EVA airliner tail strike on landing at Guam Airport

An EVA Air passenger aircraft’s tail made contact with the runway while landing at Guam International Airport this afternoon, August 14. EVA Air Flight BR20 departed from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport at 8:55 am this morning and landed in Guam at 3:53 pm local time. However, the tail of the Airbus A321-200 touched the runway upon landing, according to reports. The 146 passengers and 12 crew were all reported safe. However, the aircraft has been grounded for a thorough inspection.

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Taipower reveals new safety features after nuclear power plant emergency shutdown leaves operators red-faced

A group of legislators visited the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District yesterday, to learn how merely moving a chair caused a shutdown last month, and to review measures taken to ensure it won’t happen again. In an embarrassing comedy of errors that citizens on social media compared to something out of The Simpsons, Taiwan’s number two nuclear power plant went into emergency shutdown at 6:33 am, July 27, after an employee pushed a wheeled office

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Workers at Taiwanese factory in Vietnam knock down gates and leave after being locked in for COVID tests

Hundreds of workers at a Taiwanese-owned factory in Vietnam knocked down the steel gate and went home after being locked in for COVID screening after an employee tested positive, Saturday, July 10. While some reports paint a picture of workers panicking and fleeing in fear after hearing that one of their coworkers was infected, it appears that the workers actually knocked down the gates and went home after being sealed in for mandatory COVID testing at the end of a

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Unemployment at 8-year high; employment numbers see biggest drop in history thanks to pandemic restrictions

The economic effects of Taiwan’s Level 3 epidemic restrictions have been felt in the employment sector, with unemployment up, and employment numbers seeing biggest drop in history on a month by month basis, according to May data released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics today, July 6. The unemployment rate for May rose to 4.11%, up from 3.64% in April, marking the highest unemployment rate since 2013. The human resources survey data was collected between May 23 and

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Foxconn and Gogoro form strategic alliance for global e-scooter expansion

Foxconn parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry (TWSE: 2317) announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with electric vehicle manufacturer Gogoro to form an alliance on technology and production strategies to accelerate plans for Gogoro’s global expansion plans, today June 23. The cooperation agreement will allow Gogoro to use the world’s largest technology manufacturer and service provider, Hon Hai Technology Group’s high-tech manufacturing capabilities to enhance the capacity and scale of battery exchange technology and smart electric vehicle

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CAL vaccine delivery flight completely avoided flying over China and Chinese Flight Information Region

The first batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines arrived at Taoyuan International Airport this evening, and aircraft watchers noted that the flight path deviated significantly from the usual route, completely avoiding flying over Chinese airspace, Apple Daily reported today, May 28. Flight CI5556 landed at 5:00 pm after taking off from Dubai earlier in the day. Originally scheduled to land at 3:57 pm, the flight was delayed for around one hour in Dubai. Apple Daily suggested that the flight delay was

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Foreign residency permits automatically extended 30 days, unlimited during Level-3 and above epidemic alert

Foreigners in Taiwan whose residency permits are about to expire do not have to apply for an extension, as an automatic 30-day validity period has been implemented during the Level-3 epidemic restrictions, the National Immigration Agency announced today, May 28. The NIA stated that, based on the priority of epidemic prevention, and the safety and rights of foreign residents, for those whose residence permit validity is about to expire, the residence period will be automatically extended for 30 days, for

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Economics professor takes to Twitch to lecture 54 students, gains an audience of 17,000

As teachers from elementary school up turned to online media platforms to reach their students after classes were suspended this week, a professor of economics chose to deliver a lecture for his 54 students yesterday, May 19, and inadvertently managed to gain an audience of 17,000. The sudden announcement of school closures, and a switch to online classes starting with the Greater Taipei Region, Monday, and extended nationwide, Tuesday, left many teachers a little confused as to what platform to

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HSR, TRA to reduce train services during epidemic alert period as passenger numbers plummet

Taiwan’s High Speed Rail passenger numbers are down more than 71%, and Taiwan Railways passenger demand is down more than 65% as the nation goes into Level 3 epidemic alert, and train services will be reduced in response, HSR announced yesterday, and TRA announced today, May 19. HSR said that it would run 171 fewer services per week from May 21 to June 10, after daily passenger volume fell 71.08% over the daily average for March this year. TRA passenger

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Laptop sales surge, education department website crashes after nationwide school closure announced

Schools across Taiwan will be closed from tomorrow May 19 until May 28, the Ministry of Education announced today, leading to the MOE website crashing as concerned parents and students flooded onto the site seeking more information. The MOE made the decision a day after schools in Taipei City and New Taipei City announced city-wide school closures from today, May 18. Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung announced that all schools, including public and private kindergartens, elementary, junior and senior high

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Taiwan faces rolling power outages again today, May 17

Taipower informed consumers via a text message alert at 8:10 pm this evening that there was insufficient power in the national grid and areas will face rolling power outages from 8:50 pm. The insufficient supply is reported to have happened due to a coal-fired power unit at the Xingda (Hsinta) power plant being shut down at 12:54 pm due to a combustion management system module failure. Although the fault was repaired, and the power unit was restarted at 2:29 pm,

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