09.21.111 "Read the News" — A Quick Overview of the Day's Focus Issues

September 21, ROC Year 111 (2022 AD): a daily real-time online roundup of hot focus topics from global news events, covering technology, life, travel, transportation, industry and finance, business, companies and enterprises, stocks, foreign exchange markets, investment, real estate, automobiles, real-time news, art, design, politics, society, Taiwan, mainland China, cross-strait relations, weather, natural disasters, current affairs, and many other dimensions of intelligence.

The “Read the 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, letting you see the real-time context of society through the flow of news events listed quickly one by one.

Focus Issues of September 21, 2022

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

International and Social Events

A magnitude 6.8 strong earthquake struck Taitung on the 18th, causing the ceiling of the multi-purpose court on the 5th floor of the Bade Sports Center in Taoyuan to collapse, drawing widespread criticism. In response, the turnkey contractor responsible for the project, “Ruizhu Construction,” came forward to explain that it had immediately begun the safest and most efficient restoration work, and that it would absolutely humbly accept and not shirk responsibility for this matter.

Mirror TV, which was previously reported to have had DPP high-level involvement during the licensing process, has recently been reported to be about to push out TVBS News and take over channel 55 on cable television. Since Mirror TV has faced a serious financial hole since its launch, the third-largest cable system operators TBC and Dafeng, on the eve of the election, actually planned to replace TVBS with Mirror TV on the grounds that “licensing fees could not be agreed upon” — a move that caused an uproar in the industry.

The uniform invoice for the July-August period this year will be drawn on the 25th. The Ministry of Finance today (20th) announced the number of unclaimed uniform invoices for the May-June period. There are still five unclaimed NT$10 million special prize winners, among which the lowest-spending one was a purchase of a chocolate roll for only 15 yuan at a FamilyMart Zhixue store in Zhongshan District, Taipei. There is still one unclaimed NT$2 million grand prize, with a spending amount of 799 yuan, issued by Shopee.

The Russia-Ukraine war has been going on for more than 200 days, and the front line remains deadlocked. However, recently Ukraine has repeatedly announced the recapture of lost territory, and the situation seems to have turned. The four pro-Russian regions of Ukraine announced around today (20th) that they would hold referendums on “joining Russia,” and even called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to incorporate them into Russian territory.

Science and Technology

Regarding the ransomware that is causing increasing losses worldwide, on the 15th, from the domestic victim situation compiled by Japan’s National Police Agency, it was learned that in the first half of 2022 (January to June), reports were received from 30 prefectures totaling 114 cases, an increase of 87% over the same period last year (61 cases), continuing to rise since the half-year statistics began in the second half of 2020.

The global e-paper industry is booming along with digitalization and ESG sustainable development trends. Based on the advantages of e-paper’s power saving and low carbon, products such as e-paper tablets, electronic shelf labels, and e-notebooks are rapidly penetrating consumer and commercial markets. According to market research estimates, the global e-paper market size this year is about 4.65 billion US dollars, an annual increase of 48.1%.

Business and Investment

The Financial Supervisory Commission today (20th) formally approved Fubon Financial Holding’s (2881) cash-based merger of Jih Sun Financial Holding (5820). Fubon Financial is the surviving financial holding company, and Jih Sun Financial will be delisted and become the extinguished company. Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Lin Chih-chi said the company originally planned to complete the formal merger within 2 months after approval, meaning the merger record date could be set as early as late November. After nearly two years, Fubon Financial has finally set a record as the first “financial-financial merger” in Taiwan’s financial history!

Nature and Medicine

The rare blood clot side effect after AZ injection may be related to the vaccine. The possible mechanism is a special constitutional reaction: after vaccination, antibodies are produced against platelets, causing blood coagulation and forming blood clots. This is different from the causes of coronary artery thrombosis or cerebrovascular thrombosis.

According to data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), total protein intake is not correlated with high uric acid. It also separately explored the relationship between three factors — eating meat, eating seafood, and eating high protein — and high uric acid. It finally found that high uric acid is related to eating meat but the relationship is not great; the relationship with eating seafood is even smaller; and eating high protein is unrelated to it.

Travel and Leisure

A man surnamed Hsu in Kaohsiung took his medium-sized black mixed-breed dog out for a walk. During the walk, the mixed-breed ran across the road and was hit by a motorcyclist surnamed Wu. The mixed-breed was tragically dragged, and Wu fell off his motorcycle and suffered multiple bruises and fractures. Wu afterward accused Hsu of not using a leash and letting the dog run in the traffic lane, causing the accident. However, after examining the surveillance footage, the judge found that the mixed-breed walked on the crosswalk from beginning to end and did not run a red light, holding that the owner did not let the pet obstruct traffic, and acquitted him. The case can still be appealed.

According to a report by the foreign media THE SUN, a major rescue operation was launched after a whale capsized a boat near Kaikoura off the South Island of New Zealand. Initially, officials announced that all 11 passengers had fallen into the icy sea, 2 passengers died in the water, and 3 were missing.