Taiwan-US military cooperation is deepening, with the Pentagon expected to station personnel at the Ministry of National Defense (MND), sources said.The NT$470 million (US$14.77 million) joint program is scheduled to run from this year through 2028, under which the Pentagon would dispatch representa
Toxic chemicals from discarded electronic devices may be threatening endangered dolphins and porpoises in the South China Sea, according to a recent scientific study. Liquid crystal monomers (LCMs), chemicals widely used in smartphones, televisions and computer screens, were detected in several mari
Speculation started to fly last month that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates running in the November elections wanted to keep their distance from party Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文). That some in the KMT were concerned that Cheng’s firm ideological adherence to the “one China principle” is no se
UNITED STATESCornell prosecutor replacedNew York Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday appointed a special prosecutor to oversee an investigation into a woman’s allegations that she was gang raped at a Cornell University fraternity house, saying she had lost faith in the local district attorney’s abilit
Moth swarms so thick they can blot out the stars are fluttering across Australia, heralding a migratory spectacle unseen since the creature’s brush with extinction nearly 10 years ago.The great migration of the Bogong moth was once a yearly feature of the Australian spring, the insects humming down
Egyptian authorities swept up the entire editorial team of one of the country’s few independent media, accusing them on Thursday of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.The arrest this week of the six journalists of Matsadaash (Arabic for “Don’t Believe”) sparked an outcry from international
A US lawmaker has called on Starbucks to close its first stores in Xinjiang, China, calling it a “morally bankrupt decision” to do business in a region where Uighurs face repression.China denies widespread accusations about abuses of the Uighurs, a mainly Muslim people, saying its policies there wer
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has pushed through a sweeping overhaul of the criminal justice system, stripping investigative powers from prosecutors he accuses of abusing their authority, including criminal cases against him before he took office.A revised law that came into force yesterday f
India’s “Cockroach” youth movement yesterday called for new protests in Mumbai to demand the resignation of the chief election commissioner over a contentious revision of voter lists.The movement, which began as an online campaign and now calls itself the Cockroach Janata Party, forced India’s educa
Vietnam’s Ngoc Tuyet Sang Chau, left, competes against South Korea’s An Hyang-sik in the mixed individual virtual taekwondo round of 16 during this year’s Asian Games at the Toyohashi Gymnasium in Japan yesterday. Virtual taekwondo made its sporting debut at the Games, which officials say is as athl
SOCCERMessi acquires EldenseArgentina icon Lionel Messi has officially acquired Eldense, the Spanish second-division club announced on Thursday. Eldense, based just in-land from Alicante, have become the former Barcelona attacker’s second venture into Spanish soccer ownership after his purchase of C
Kimi Antonelli would have to deal with an unfamiliar track and potentially heavy rain as he aims to recover from his “worst weekend” of his Formula 1 (F1) title challenge this year.The unusually named Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia takes Antonelli and his rivals to a track F1 last visited in 2017 —
The Nations League soccer match between Ireland and Austria in Dublin on Thursday was twice briefly interrupted by demonstrations in support of Palestine. In the 19th minute, spectators threw tennis balls covered in Palestinian flag stickers onto the field. The players left the pitch for a few minut
Manchester City are expected to press ahead with an appeal against findings that they breached Premier League financial rules by yesterday’s deadline, opening a fresh chapter in a case that has already become one of the most significant in English soccer.The club has consistently denied wrongdoing,
China’s Wang Xiyu, fresh from conquering top seed Alexandra Eala, toppled Zhang Shuai to win Asian Games women’s tennis singles gold yesterday — and a ticket to the Los Angeles Olympics.The 25-year-old Wang breezed past her compatriot 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in N
Japanese judo officials said they had never seen anything like it after eventual champion Rin Maeda appeared to be bitten by her Chinese opponent at the Asian Games.Maeda was awarded victory in the quarter-final bout in Nagoya when Tang Jing was disqualified just over a minute into the contest.Tang
The spectacle of young migrants swimming en masse from Moroccan waters to the Spanish exclave of Ceuta exposed the frustration felt by a generation. One-third of the population of Morocco is aged between 15 and 30, and more than one third of that cohort is unemployed. A dearth of opportunity at home
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has restored some hope to his governing Labour Party with his vision for Britain, but how the new prime minister makes it a reality remains something of a mystery for businesses, lawmakers and even his most vocal supporters.At the Labour Party’s annual conference
Ulf Kristersson’s Moderates, who have spent four years leading Sweden’s governing coalition, did what voters wanted. The center-right party got growth going: It is expected to be 2.5 percent for this year and next year, remarkable for a European nation. Inflation is 0.3 percent, and — of greater imp
