Wed, Apr 24, 2024
The US Senate on Tuesday approved US$95 billion in aid to Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel, with the package of bills containing the funding expected to be signed into law after press time last night.The Senate passed the bills in a 79-18 vote after the US House of Representatives on Saturday approved the
A total of 41 US military personnel were stationed in Taiwan as of December last year, a US congressional report said on Friday last week ahead of Tuesday’s passage of an aid package that included US$8 billion for Taiwan.The Congressional Research Service in a report titled Taiwan Defense Issues for
‘URGENT NEED’: To meet its personnel needs and process cases that are in a backlog, 5,536 new judges, clerks and other staff would have to be hired, the Judicial Yuan said The Judicial Yuan yesterday said it has proposed amendments to the Court Organization Act (法院組織法) and other laws in a bid to hire more judicial staff and tackle the issue of overwork.Case numbers have risen significantly in the past few years, which has led to judges, clerks and other staff being ov
A high-school student who designed an app that sends earthquake alerts more readily than the Central Weather Administration (CWA) is facing bandwidth issues after a surge in downloads as wary Taiwanese endure aftershocks from a major quake on April 3.The app (台灣地震速報), which is free on Apple’s App St
Indonesia’s electoral commission yesterday formally declared Prabowo Subianto president-elect in a ceremony, after the country’s highest court rejected challenges to his landslide victory lodged by two losing presidential candidates.Subianto, who is minister of defense, won the election with 58.6 pe
The US Congress late on Tuesday gave final approval to a US$95 billion aid package for Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel, with US President Joe Biden quickly vowing to sign the long-delayed bill and begin delivering fresh supplies this week to Ukraine.The bill includes US$8 billion in military support for
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday.Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, mo
NOROVIRUS: The FDA alerted the public to the spread of norovirus infections, which is very contagious and primarily transmitted through the fecal-oral route The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that as of yesterday, it had received 58 reports of suspected adverse reactions after taking supplements produced by Japanese drugmaker Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co that contained red yeast rice, but its investigation of 54 cases had found no link between c
The first Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Device Onboard (FDO) seminar, hosted by Academia Sinica, was held yesterday in Taipei, highlighting Taiwan’s status as a hub for the global tech supply chain.Taiwan’s promotion of “information security equates to national security” aligns with the prevalence of
CALL FOR HELP: The military has only 400 counselors who specialize in counseling, social work or psychology for military personnel, a legislator said Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) yesterday called suicides in the military “regrettable” and pledged to increase the number of military counselors to prevent further incidents.Chiu’s pledge came as local media reported 16 cases of suicides or attempted suicides in the military this
NO INVITATION: Health minister Hsueh Jui-yuan said Chiu Tai-yuan would lead a group to Geneva, and urged the WHO to consider what Taiwan can offer the global community Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said his ministry has not received an invitation to attend the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) from May 27 to June 1, but Taiwan’s delegation to Geneva, Switzerland, would be led by the new health minister, who is to take office on May 20.Before
A bill that would shorten the time required for foreign “high-level professionals” to apply for naturalization passed committee review at the legislature yesterday.The Internal Administration Committee approved the amendment to the Nationality Act (國籍法) after hearing reports from the Ministry of the
Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) yesterday offered his reassurances after a local military expert said that Chinese warplanes are inching closer to Taiwan and could reach the Presidential Office in Taipei within minutes.The warning by retired air force lieutenant general Chang Yen-t
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday clashed over the death penalty a day after the Constitutional Court heard oral arguments about its constitutionality.The Constitutional Court is reviewing a case to abolish capital punishment brought by 37 inm
Animal testing can be reduced by 60 percent on average due to alternative testing methods developed by Taiwanese researchers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) said yesterday.Animal testing is often necessary to ensure the safety of pharmaceuticals, pestici
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday urged the Ministry of Health and Welfare to lower to 40 the age at which women can participate in the national breast cancer screening program and related services.At a news conference at the legislature, the lawmakers said the latest ministry
IMPROVEMENT EXPECTED: The company holds a cautiously optimistic view about this year, an official said, adding that an increase in wafer shipments is predicted United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday reported its weakest quarterly net profit in three years, which it attributed to a prolonged inventory correction.However, the company said it expects wafer shipments to grow about 3 percent this quarter as inventories in the communications and comput
The nation’s securities account balance, a gauge of retail investors’ confidence in local equities, rose to its highest level last month, as the TAIEX rallied 1,327.68 points, or 7 percent, data released by the central bank showed yesterday.The securities account balance increased for a second conse
The potential of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is “infinite” and it is therefore hard to estimate what its market value could rise to, evidenced by the huge range of predictions — US$200 billion to US$7 trillion — made by various institutions, Qualcomm Technologies Inc vice president S.T.
