Read News 109.12.19 Global Focus and Trending Topics

December 19, 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, 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 December 19, 2020

• International and Social Focus
• Science and Technology
• Business and Investment
• Nature and Medicine
• Travel and Leisure

International and Social Focus

Major policy shift: Biden intends to negotiate with Maduro: US President-elect Biden intends to negotiate with Venezuelan President Maduro. If Maduro is willing to hold free and fair elections, the US could consider easing sanctions. US President Trump insisted that Maduro must give up power, while Biden has changed the US government’s position, not making this a precondition, taking an open attitude to increase the possibility of negotiation.

DPP blasts Lu Shiow-yen to step down; KMT says it’s Tsai and Su who should step down: The DPP caucus criticized Mayor Lu Shiow-yen for lying in the council chamber, deceiving the council and the citizens, and called on Lu to step down. In response, the Kuomintang said that Lu Shiow-yen’s opposition to ractopamine pork has been consistent — whether as a legislator back then or as mayor now, she has always prioritized people’s health. The fact that supermarkets show the country of origin on meat labels is the result of Lu’s demands in the Legislative Yuan. The DPP caucus’s out-of-context accusation of lying is truly ridiculous. DPP councilors keep saying that liars should step down, but the ones who should step down most are President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier Su Tseng-chang.

“Tough woman” Lu Shiow-yen, that was rude: Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen recently received AIT Director Brent Christensen and stated face-to-face Taichung’s opposition to ractopamine pork imports. The AIT also issued a rare statement, saying that politicians spreading false information among Taiwanese consumers and causing unfounded anxiety is unhelpful to everyone. In the back-and-forth, critics believed Lu Shiow-yen made a “political ambush,” breaching diplomatic etiquette; supporters cheered loudly, believing Lu Shiow-yen was courageous and insightful, daring to express public opinion.

Su Wei-shuo “investigated” by the Tsai government — Lin Cho-shui’s assessment, netizens sigh with one remark: Both Tsai and Ma were contradictory, and both drove the public hysterical without apologizing at all, being irresponsible — neither is the style a good national leader should have. The result is endless tit-for-tat between blue and green. (Editor’s note: Lin Cho-shui’s remark is unfair. Back then, ractopamine beef was already secretly imported during the Chen Shui-bian era; Ma Ying-jeou only discovered it after taking power, and set ractopamine beef dosage standards out of necessity.)

Correction bill compliant, KMT’s anti-ractopamine pork has a chance at a referendum next year: The Central Election Commission held a committee meeting today to review three national referendum proposals, resolving that the two referendum proposals “binding referendums to general elections” and “anti-ractopamine pork” comply with regulations and will be sent to household registration offices to verify the lists of proposers within 15 days, while one referendum proposal will be sent to the proposer’s lead proponent with a deadline for correction.

US Department of Defense urgently suspends power transition work with Biden: On the 23rd of last month, the US General Services Administration (GSA) sent a letter to the Biden team to start the power transition process, and the US Department of Defense immediately launched a power transition plan. However, on Friday, US Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller urgently ordered a full suspension of power transition cooperation with President-elect Biden.

Science and Technology

PlayStation Store delists “Cyberpunk 2077” and offers full refunds to digital players: Sony Interactive Entertainment Taiwan (SIET) today (the 18th) issued a refund announcement for the digital version of “Cyberpunk 2077,” stating that in an effort to achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction, it will begin offering full refunds to all players who purchased “Cyberpunk 2077” through the PlayStation Store and wish to apply for a refund. SIE will also remove “Cyberpunk 2077” from the PlayStation Store until further notice.

GoDaddy to acquire payment solutions provider Poynt for US$320 million: GoDaddy, which provides domain name registration and web hosting services, announced on the 15th that it has signed a merger agreement with payment solutions provider Poynt to acquire Poynt for US$320 million in cash. Poynt was founded in 2013, and its flagship product is the Poynt Smart Terminal, an Android-based, touchscreen-equipped smart card reader integrating financial services. It accepts magnetic stripe cards, chip cards, NFC, and barcode payments, also supports Google Pay and Apple Pay, and can connect to cash registers, printers, and barcode scanners, and also provides various management programs built by third parties. The terminal card reader device is priced at US$299, charging transaction fees ranging from 2.3% to 3.3% depending on needs such as in-store payment, online card payment, or virtual terminal.

**Fighting the cable TV cord-cutting trend, Taiwan Optical Platform Group allies with LINE TV