A teacher who is truly happy and supported in their work does not need extra fanfare and check ins — “are you happy?” — on Teachers’ Day. If they already enjoyed respect and trust in the day-to-day, they also would not need the minister of education to send a letter of thanks on the eve of the holid
China prefers to win without firing a shot in its bid to strangle Taiwan’s strategic autonomy. Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (孫子) would have approved. Its central tool at sea is the “cabbage strategy”: the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) layers fishing boats, maritime militia, coa
Amid nationwide teacher shortages, elementary and junior-high schools across Taiwan have managed to get through the first month of the school year relatively smoothly.However, many schools are seeing the first waves of resignations from substitute teachers they painstakingly recruited over the summe
The government yesterday began fully subsidizing an additional six days of paid marriage leave, extending it from eight days to 14.The Ministry of Labor’s Guidelines for Wage Subsidies for Marriage, Maternity and Paternity Leave under the Family-Friendly Workplace Program (友善育兒職場婚孕產假薪資補助要點) are part
Amazon.com Inc is exploring a deal to shift about US$8 billion worth of top-end Nvidia Corp chips off its balance sheet, according to the Financial Times.The move would offload thousands of Grace Blackwell chips across more than a dozen US data centers into a special-purpose vehicle which would be f
Taiwanese companies with overseas operations can use Citigroup Inc’s digital payment service to move funds between eligible Citi accounts around the clock, helping them manage cash across different time zones without being constrained by conventional banking hours, Citi Taiwan executives said yester
ChatGPT maker OpenAI said on Thursday that it has fired three researchers for allegedly mishandling “sensitive information” and violating company policies, including work that involved an external organization that evaluates artificial intelligence models.The San Francisco-based AI lab did not confi
A Chinese financing company owned by several local government entities has funded the purchase of restricted Nvidia Corp chips, according to documents filed with Beijing regulators, suggesting state support for an illicit trade that Washington worries is fueling China’s artificial intelligence (AI)
Taiwan’s manufacturing sector flashed a “green” light, indicating stable growth, in August, retreating from “yellow-red” in July, as old-economy industries faced weaker end-user demand, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) said on Friday.The August TIER composite index, which gauges
The US military is planning to deploy an advanced anti-ship missile system to a Japanese island close to Taiwan for the first time during a major training exercise later this month.The Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System is slated to be moved to the island of Yonaguni during the bilat
The Fubon Guardians yesterday said Taiwanese actor Nicky Wu (吳奇隆) canceled his ceremonial first pitch for the team this weekend due to a health issue.The baseball team’s announcement came a day after Wu posted a video on Sina Weibo of himself waving the People’s Republic of China flag in Beijing on
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said this year’s Double Ten National Day celebrations would feature a wide range of programs showcasing the diversity, vitality and unity of Taiwanese society.Han, chairman of the National Day Preparatory Committee, made the remarks at a news conference
Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) yesterday praised a Taiwan-made robotic dog and emphasized the importance of integrating traditional and emerging industries to drive defense and dual-use innovation.Hsiao made the remarks while touring the Taichung Smart and Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing S
A domestically developed system combining artificial intelligence (AI)-powered autonomous navigation and federated learning has completed autonomous patrol tests using a medium to large-sized uncrewed surface vessel, the Ocean Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it would help protect sensiti
F-16C/D Block 70 jets remain relevant in modern warfare even as drones are playing an increasingly prominent role, an expert said, citing their ability to conduct combat air patrols (CAPs) and threaten conventional surface warships, including Chinese aircraft carriers deployed in waters off Taiwan’s
The donation of offshore patrol vessel Kinmen to the Philippines includes provisions that protect Taiwanese fishers and facilitate security cooperation across the First Island Chain, officials said yesterday.The comment was made during the Cabinet’s comprehensive administrative report at the legisla
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it expelled two Chinese fishing boats that had entered Taiwan’s prohibited waters near Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島).At about 11am on Thursday, an unidentified boat was detected about 15.5 nautical miles northeast of Pratas Island, or 5.5
Workers at snack maker Kuai Kuai Co’s only production facility in Taiwan voted yesterday to continue their strike indefinitely following a one-day strike, as a dispute over the plant’s relocation and related labor arrangements remained unresolved.Around 130 members of the Kuai Kuai union, which
