Wed, Jul 02, 2025
WARNING: Whooping cough activity is peaking in Japan, and the CDC is expecting it to increase in Taiwan as well, as Japan is a popular travel destination for Taiwanese The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that 35 cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, were reported in the first half of this year, the highest in a decade, while five cases of Japanese encephalitis were reported last week. Seventeen whooping cough cases were reported last w
Two Taiwanese were among a group of suspects indicted in Boston on Monday in connection with an alleged scheme to generate revenue for North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction programs, US prosecutors said. The two Taiwanese suspects, identified as Liu Meng-ting and Liu En-chia, were among nine sus
The Thai Constitutional Court has suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office until it rules on a petition seeking her ouster for alleged ethical violations — the biggest blow yet to her less-than-one-year-old government. Paetongtarn’s powers have been suspended from yesterday w
North Korean state media images showed leader Kim Jong-un honoring the flag-draped coffins of North Korean soldiers killed helping Russia fight Ukraine, as the South Korean Ministry of Defense said yesterday it saw no signs of further troop deployments. The nuclear-armed North has become one of Russ
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said.General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command,
’PATRIOTS’: National security measures have become increasingly pervasive in Hong Kong, with Beijing limiting political rights and expanding control, the MAC said Beijing has expanded its national security crackdown on Hong Kong, shifting from the principle of “patriots administering” the territory to requiring businesspeople to be “patriotic,” with national security terms proliferating within the catering and entertainment industries, a Mainland Affairs Coun
Taiwanese should be careful when using Chinese mobile applications due to potential security breaches, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said today, after it recently inspected five of those apps, including TikTok and Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English).The inspections by Taiwan's top in
NO QUESTIONS: Under the change, which would affect about 363,000 workers, people taking mental health leave would not be required to provide a doctor’s note Civil servants would soon be allowed to have three physical and mental health leave days each year, under a proposed amendment to Civil Servant Leave Regulations (公務人員請假規則).The Ministry of Civil Service proposed the amendment after President William Lai (賴清德) in November last year highlighted the im
PLATE FATE: Motor vehicles of repeat offenders with forged license plates or that were involved in an incident involving death or injury would be auctioned off or destroyed Starting from July 15, people using forged, altered or fraudulently obtained motor vehicle license plates would be fined NT$72,000 following the passage of an amendment to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) in May, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterda
People who sell protected wild birds such as peregrine falcons would be fined up to NT$1.5 million (US$51,396), Tainan Agriculture Bureau official Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) said, amid reports of people selling peregrine chicks online.Under the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), people trading, displayi
The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) on Monday said that it is investigating China Airlines after one of its flights to Busan, South Korea, on Wednesday last week was reported to have narrowly avoided hitting a hill, the site of a 2002 Air China crash that killed more than 100 people.Former pilot
Nearly one in four employers in Taiwan failed to comply with labor regulations for student and part-time workers during inspections, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.The ministry last year conducted 1,800 labor inspections focusing on the rights of student and part-time workers, uncovering contr
Foreign exchange losses caused by a stronger Taiwan dollar led funds managed by the Bureau of Labor Funds to lose NT$92.9 billion (US$3.18 billion) in May, bureau data showed yesterday.Accumulated losses, which reflect decreases in the value of assets in the funds’ portfolios and/or declines in
A man surnamed Pan (潘) has been detained for allegedly hacking into emergency response systems and selling dispatch information to funeral businesses, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office said yesterday.Prosecutors said funeral business operators connected to the case were released on bails
Temperatures in parts of northern Taiwan, including Taipei, are expected to reach 37°C today, with much of the island also experiencing intense heat, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).Highs of around 36°C are likely elsewhere across Taiwan, including in central and southern r
