The US remained the largest debtor of Taiwanese banks for the 44th consecutive quarter at the end of June, with its share of Taiwanese banks’ total exposure surpassing 30 percent for the first time, the central bank said on Friday.Taiwanese banks’ exposure to the US on an immediate counterparty basi
Civic groups yesterday protested what they called the police’s excessively forceful raid on a Taipei gay bar on Saturday, calling on police to apologize, protect marginalized groups and stop stigmatizing LGBTQ culture. Police from Taipei’s Wanhua Precinct on Saturday afternoon raided the bar Command
The most bothersome aspect of the warning that artificial intelligence (AI) could wipe out humanity is that there are few details about how a rogue computer model could actually accomplish it. The top scenarios, and it is by no means an exhaustive list, involve nuclear missiles, biological weapons a
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
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
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
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
Alexandra Eala’s hopes of a maiden Asian Games gold medal and qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics were crushed yesterday as China’s unheralded Wang Xiyu rallied to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over the Filipina top seed.Eala, the Southeast Asian nation’s first WTA title winner and a fan favorite
Vice Admiral Yuan Sheng-hua (原聖華) yesterday became the first navy officer to be appointed a deputy director-general of the Coast Guard Administration (CGA), tasked with improving coordination between the navy and the agency amid intensifying maritime pressure from China.No active-duty navy officer h
Japan has started its first nationwide survey of animal cafes amid concerns over animal welfare, hygiene and public health, a government official said, bringing greater scrutiny to the popular but lightly regulated sector. The desktop survey, which began this month, will examine the number of facili
Detectives were sifting leads yesterday after a massive drug heist in Fiji, searching for dozens of cocaine parcels swiped from an evidence vault and replaced with baking flour. Better known for stunning beaches that draw tourists in droves, the South Pacific nation has become an unlikely stopover f
Japanese volleyball player Rui Takahashi yesterday came out as gay, saying that he wanted to help others struggling with their sexuality in a country where openly LGBTQ athletes are extremely rare. The 26-year-old Takahashi, who plays in the top division of Japan’s professional volleyball league, po
Among the world’s top fuel-consuming nations, Japan is the most energy insecure. Its import-dependency ratios are scary: It buys overseas 99.9 percent of the oil it needs; 99.7 percent of the coal; and 97.8 percent of the natural gas. So Tokyo springs into action after every major energy shock to re
The most important lesson for Taiwan from last week’s summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) is not found in any formal agreement. It is in the way Taiwan was treated — as an issue to be managed between Washington and Beijing.Xi pressed Trump to adhere to what C
