Thu, Nov 21, 2024
Minister of Labor Ho Pei-shan (何佩珊) said she would tender her resignation following criticism of her handling of alleged bullying by Ministry of Labor Workforce Development Agency branch director Hsieh Yi-jung (謝宜容) resulting in the death of an employee. The ministry yesterday gave Hsieh two demerit
REMINDER: The National Audit Office said that it warned the Ministry of National Defense to make sure its projects are not behind schedule Taiwan has signed three contracts with the US worth NT$10.69 billion (US$329 million) to procure spare parts for its air force and navy, the government said yesterday. According to a notice on the Government e-Procurement System, the deal to procure “standard” and “nonstandard aviation parts and acc
Talkative and commandeering as he testified in court yesterday, Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai (黎智英) still seemed like a man used to being in charge despite spending most of the past four years in jail. The 76-year-old took the witness stand in his trial for collusion with foreign forces, breaking
The US will soon provide Ukraine with antipersonnel land mines to shore up its defenses against Russian forces, a US official said late on Tuesday. The decision comes as US President Joe Biden works to boost Ukraine’s war effort in the final two months of his administration, before Ukraine aid criti
FREEDOM CURTAILED: The conviction of 45 democracy advocates proves the ‘unworkability’ of Beijing’s ‘one country, two systems’ model, the Presidential Office said Taiwan yesterday condemned China over the jailing of 45 Hong Kong activists, saying “democracy is not a crime.”The government “strongly condemned the Chinese government’s use of judicial measures and unfair procedures to suppress the political participation and freedom of speech of Hong Kong’s pro-d
Forty-five democracy activists in Hong Kong were yesterday sentenced to jail for up to 10 years, sparking criticism from foreign governments and rights groups, while Beijing defended the decisions.The democracy advocates were among 47 people charged under a Beijing-imposed National Security Law in 2
MEDICAL: In a bioequivalence study, blood tests are taken to determine if the same amount of an active ingredient is released at the same rate as a name-brand drug Generic drugs can go through a bioequivalence (BE) study to determine if they have the same safety and efficacy of the innovator (brand-name) drugs, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday, as it clarified four common misconceptions about generic drugs.When a brand-name drug’s patent e
The airline industry’s post-pandemic recovery took center stage at this year’s Taoyuan Airport Forum in Taipei yesterday. The forum, held by the Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC), also saw officials from Airports Council International (ACI) and other industry experts give an overview on the
At this year’s Taoyuan Airport Forum in Taipei yesterday, speakers focused on the airport’s continuing evolution, from improving the passenger experience to green energy goals.Officials from Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC), the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and internationa
AMENDMENTS PROCESS: The DPP accused the KMT of focusing on politics to the detriment of the public, while the TPP presented a survey backing rules for IDs Physical altercations broke out at the legislature in Taipei yesterday after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers rushed through procedures on proposed amendments to increase the threshold to recall elected representatives.The KMT, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s
ONLINE COMPLAINT: A division head was accused of blocking staff transfers, as well as unreasonable behavior that made vacancies difficult to fill An ad hoc group has been established to investigate an alleged case of workplace bullying at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it said yesterday.An anonymous report posted on Threads on Friday last week claimed that the head of the Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infectious Diseases divis
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yeste
Taiwan’s military on Wednesday said it received a payment of NT$5.2 billion (US$159.86 million) from RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies Corp.) after the defense contractor was found by the United States government to have engaged in price gouging, with Taiwan among the buyers affected.The NT$5
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung started his weeklong trip to Europe with a stop in Brussels, a visit that illustrates Taipei’s efforts to connect with fellow democracies.Lin said in a Facebook post Tuesday evening that he visited the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center, a hub for nanoel
Taiwan has pledged US$1 million donation to support Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) initiatives, Taiwan’s envoy to the bloc’s annual summit Lin Hsin-i (林信義) told a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday.Lin said he announced the donation of US$1 million to the bloc during the APEC Economic
HIGH TECH: Rising demand for AI and HPC chips drove total export orders for the first 10 months up 3.8% from last year to US$484.35 billion, MOEA data showed Export orders last month grew for the eighth straight month at an annual rate of 4.9 percent, benefiting from rising demand for advanced chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.Export orders expande
VULNERABLE ECONOMY: Taiwan has an overreliance on imported fossil fuels, a declining population, and outdated labor and immigration laws, the ECCT said The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) yesterday urged the government to create a ministerial task force to coordinate and facilitate the achievement of net zero gas emissions by 2050.The chamber also called for relaxed immigration and labor rules to address a shortage of white-collar and bl
