The government’s business climate monitor last month flashed “red,” indicating a boom for the nation’s export-oriented economy thanks to strong demand for semiconductors and servers used in artificial intelligence (AI) devices, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.It is the first bo
BALLPARKS TARGETED: To further reduce the use of plastic cups, the ministry is considering subsidizing the use of reusable cups at professional baseball games
Beverage shops are to be banned from serving drinks in single-use plastic cups in September, the Ministry of Environment said yesterday, adding that it is also considering subsidizing the use of reusable cups at professional baseball games and other enclosed venues.Beverage shops in 21 cities and co
Taiwan is striving to improve its self-defense against the hybrid warfare waged by China over cross-strait issues, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said when meeting delegates of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) at the Taipei Guest House yesterday.Taiwan is honored by the IPAC dele
The foreign ministers of the US, Japan, Australia and India yesterday expressed “serious concern” over the situation in the South China Sea in a veiled rebuke to Beijing.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) issued a joint statement c
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni yesterday hailed China as an “important interlocutor” in managing global tensions as she met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing.Meloni was in Beijing on her first visit to China since she took office nearly two years ago, pledging to “relaunch” ties s
NOT INTIMIDATED: A Bosnia and Herzegovina lawmaker said Beijing contacted her party president, who urged her not to go, but that only made her more determined
Chinese diplomats are pressuring lawmakers from at least six countries not to attend a China-focused summit in Taiwan, participants said.Politicians in Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one other Asian country that declined to be named, say they are receiv
GOING SUPER: The government granted four Taiwanese teams free access to use Taipei-1, a supercomputer built by Nvidia, to help develop AI technologies and products
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) is to set up a research and development (R&D) center in Taiwan with research teams targeting several advanced technologies, including silicon photonics, artificial intelligence (AI) and heterogeneous integration, a Ministry of Economic Affairs official said on Saturd
Japanese and US defense chiefs and top diplomats yesterday agreed to further bolster their military cooperation by upgrading the command and control of US forces in the East Asian country and enhancing US-licensed missile production there, describing the rising threat from China as “the greatest str
Taiwanese athletes yesterday and on Saturday edged closer to winning a medal in a strong showing in the first two days of the Paris Olympics.Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) defeated Belgium’s Lianne Tan in the group stage of the women’s singles yesterday.Although Tai has not played in any
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant yesterday vowed to “hit the enemy hard” after rocket fire from Lebanon killed 12 young people in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and again raised fears that the war in Gaza would spread.Iran warned Israel that any new military “adventures” in Lebanon could
GAS BOOST: An LNG unit would buttress the shortfall from the closure, and could generate more power than Ma-anshan’s No. 1 reactor, the economics ministry said
Taiwan yesterday shut down the No. 1 reactor of its only active nuclear plant, poised to become the first non-nuclear country in East Asia after the last reactor’s license expires in May next year.The closure of the No. 1 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County’s Ma-anshan (馬
ONE MORE TIME: Many of Taiwan’s biggest sporting stars are competing in their last Olympics, including Tai and shuttler Lee Yang, as well as tennis’ Latisha Chan
Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) and breakdancer Sun Chen (孫振) on Friday carried the flag for Taiwan during the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Paris.They were joined by 37 Taiwanese athletes and coaching staff on a boat that sailed down the Seine, marking the first time in Olympic histo
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) yesterday apologized for South Korea’s delegation of athletes being introduced as from rival North Korea during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Games open after a soaking wet ceremony in which athle
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday talked extensively with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) about Taiwan and raised concerns about Beijing’s recent “provocative actions,” a senior US Department of State official said.Those actions included a simulated blockade during the
Some of the 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil inside a sunken Philippine tanker has started to leak into Manila Bay, the Philippine Coast Guard said yesterday, as it raced to avoid an environmental catastrophe.Authorities were scrambling to start a delicate undersea operation to siphon off t
TYPHOON RELIEF: The Ministry of Finance is considering tax relief, while William Lai said that additional compensation would be provided for agricultural losses
Households in areas where flooding exceeded 50cm due to Typhoon Gaemi are to receive NT$20,000 each in planned relief funding, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.Lai announced the subsidies after being briefed about the storm situation during an inspection of severely affected areas in Kaohs
SEVEN-YEAR TERM: Three other defendants were found guilty and sentenced in the trial over legislative office salaries, while a fourth was found not guilty of all charges
Anne Kao (高虹安) yesterday was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison and suspended as Hsinchu mayor after the Taipei District Court found her guilty of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) and the Criminal Code.The court also deprived Kao of her civil rights for four years and sh
The Taichung District Court yesterday handed a combined sentence of eight years and four months to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) for corruption and forgery.Yen contravened Article 5 of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例) by making unlawful profit or withholding public f
Two rival gang leaders signed a truce to end armed conflict in Haiti’s largest shantytown, a community leader said on Thursday.Haiti has long been rocked by gang violence, but conditions sharply worsened at the end of February when armed groups launched attacks in Port-au-Prince to overthrow then-Ha
Pakistan is trying to stay relevant through “terrorism” and “proxy war,” but its “unholy plans” would never succeed, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday.The South Asian neighbors share an uneasy relationship and India has, for decades, accused Pakistan of backing Islamist militants fi