On Tuesday last week, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations unanimously passed the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act, also known as the Resolve Tibet bill. The US House of Representatives had passed the resolution on Feb. 15. The next stage is for it to be reviewed in the
Recent media reports said that a district court judge committed suicide by jumping from a building because he was mentally distressed due to heavy work pressure. Official statistics shows that in 2017, the number of ordinary and special criminal cases totaled 482,428. Seven years later, the most con
Last year, then-Japanese Minister of Defense Yasukazu Hamada in an annual defense report said: “China is rapidly enhancing its military capability qualitatively and quantitatively, including nuclear and missile forces, while continuing and amplifying its unilateral changes to the status quo by force
TURNAROUND CREW: McDaniels and the Timberwolves dominated the Suns, with Milwaukee’s defense shutting down stars Durant and Booker to lead the series 2-0 Luka Doncic on Tuesday scored 32 points as the Dallas Mavericks battled to a series-tying 96-93 road victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in a tense NBA Western Conference playoff duel.Slovenian star Doncic combined with Kyrie Irving for 55 points to ensure that Dallas would return to Texas with ho
Shohei Ohtani on Tuesday night slammed a 450-foot (137m) homer to the second deck in right field in his first visit to Nationals Park, as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals 4-1.Ohtani’s sixth homer of the season was the hardest-hit of his career at 118.7mph (191kph). It was also t
A wine merchant who blind tasted a different glass of wine at each mile of the London Marathon on Sunday has said he feels “honored” his challenge went viral on social media, as he surpassed his fundraising target.Tom Gilbey, nicknamed “the wine guy,” sampled 25 glasses of wine during the race, stop
Kai Havertz and Ben White on Tuesday scored twice as Arsenal thrashed Chelsea 5-0 to surge ahead in the Premier League title race and ramp up the pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City.Leandro Trossard was also on target in a record win over Chelsea for the Gunners, who moved three points clear o
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing.The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also exp
‘HISTORICAL DEMONSTRATIONS’: Students, unions and professors pushed back against budget cuts that prompted a university to declare a financial emergency Raising their textbooks, diplomas and posters aloft, thousands of people on Tuesday filled the streets of Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina to demand increased funding for the country’s public universities, in an outpouring of anger at Argentine President Javier Milei’s austerity measures.T
An Australian court yesterday extended an order that X take down videos of a Sydney bishop being stabbed after X chief executive officer Elon Musk vowed to fight the ban.In a brief hearing, Justice Geoffrey Kennett extended the injunction until May 10.Australian authorities have argued that video of
Come Home, My Child (2023), by Taiwanese independent filmmaker Jasmine Ching-Hui Lee (李靖惠), will be making its Asia premiere next month at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF). In this intimate documentary, Lee explores the life of Mama Yang, an elderly Chinese woman living in New Yo
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest.