Taiwan’s manufacturing output in the third quarter rose 10.34 percent year-on-year to NT$5.02 trillion (US$154.5 billion), the highest in the past nine quarters, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a report on Tuesday.The results came as the robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-
A nation has several pillars of national defense, among them are military strength, energy and food security, and national unity. Military strength is very much on the forefront of the debate, while several recent editorials have dealt with energy security. National unity and a sense of shared purpo
Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), the son of former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Politburo member and former Chongqing Municipal Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai (薄熙來), used his British passport to make a low-key entry into Taiwan on a flight originating in Canada.He is set to marry the granddau
The Ministry of Justice dramatically set back women’s rights when it proposed raising the maximum penalty for women undergoing illegal abortions by more than 26-fold. While it has since withdrawn the proposal, its initiation reveals a bleak reality: For all of Taiwan’s pride in its protection of ind
‘REMEMBERED ETERNALLY’: In a video montage, former rivals Federer and Djokovic, as well as Serena Williams, celebrated Nadal’s achievements on and off the court Rafael Nadal on Tuesday night said farewell to tennis, while his fans saluted their retiring hero in a bittersweet and emotional ceremony at a sold-out Malaga arena following his last professional match in Spain’s 2-1 Davis Cup defeat to the Netherlands.Holding back tears as he tried to compose hims
Jayson Tatum on Tuesday scored 33 points as the Boston Celtics ended the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 15-game unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought 120-117 victory in the NBA Cup.The Celtics unleashed a barrage of 22 three-pointers to overwhelm Cleveland, who clawed their way back to within two po
Lebanese soccer player Celine Haidar was about to make her dream of playing for the national women’s team come true, but debris from an Israeli strike left the 19-year-old in a medically induced coma.After full-blown war erupted in September, Haidar’s family were among more than 1 million people who
Chelsea on Tuesday condemned homophobic abuse directed toward star striker Sam Kerr after she and her fiancee, US international Kristie Mewis, announced they were expecting a baby.The 31-year-old Australia captain made the announcement on social media alongside pictures of the couple.In response, th
CULTURE WARS: Trump has also named a wrestling mogul to head education, amid promises to remove what he sees as ‘left-wing indoctrination’ in schools in the US US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday selected Mehmet Oz, a former TV talk show host and heart surgeon, to head the agency that oversees health insurance programs for millions of older, poor and disabled Americans. He also tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be his
Brazil’s federal police arrested five people for allegedly plotting to kill Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his vice president and a top judge as part of a 2022 coup attempt. The suspects — mainly military personnel, including a retired general — intended to prevent Lula from taking o
Former German chancellor Angela Merkel was still one of the world’s most popular politicians when she retired in 2021, but critics are increasingly questioning her legacy ahead of the release of her memoirs. Freedom, co-written by Merkel and her longtime political adviser Beate Baumann, is to be pub
Standing over a simmering pot of chai, Stella Ku’s (古詩筠) gold bangles jingle as she crushes ginger roots and mixes freshly ground cardamom into individual saucepans. The tea leaves, handpicked from the misty mountains of Assam and Darjeeling, take 10 minutes for the perfect brew. Ku herself is from
“Manifest,” meaning to dream or will something into existence, has been named this year’s word by Cambridge Dictionary, after a surge of celebrity-inspired popularity on social media.Though far from a new coinage — as an adjective meaning “clear” or “obvious,” the word dates back in English to at le
For all the excellent works in English on Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule, there have been few (if any) monographs dedicated to Taiwanese women as imperial subjects. Studies on the colonial government’s assimilation policy (doka) and, during World War II, its imperial subjectification efforts (
A: Who are nominated for Best Leading Actor at the Golden Horse Awards?B: The nominees are: Jason King, Chang Chen, Neo Yau, Wanlop Rungkumjad and Zhang Zhiyong.A: How about Best Leading Actress?B: The nominees are: Patra Au, Kimi Hsia, Chung Suet-ying, Sylvia Chang and Sandra Ng.A: What are yo
In Cape Town, South Africa, a fresh influx of inhabitants is causing a stir. Known as “digital nomads,” these individuals are transforming the city’s environment and sparking debates around urban growth and the welfare of local communities.By definition, digital nomads are professionals who exploit
Taiwan on Sunday beat Australia 11-3 to advance to the 2024 WBSC Premier12 Super Round, finishing second in Group B to secure a place in the Premier12’s Super Round alongside group winners Japan, as well as the top two teams from Group A, the United States and Venezuela.The 2024 WBSC Premier12 is be
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% | |
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