Rick Cassidy, the chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (TSMC, 台積電) US subsidiary, TSMC Arizona Corp, plans to retire, but the company has yet to name a successor.After Cassidy made his intention to retire known, TSMC Arizona held a special general meeting and approved a resolution tha
VOLATILITY: The local currency has been buffeted by a series of sharp swings since Friday last week, as the central bank stepped in to check its gains against the US dollar The New Taiwan dollar yesterday surged more than 2 percent in another day of volatility for the currency, as exporters’ sales of the greenback tested the central bank’s tolerance for local currency strength.The NT dollar jumped as much as 2.5 percent to NT$29.160 per US dollar yesterday in the bigge
GAINING MOMENTUM: The non-manufacturing index rose 2.4 points to 54.3 last month, buoyed by a TAIEX rebound and solid commercial property demand in emerging hubs Taiwan’s manufacturing sector slid back into contraction territory last month, weighed down by expiring US tariff waivers and volatile exchange rates, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.The seasonally adjusted manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI)
If the competing territorial claims between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in China and the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan were represented as a Venn diagram, the central overlap would contain Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties.The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could c
The mass recall movement has become a crucial battle to determine Taiwan’s future. The pivotal issue is whether to take an anti-communist stance and protect Taiwan, or to support a pro-China, anti-US political party.Moderate voters are the most crucial factor in deciding the recalls. Although the ma
This month marks the 28th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China — a moment once framed as the launch of a proud model of unification. That model, known as “one country, two systems,” was meant to guarantee the territory a high degree of autonomy, judicial independence and eventual universal s
SCORCHER: Top women’s seed Aryna Sabalenka used ice packs to beat the heat during her 6-1, 7-5 victory over Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine Carlos Alcaraz on Monday survived a major scare in his Wimbledon opener, while Aryna Sabalenka kept her cool to progress on the hottest opening day in the tournament’s history.Temperatures at the All England Club on Monday topped 32°C, surpassing the previous record for the start of the tournament o
Manchester City on Monday crashed out of the FIFA Club World Cup with a 4-3 defeat in extra-time by Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal in the round-of-16, hours after UEFA Champions League runners-up Inter were eliminated by Fluminense on a day of shock results.Italy’s Inter were dumped out 2-0 by the Braz
Not so long ago, cyclists heading to the Tour de France were skinny string beans weighing and measuring every grain of rice that entered their body, but that image has not just gone, it has taken a seismic shift in the other direction. This year’s riders will be gorging themselves like never before,
Cincinnati Reds phenom Chase Burns on Monday went from a memorable major league debut to a miserable second start against the Boston Red Sox.After becoming the first starting pitcher in the expansion era to strike out the first five major league hitters he faced against the New York Yankees on Tuesd
‘CUT AND BURNED’: ‘There was no one ... who was wanted or posed any threat. We were all civilians, simply trying to get food for our children,’ an eyewitness said Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 51 people, including 24 at a seafront rest area, as fresh calls grow for a ceasefire in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. The swift resolution of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran has revived hopes for a halt to the fighting in Gaza, w
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday accused Harvard University of violating the civil rights of its Jewish and Israeli students, and threatened to cut off all federal funding if the university does not take urgent action. Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against
Rescuers have evacuated more than 50,000 people, mostly from Turkey’s western Izmir province, as firefighters battled a string of wildfires, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said on Monday. “A total of over 50,000 citizens from 41 settlements have been temporarily relo
The Himalayan village of Samjung did not die in a day.Perched in a wind-carved valley in Nepal’s Upper Mustang, more than 3,962m above sea level, the Buddhist village lived by slow, deliberate rhythms — herding yaks and sheep and harvesting barley under sheer ochre cliffs honeycombed with “sky caves
In the dead of night on a beach in Suriname’s capital Paramaribo, a group of just-hatched baby sea turtles clamber out of their sandy nesting hole and race, flippers flailing, towards the sea.For years, endangered leatherbacks and green turtles have emerged onto Braamspunt beach to lay their eggs.Bu
