The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has proposed a NT$284 billion (US$8.75 billion) plan to build seven attack submarines using an improved design based on the completed Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” prototype submarine, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday.The plan — which has the
BRIBE ALLEGATION: Even though four other suspects are being held, the court said enough evidence had been collected to release the former vice premier
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), a former vice premier, was yesterday afternoon released on bail of NT$5 million (US$153,965) amid allegations of corruption dating back to his time as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022.The Taoyuan District Court said in
Major national medical associations, including the Taiwan Public Health Association, have said they support a proposal by the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) to fund new cancer medicines through a liquor surcharge.At the Sustainability Forum for Taiwan Multi-support Cancer Drugs Fund
Iran’s reformist presidential candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, who advocates improved ties with the West, on Saturday won a runoff election against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, the Iranian Ministry of Interior said.A vote count offered by authorities put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million vot
US President Joe Biden on Friday fended off questions about his mental fitness and electability in a TV interview meant to draw a line under a disastrous debate performance that triggered calls for him to quit his re-election bid.With rebellion brewing among some nervous Democratic voters, lawmakers
BOLSTERING DEFENSE: The explosive is 40 percent more powerful than those in use and could be deployed for Hsiung Feng II and III missiles, a government source said
The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has developed a polycyclic nitroamine explosive, commonly known as CL-20, which is the most powerful non-nuclear explosive known, a government source said yesterday on condition of anonymity.The institute has significantly improved explosive and rock
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said.The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinat
Two Taiwanese crew members onboard a Keelung-registered fishing vessel were questioned by Japanese authorities after their boat was intercepted for allegedly operating in Japanese waters yesterday morning, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said.The Japanese authorities agreed, after negotiations,
LANDSLIDE WIN: The Labour leader reiterated his campaign promise to put country first, party second, and to serve public interests
New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday pledged action to fix the country, not just words, but warned the voters who handed him a massive electoral majority and those who voted against him, that improvements would take time.Standing outside his new office and residence at No. 10 Downing St
The UN and partners say more migrants and refugees in Africa are heading northward toward the Mediterranean and Europe, crossing perilous routes in the Sahara where criminal gangs subject them to enslavement, organ removal, rape, kidnapping for ransom and other abuses.A report released yesterday by
‘HEALTHY TAIWAN’ PLAN: The government’s new measures include early tests and relaxing age requirements for cancer screenings, a health official said
The government is considering expanding free cancer screenings and providing publicly funded health checkups to people as young as 30, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday.The agency is assessing the viability of President William Lai’s (賴清德) “Healthy Taiwan” plan, which could in
China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Tuesday might be an act of psychological warfare by Beijing aiming to increase pressure on Taipei, National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday.Chinese officials boarded the boat and then took it to a port in China. It
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Mach Ngoc Tran (麥玉珍) yesterday apologized for hiding cuttings of dragon fruit inside her luggage to plant them at her family home in Vietnam decades ago, which officials said was illegal.Mach related the story on Wednesday during an event in Taichung’s Fongyuan
RETALIATION: Following the killing of one of its commanders by an Israeli strike, Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets targeting military bases
Hezbollah yesterday said it launched more than 200 rockets at several military bases in Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed one of its senior commanders.The attack by the Iran-backed militant group was one of the largest in the months-long conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border, with te
US President Joe Biden is “absolutely not” pulling out of the US presidential race, his spokeswoman said on Wednesday, as pressure mounted following his disastrous debate performance against former US president Donald Trump.Panic has gripped the Democratic Party in the wake of last week’s TV debate,
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims.Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fis
HEALTHCARE: About 32,000 people have used the waiver program, and if the amendments passed, they would benefit about 55,000 people, an official said
The Ministry of Labor is planning to expand a waiver program for applying to hire foreign at-home caregivers by September, which is expected to benefit about 55,000 people nationwide, Deputy Minister of Labor Wang An-pang (王安邦) said yesterday.There are 910,000 people in Taiwan aged 80 or older, and
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the commi
Severe overcrowding and a lack of exits contributed to a stampede at a religious festival in northern India, authorities said yesterday, leaving at least 121 people dead as the faithful surged toward the preacher to touch him and chaos ensued.Five died yesterday morning and 28 people were still bein
Japan’s top court yesterday ruled that a defunct eugenics law under which thousands of people were forcibly sterilized from 1948 to 1996 was unconstitutional.The Japanese Supreme Court also declared that a 20-year statute of limitations could not be applied, paving the way for compensation claims fr