Business, tourism districts ghost towns, but supermarkets packed with crowds after epidemic warning raised to Level 3

composite image of Taipei 101 and people shopping in supermarket

May 16, 2021May 16, 2021 Phillip Charlier 1 Comment COVID-19, pandemic

People stayed away from normally crowded areas including Taipei City’s Xinyi District, and popular tourist hotspots such as Jiufen, but supermarkets in residential districts around Greater Taipei were crowded with people who waited in cues for up to an hour to stock up on such survival essentials as toilet paper and instant noodles, today, Saturday, May 15. The crowded supermarkets versus empty streets phenomena appeared after the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reported 180 new cases of COVID-19, leading to

overturned sand dredger in the Taiwan Strait

Marine and Fisheries

May 15, 2021May 15, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment marine search and rescue, sand-dredging, Taiwan Strait

Five people were plucked from the water, but one was later declared dead, and three more are missing after a Chinese sand dredger capsized around 60 nautical miles southwest of Qimei Island this morning, May 15. Taiwan Coast Guard Administration (TCGA) dispatched several patrol boats, and the National Airborne Service Corps sent a helicopter after a notification from the the National Rescue Command Center at 4:36 am. The rescued crew members were flown to the Chiayi Airport where they were

Business and Economy

May 14, 2021May 14, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment Kaohsiung City, legal

The owner of a high-end teppanyaki restaurant in Kaohsiung City won an appeal to the Supreme Court, effectively reducing her penalty to a commutable prison sentence of 5 months from a previous 1 year, 6 month sentence for the crime of passing off duck liver as genuine foie gras, yesterday, May 13. The legal saga began at lunchtime on September 19, 2016, when a man named Lu (盧) took his wife to the Cardial restaurant on Longde Road, Gushan District,

Business and Economy

May 13, 2021May 13, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment Ministry of Economic Affairs, power supply

Full power capacity should be restored by 9:40 pm, ending a series of blackouts around Taiwan, the Minister of Economic Affairs said at an emergency press conference this evening, May 13. The announcement was made after island-wide power rationing in the form of rolling blackouts plunged millions of households and businesses into darkness for up to one hour at a time from 3:00 pm this afternoon. The power rationing was implemented after a power grid accident at the Xingda (Hsinta)

Business and Economy

May 13, 2021May 13, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment power supply

An accident at the Kaohsiung City Xingda (Hsinta) thermal power plant caused island-wide rolling blackouts this afternoon, Thursday, May 13. Executive Yuan spokesperson Luo Bin-cheng said today (13) that the Xingda Power Plant has been shut down due to an accident and the power supply capacity of the system is insufficient. It is expected that the emergency rolling power outages will be implemented at 3 pm today. Taipower will do its best to repair it. And report to the public after finding

Costco supermarket empty shelves and crowds of shoppers

Business and Economy

May 13, 2021May 13, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment COVID-19, New Taipei City

People rushed to supermarkets this evening, Wednesday, May 12, to stock up on supplies of products such as instant noodles, toilet paper, and disinfectant alcohol after the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) raised the epidemic alert warning to Level 2, and the mayor of New Taipei City hinted that a city-wide lockdown could happen. CECC Director Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) told the media this morning that Taiwan could soon be under an epidemic warning Level 3, after 16 cases tested positive

Wu'er Kaixi and Brian Hioe at Snowball Community event, 2021.

International

May 12, 2021May 21, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment Chinese Communist Party

“China has successfully managed to use its market and its people as a hostage to blackmail the world,” Wu’er Kaixi, an ethnic Uyghur activist who took part in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, said at a Snowball Community event recently hosted in Taipei. “One of the reasons the Chinese regime has been able to play that game is that the world let them,” Wu’er Kaixi said, adding that this was the message he has been repeating for the last

Odd News

May 11, 2021May 11, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment aviation, fake news

An alleged case of a man with a jetpack flying over Taichung City that was widely reported in Taiwan’s local media today, May 11, turned out to be just a balloon. Most local media outlets reported the story this morning that a man was seen flying by jetpack over a densely-populated part of the city, after a video taken on May 5th went viral on social media platforms. Even English-language outlet Taiwan News reported the “mysterious man flying in the

Business and Economy

May 11, 2021May 11, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment made in china, made-in-taiwan, tech-industry

Taiwan-based PC maker GIGABYTE (TWSE:2376) issued an apology today, after facing criticism in China over statements made on its website which implied that computer components manufactured in China were of inferior quality to those made in Taiwan. The introduction to Gigabyte’s e-sports notebook series “Aero” claimed that Gigabyte implements strict quality control, manufacturing their notebook computers in Taiwan instead of China, where product quality is low. The comment drew the ire of Chinese Internet users on social media platforms such

suspect arrested and weapon composite picture

Violent Crimes

May 9, 2021May 9, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment armed-robbery, Keelung City

A retired police officer rescued an elderly female fruit vendor after a man attempting to rob her fruit stall held her down and stabbed her repeatedly with a screwdriver in Keelung City this morning, May 9. At around 6:00 am, Mr Chen, who is in his 60s and retired from the police force six years ago, was passing by the fruit vendor when he heard the 80-year-old woman, named Wu, screaming for help. Chen rushed to Ms Wu’s assistance, grabbing

Culture Environment

May 8, 2021May 9, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment indigenous people, invasive species, Orchid-Island

Ecologists are warning that yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes) have been found to be already established on Orchid Island, threatening a local species of land crab, and cultural workers say it could also affect important traditional customs of the indigenous Tao people. Professor Lin Chung-chi, an ecologist from the biology department at National Changhua Normal University recently led a team of students and researchers to the island, and found that the crazy ants are already established on the island. The

Business, tourism districts ghost towns, but supermarkets packed with crowds after epidemic warning raised to Level 3

Chinese sand dredger capsizes in Taiwan Strait, 4 rescued, 1 dead, 3 missing

Food scandal: Restaurateur who passed off duck liver for foie gras has prison sentence commuted

Full power should be restored by 9:40 pm: Ministry of Economic Affairs

Power plant shutdown leads to island-wide rolling blackouts

Supermarket shelves emptied of epidemic survival products as residents fear possible lockdown

How the west enables a tyrannical regime in China: a Uyghur exile speaks freely in Taiwan

Mystery “jetpack man” flying over Taichung City was just a balloon

Taiwanese PC maker Gigabyte apologizes for mocking quality of “Made in China” components

Retired cop rescues elderly woman being stabbed by man with a screwdriver

Invasive crazy ants threaten ecology, traditional customs on Orchid Island