It’s been years since mass arrests all but silenced pro-democracy activism in Hong Kong. But a crackdown on dissent in the semiautonomous Chinese city is still expanding, hitting restaurants, bookstores and other small businesses.Shops and eateries owned by people once associated with the largely su
As summer approaches, people everywhere start enjoying frozen treats, especially the increasingly popular “gelato.” This Italian-style ice cream features vibrant colors and intense flavors. Made primarily with milk and often featuring seasonal fruits, gelato has a lower fat content of 4–8 percent co
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。Uneasy voices started to ripple through the lines of anxious students outside the school gate. “No signal?” “VPN’s down too.” “Wait — is this a cyberattack?” Nothing loaded on Jun’s phone either. Not his AI tutor, Echo. Not any app. Not ev
對話 Dialogue清清：華華，你知道嗎？雲門舞集今年夏天在兩廳院廣場也有戶外公演耶。Qīngqing: Huáhua, nǐ zhīdào ma? Yúnmén Wǔjí jīnnián xiàtiān zài Liǎngtīngyuàn guǎngchǎng yě yǒu hùwài gōngyǎn ye.華華：哇，真的嗎？在廣場看雲門舞集表演感覺一定很棒。Huáhua: Wā, zhēnde ma? Zài guǎngchǎng kàn Yúnmén Wǔjí biǎoyǎn gǎnjué yídìng hěn bàng.清清：對啊，而且還是免費的，大家可以帶野餐墊去坐著看。Qīngq
Two moves show Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is gunning for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party chair and the 2028 presidential election. Technically, these are not yet “officially” official, but by the rules of Taiwan politics, she is now on the dance floor. Earlier this month Lu confirmed in an interview in Japan’s Nikkei that she was considering running for KMT chair. This is not new news, but according to reports from her camp she previously was still considering the case for and against running. By choosing a respected, international news outlet, she declared it to the world. While the outside world likely paid little attention, domestically the message was unmistakable: She is moving on to a larger stage. Part of the dance is to leave options open before formally committing, and with the chair race due in late September, she has time. If something goes wrong in the meantime, or if power brokers in the party offer her a deal that provides more benefits than taking on the role of chair, she can pivot accordingly. Earlier this year, I suggested that strategically, she would be better off concentrating on her job as Taichung mayor until she is term-limited out of office in December next year. Taichung mayor is obviously a full-time job, and concurrently running the Taipei-headquartered party runs the risk of doing one or both jobs poorly and making mistakes that could imperil her shot at the presidency in 2028. The situation has changed. Current KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), knowing he is likely to face challengers of a higher caliber than the three relative nobodies already declared, has gone all in on appealing to the base. The base is more likely to turn out to vote in the chair election, so this makes some strategic sense in the short term.
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan. Last spring at Arunothai’s Jiaolian School, principal Wang Mingming (王明明) had forewarned me of the division between villages, saying, “We are not like the people in Mae Salong. They are rich. Because of the Taiwanese.” Arunothai has in recent years become split in its loyalties between Taiwan and China (see part one, “A tale of two schools,” on May 15), but in Mae Salong, links to Taiwan remain strong. Taiwan-funded monuments pay homage to the Lost Army, villagers wear T-shirts emblazoned with the Republic of China (ROC) flag and tea plantations grown Taiwan’s most famous tea varieties, including Dong Ding (“frozen peak”) Oolong, Oriental Beauty and Jin Xuan (Golden Daylily or Milk Oolong). Even the numerical classifications of the teas — Oolong No. 12 or No. 17, for example — are the same, and the shops resemble those found on Alishan. At the tomb of General Tuan Hsi-wen (段希文) — perched on a Mae Salong hilltop with a view of his ancestral homeland in China’s Yunnan province — a third generation villager wearing a vintage KMT army uniform, Yan Si-Chung (岩思中), greets visitors with sharp military salutes. “Both my father and my grandfather were soldiers in the KMT army,” the 44-year-old
| New Taipei City | 33-36 | 10% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 33-37 | 10% | |
| Hsinchu City | 33-36 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 32-36 | 10% | |
| Miaoli County | 31-34 | 10% |  |
| Taoyuan City | 33-37 | 10% | |
| Keelung City | 31-33 | 10% | |
| Yunlin County | 31-36 | 20% | |
| Taichung City | 33-35 | 10% | |
| Nantou County | 32-35 | 20% | |
| Changhua County | 32-35 | 10% | |
| Chiayi County | 31-34 | 30% |  |
| Chiayi City | 31-35 | 30% | |
| Tainan City | 31-33 | 20% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 31-33 | 20% | |
| Pingtung County | 31-34 | 50% | |
| Yilan County | 30-33 | 10% | |
| Hualien County | 30-32 | 10% | |
| Taitung County | 30-32 | 10% | |
| Kinmen County | 31-35 | 0% |  |
| Penghu County | 30-33 | 0% | |
| Lienchiang County | 29-31 | 0% | |
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