Read News 2020.10.24 Global Focus and Trending Topics

October 24, 2020 (ROC year 109), a daily real-time online roundup of trending global news topics, covering technology, life, travel, transportation, industry and finance, business, corporations, stocks, foreign exchange markets, investment, real estate, automobiles, breaking news, sports events, entertainment gossip, art, design, politics, society, Taiwan, mainland China, cross-strait relations, weather, natural disasters, current affairs, and many other aspects.

The “Read News” section collects the headline events and brief summaries of the most important key news from around the world that deserve your attention in recent days, revealing the trajectory of social trends through the flow of quickly listed news events.

Global Focus Topics on October 24, 2020

• International and Social Focus
• Technology and Information
• Business and Investment
• Science and Health
• Travel and Leisure

International and Social Focus

The Legislative Yuan passed the third reading of the “Relief 3.0” supplementary budget today. The originally listed funding required for the supplementary expenditure budget was NT$210 billion; the review result reduced it by NT$53 million, changing it to NT$209.947 billion, all to be covered by borrowing.

Chen Chih-yung, chairman of the Kaohsiung City Hakka Affairs Commission, was involved in a Government Procurement Act corruption case ten years ago. Today, Kaohsiung City Councilor Li Ya-ching posted on Facebook questioning that Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, who appointed him, showed poor judgment in choosing people. In response, Chen Chih-yung issued a statement that evening, admitting that he had not informed the mayor of this case, and decided to resign to take responsibility.

Before the license of “CTi News” expires at the end of the year, the National Communications Commission (NCC) will hold a license renewal hearing on the 26th, but it is widely rumored that the NCC has resolved to shut down CTi. The Kuomintang strongly opposes this, calling out to President Tsai Ing-wen to “not be held hostage by Premier Su Tseng-chang,” and saying she should learn from former President Chen Shui-bian. Lo Chih-chiang also announced that he would bring back the “Little Strong Bus.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China stated today that Vietnam has suffered several floods and storms since the end of last month, causing severe casualties and property losses. To assist the Vietnamese government in post-disaster reconstruction, our representative to Vietnam, Shih Jui-chi, donated US$400,000 to the Vietnamese government on behalf of our government today.

Technology and Information

Taipei Public Library public computers banned from playing games starting in October

Japanese adult-oriented computer games were once widely popular among players. Among them, “Doukyuusei,” produced by elf in 1992, can be called a hall-of-fame masterpiece. Unexpectedly, nearly 30 years later today, FANZA GAMES announced that it will release a brand-new PC game “Doukyuusei Remake” and released a related promotional film.

Google Stadia creative director Alex Hutchinson posted his views on the industry on Twitter today (the 23rd), saying that “game streamers should pay fees to game developers,” sparking an uproar in the community. Many streamers and game industry professionals joined the discussion.

A super popular Switch game combining AR reality, “Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit,” was released in October. Players can control a “physical remote-control car” in their own living room for a real, thrilling Mario Kart race! Optimistic about year-end gift demand and the home leisure and entertainment business opportunity, the e-commerce platform Youxian Entertainment publicly released a message that at 12:00 noon on 10/22, the Switch Nintendo console would be slashed to just $8,888, not only lower than the market price but also featuring a one-day delivery “buy today, arrive today” service. In addition to various game-related items, there are also quite a few board game party products for consumers to choose from.

Business and Investment

Well-known bubble tea operator Ching Shin Fu Chuan was involved in colluding with beverage cup supplier Dalong Company to have Dalong underreport cup business volume to reduce recycling fees, and to help Ching Shin procure beverage cups at low prices through this, evading more than NT$47.64 million in taxes. The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office indicted six people, including the heads of both parties, today.

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je gave a special report on policies including COVID-19 relief, cashless transactions, and elderly care. The city government has proposed relief measures for September to December, including first extending then reducing rent for those with tax registration, and halving the entertainment tax for 7 months. If businesses still cannot make it by the end of the year, they may need to consider changing industries.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gilead Sciences’ (GILD-US) remdesivir on the 22nd as a treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, making it the only fully approved COVID-19 drug in the US. Gilead’s stock surged more than 6% after hours.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with ASML CEO Peter Wennink and CTO Martin van den Brink on the 13th to discuss cooperation plans for developing next-generation semiconductor technology. It is reported that the two sides exchanged views not only on the supply plan for EUV equipment but also on cooperation in the development of future semiconductor technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Odd-lot trading begins next Monday (the 26th). Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Huang Tien-mu said at the Legislative Yuan yesterday (the 22nd) that three months after the implementation of odd-lot trading, it will study whether to provide tax reduction incentives for odd-lot trading, similar to the day-trading tax cut, to encourage small investors to participate in Taiwan stock investment.

Taiwan stocks fluctuated near the flat line today (the 22nd), with the highlight on the board being Tesla concept stocks. Benefiting from electric vehicle giant Tesla’s good third-quarter results and a nearly 4% after-hours rise, related Tesla concept stocks rose, including: Jentech (4551), Kang Sheng (1525), and TSC (5425), among others.

Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Huang Tien-mu confirmed during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan Finance Committee today (the 22nd) that in the first few days of the past week, cross-ministerial discussions on housing market cooling had indeed taken place with the National Development Council and others, but it is currently inconvenient to say whether it is appropriate to cool the housing market. However, once the policy decides to cool the housing market, the FSC’s policy tool will be to place individual cases under control for banks with excessively high concentration of housing loan credit.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently claimed that his Starlink project