A women’s prison is the site of an immersive art show from the Vatican at the 60th Venice Biennale, an unlikely venue that its curator says is a “message in itself.”Away from the spotlight and the crowds of the prestigious international art fair, the former convent on the island of Giudecca in the V
A: “Forbes” magazine just revealed Hollywood’s top 10 highest-paid stars of 2023.B: How much did those superstars make last year?A: Denzel Washington was at No. 10, having made US$24 million, which is about NT$771 million.B: That’s an astronomical figure to me.A: No. 9 to No. 6 were: Ben Afflec
Drive-through (or drive-thru) restaurants provide people with the immense convenience of being able to purchase and pick up meals without needing to leave their vehicles. These restaurants have been around for decades, and their success has spawned a number of equally handy services.The drive-throug
On Tuesday last week, the flame for this summer’s Paris Olympics was lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony.It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000km before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens
It’s certainly been a pleasure watching the presidential campaign launch of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) lurch painfully about like a wounded pachyderm in search of an elephant graveyard. Hou’s fall to third place in some polls last week appears early, and it might still be recoverable. But grumbling in his party about replacing him has already begun. Indeed, all indications are that the party that twice gave us Lien Chan (連戰), the most despised politician in Taiwan, as a presidential candidate and later offered voters Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), is arcing along its normal descending trajectory, the North Korean missile test of electoral politics. A KIND OF POLICY PLATFORM Last week the KMT doubled down on this path with Hou’s calls for nuclear power and more death penalty executions, standard KMT fare for decades (the latter is unnecessary since so many potential criminals are likely to die in traffic accidents long before they harm anyone). Apparently KMT policy institutions are not echo chambers so much as mausoleums where dead ideas are embalmed and then periodically put on display. The lack of public policy imagination is obvious. A less obvious facet of KMT ineptitude: with years of speculation that Hou would be their man in 2024, neither Hou nor the party insisted on interesting or experimental public policies to showcase Hou’s greatness in preparation for the showdown. Of course, that is even more true of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Hou’s slide and the media buzz surrounding it are obscuring the truly urgent problem the pro-Taiwan side faces: DPP presidential candidate William Lai (賴清德) has not expanded his voter support beyond the party base. In most polls he remains below 40 percent. Independent voters are staying away in droves, and for the moment the young are turning to
July 17 to July 23 When Yeh Ken-chuang (葉根壯) came of age, the traditional skills of architecture and carpentry that had been in his family for four generations were disappearing. After helping his uncle Yeh Teh-ling (葉得令) construct ships, residences and temples for more than a decade, Yeh struck out on his own at the age of 28 in 1960 as a damusi (大木司, chief carpenter), earning his lifelong title “Chief Chuang” (壯司). Around this time, builders in his homeland of Penghu were increasingly using reinforced concrete instead of wood, due to the humid climate. The period also saw a frenzy in temple construction as the economy improved, meaning there was plenty of work for Yeh. Adept in non-structural techniques such as doors, windows and furniture, as well as the intricate carvings and detailed decorations that adorned the structures, Yeh was able to adapt his skills, leading the reconstruction of the historic Hsiliao Daitian Temple (西寮代天宮) on Penghu’s main island in 1963. According to the book Crossing Traditions in Yeh Ken-chuang’s Large-scale Carpentry Skills (宮廟巧藝 :跨越傳統的葉根壯大木作技術), it was Penghu’s first temple that used a purely reinforced concrete structure. Before his life was cut short, Yeh created more than 70 temples and related structures across the various islands of Penghu and left behind more than 230 building plans. Although Yeh could have built temples and other structures on Taiwan proper, he only worked on a handful of projects outside of Penghu because he wanted to be close to his family. CLAN OF CARPENTERS The Yeh family’s woodworking tradition began with Yeh Ma-li (葉媽利), who learned the architecture and carpentry trade from an unknown master on Kinmen. The Yehs trace their roots to Kinmen, although this branch had been living in Penghu since the early 1600s. Yeh Ma-li was Penghu’s chief temple builder between 1860 and
New Taipei City | 14-23 | 10% | |
Hsinchu County | 14-22 | 10% | |
Hsinchu City | 14-22 | 10% | |
Taipei City | 14-22 | 10% | |
Miaoli County | 12-22 | 10% | |
Taoyuan City | 14-22 | 10% | |
Keelung City | 15-21 | 10% |
Yunlin County | 14-24 | 0% | |
Taichung City | 14-24 | 0% | |
Nantou County | 14-24 | 0% | |
Changhua County | 14-23 | 0% |
Chiayi County | 13-24 | 0% | |
Chiayi City | 14-25 | 0% | |
Tainan City | 15-22 | 0% | |
Kaohsiung City | 17-23 | 0% | |
Pingtung County | 16-25 | 0% |
Yilan County | 14-22 | 10% | |
Hualien County | 16-22 | 10% | |
Taitung County | 17-23 | 10% |
Kinmen County | 11-18 | 0% | |
Penghu County | 17-20 | 0% | |
Lienchiang County | 10-13 | 10% |