and the inventor of a device to protect doctors from infection while intubating patients.

In remarks delivered to the annual convention of the Taiwan Medical Association (TMA), Tsai thanked Taiwan's doctors and nurses for their front-line work to control the virus and for leading the country's medical diplomacy efforts abroad.

She presented awards to three doctors selected by the TMA for their significant contributions to public health during the pandemic.

Among the recipients was TMA Deputy Secretary-General Lo Chun-hsuan (羅浚晅), who was honored for his work allocating personal protective equipment, including face masks, protective gowns and thermometers, to community clinics across the country after the pandemic began.
[FULL  STORY]

VIRTUAL MEETING: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has thanked multiple parties this week for their backing, although the WHO has stuck to its ‘no mandate’ response

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 08, 20202
By: Staff writer, with CNA and Reuters

The US Mission in Geneva on Friday urged WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to invite Taiwan to a major meeting that the body is to host next week, with the focus expected to be on the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We encourage the WHO to expand its efforts to offer Taiwan increased meaningful cooperation and collaboration with the organization, and this would be a needed step in that direction,” the mission said in a statement.

Washington has been deeply critical of the WHO and Tedros for its handling of the pandemic, saying it is too close to China.

It has said it might withdraw from the world health body.    [FULL  STORY]

President-elect Surangel Whipps Jr. promises stable relations with US and Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/06
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Businessman Surangel Whipps Jr. defeated Vice President Raynold Oilouch in Tuesday’s (Nov. 3) presidential elections in Palau, but the Pacific Island nation is expected to maintain its official diplomatic ties to Taiwan.

Whipps will succeed his brother-in-law, Tommy Remengesau, Jr., who narrowly defeated him in the previous election four years ago. The new head of state has promised tax reforms, a search for new sources of income, and stable relations with Taiwan and the United States, the Pacific Island Times reported.    [FULL  STORY]