Labor funds administered by the Ministry of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Funds totaled an aggregate gain of NT$366.7 billion (US$11.5 billion) in August, the fifth-largest monthly gain on record.The sizeable gain was driven by a global stock market rebound in August after tech shares struggled in July du
The Railway Bureau has dismissed a suggestion that the new high-speed trains could be put into service ahead of schedule to ease capacity constraints, saying that the trains must pass all required tests before they can enter service.The first of 12 newly acquired high-speed trains arrived in Taiwan
Taipei prosecutors yesterday indicted two people on charges of fraud, alleging that they used Chinese tea seeds to produce camellia oil that was falsely labeled as being entirely made from Taiwanese tea seeds.The two were Chen Chung Hsiu-hui (陳鐘秀惠), a business manager at Taipei-based Dynas Internati
Marking its centennial yesterday, the Chinese Taipei Alpine Association (CTAA) issued a white paper on government policy, and called for Cabinet-level coordination mechanisms and amendments to policy gaps.The white paper, titled Mountain Taiwan White Paper (台灣國家山域治理政策白皮書), cited Control Yuan statist
Heat management is the priority in climate adaptation globally, Deputy Minister of Environment Hsieh Yein-rui (謝燕儒) said yesterday, adding that the Ministry of Environment would assist other central agencies in identifying heat adaptation issues.Hsieh made the remarks at a public hearing on the draf
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday threatened unspecified measures against Ukraine unless Kyiv acknowledged a confidentiality agreement that Seoul says covered the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers and issued an apology.“If the refusal to acknowledge the facts and issue a pu
Chinese construction of a runway on Antelope Reef (Lingyang Reef, 羚羊礁) in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), is well under way with analysts estimating it could be completed by the middle of next year, strengthening Beijing’s military control over the disputed South China Sea.Satellite image
Taiwanese Olympic champion Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) yesterday won her second consecutive Asian Games boxing gold, defeating her Chinese opponent in the women’s 60kg final.Lin beat Yang Chengyu (楊成宇) by a unanimous 5-0 decision at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, adding the 60kg title to her 57kg gold from Han
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday announced amendments to the Regulations Governing the Allocation and Use of Road Traffic Fines (道路交通違規罰鍰收入分配及運用辦法) that would increase the proportion of revenue from traffic fines used to improve traffic safety and enforcement from “
Taiwan yesterday took delivery of the first two of 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US after years of delays, helping to strengthen an air force that has to scramble almost daily to shadow China’s military.The aircraft, bearing tail numbers 6727 and 6728, landed at Chihhang Air Base in Tait
A: In addition to the TOEIC Listening and Reading Test, some institutions also require staff to take the computer-based TOEIC Speaking and Writing Tests. B: I didn’t know that there are oral and written tests. What does the oral exam cover?A: The categories include: Read a text aloud, Describe a pi
In Dr Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham, the relentlessly upbeat Sam-I-Am spends the entire book badgering a grouchy, nameless narrator into tasting the eponymous dish. He cycles through one inventive but futile pitch after another — in a house, with a mouse, in a box, with a fox, on a train, in the rain —
Just as the fate of the world hangs in the balance in Digger, Alejandro G. Inarritu’s over-the-top, climate-disaster satire teeters on the brink.It’s an audacious plate-spinning act, juggling exaggerated farce, sober anxieties and an oil-mad Tom Cruise. Inarritu, an art-house showman, has always del
Van Gogh once said that he would starve himself to spend time with Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride. “I should be happy to give 10 years of my life if I could go on sitting here in front of this picture for a fortnight, with only a crust of dry bread for food,” van Gogh said.The quote can be found at “O
Fangyuan Township (芳苑) in Changhua County is a quiet, unassuming setting, known for its wetlands, eco tours and trained sea-ox that transport the oyster harvest in carts. Topographically speaking, it’s also enormously diverse, boasting a proud tradition of aquaculture and an ecologically rich coastl
Work to set up migrant return hubs outside the EU is progressing “very well,” Denmark said yesterday as the bloc’s home affairs ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss further ways to boost deportations.Denmark — along with Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands — has been exploring options to
Latvians vote tomorrow in an election dominated by the threat from Russia, and despite progress made by populist and protest parties, they are expected to confirm the country’s pro-European and pro-Ukrainian course.The Baltic state is a key pillar of NATO’s eastern defensive flank, and experts said
In a soggy field between Amsterdam and The Hague, farmer Sander Roeleveld plows a small white combine harvester into his crops, gathering a grain never before harvested in the Netherlands: rice.The surroundings could scarcely be more Dutch. Canals criss-cross polders lying two meters below sea level
The winner of this year’s Fat Bear Week has been crowned after a nail-biting final — and it’s the son of a former champion.Backpack, a 20-year-old male beloved by rangers in Alaska for his quiet determination, edged out female fellow finalist Dancing Queen in the annual ursine eating competition at
