Thu, Jul 02, 2026
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday emphasized Taiwan’s open trade policy while reaffirming the nation’s ties with Paraguay.“Diplomatic ties with Taiwan’s allies remain highly stable, particularly with Paraguay, which maintains very strong relations with Taiwan,” Lin said.He ma
RACE AGAINST TIME: With drone technology and the geopolitical landscape rapidly evolving, Taiwan must be able to invest effectively, the president said Plans by opposition parties in the legislature to fund defense drone development through the annual budget would violate the division of powers stipulated by the Constitution and disrupt fiscal planning, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan Pe
US President Donald Trump yesterday said he had nothing to do with his personal finances, a day after he reported more than US$1.4 billion in income last year from his family’s crypto ventures.A review of his annual financial disclosure for last year with the US Office of Government Ethics, released
Andy Burnham would have to find an additional ￡4.7 billion (US$6.22 billion) to close a defense funding gap, either through deeper spending cuts or higher taxes, if, as expected, he becomes British prime minister later this month.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday announced a long-delaye
ONGOING PROBE: Prosecutors on Monday raided the offices and residences of six people suspected to be involved in the smuggling of high-end AI chips to China Keelung prosecutors yesterday detained three executives from technology firms over the alleged smuggling of NT$700 million (US$21.99 million) of advanced Nvidia Corp chips to China, Hong Kong and Macau.The Keelung District Court late last night approved the prosecutors’ request to detain an Albatron
GENERATION GAP: On nearly every issue, younger respondents were 20 to 30 percentage points less likely than older one to express concern about China Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe Taiwan’s security is important for US security and prosperity, the results of the 2026 Reagan Institute Summer Survey released on Monday showed.Sixty-six percent of respondents said they agreed that Taiwan’s security matters to the US, including 72 percent of R
BROAD TARGET PARAMETERS: Groups the law could be used to punch down at include Taiwanese, religious sects, content creators, businesses, lawmakers and more The new “ethnic unity” law in China which took effect yesterday targets eight groups, and raises risks for Taiwanese travelers and foreign companies, a national security official said.The “Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law,” passed by the Chinese National People’s Congress in March, requires a
Taiwanese ships off Taiwan’s east coast should ignore any boarding and inspection demands by the China Coast Guard (CCG), a senior Coast Guard Administration (CGA) official said yesterday, adding that CGA vessels would intervene if required.China sent CCG ships last month into the waters off the eas
Taiwan yesterday celebrated the 30th anniversary of the founding of its government-funded foreign aid agency, the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), while pledging to continue to provide assistance to other countries.Speaking at the anniversary ceremony, Minister of Foreign Affai
Canada’s long-standing framework to interact with Taipei “has not changed,” Canada’s representative to Taiwan, Marie-Louise Hannan, said Monday amid concerns in Taipei over Mark Carney’s ongoing efforts to improve relations with China.Hannan, who took office as Canada’s de facto ambassador to T
NO COMMENT: The ride-hailing company did not acknowledge the service’s legality, saying only that safety measures were in place and that its drivers have good records Uber’s one-month “short-range cultural experience” program to offer free, short-distance motorcycle rides in Beitou District (北投) is against the law and faces penalties if carried out, the Taipei City Government said yesterday.The pilot program began yesterday afternoon.Taiwan’s laws do not permit t
The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) announced yesterday that passenger fuel surcharges on international flights operated by Taiwanese carriers would be lowered on Tuesday next week, following a decline in aviation fuel prices.Passenger fuel surcharges on international flights operated by Taiwane
Funds managed by the Ministry of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Funds reported a return of 27.7 percent in the first five months of this year during a global stock market boom, the bureau said yesterday.From January to May, accumulated gains in the funds’ portfolios and income on investment totaled NT$2.13
MORE WORK: Prosecutors are expected to ask the court to consolidate the offender’s sentences, which would result in him serving the maximum sentence of 30 years The High Court yesterday convicted serial sex offender Mao Chun-shen (毛畯珅) on 544 counts of rape, sexual abuse and exploitation of minors, bringing his cumulative prison sentence to 2,878 years and four months. The ruling can be appealed.Mao recorded sexual acts involving 41 children younger than se
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted an American and a Taiwanese on charges of smuggling 500ml of liquid ketamine from Germany to Taiwan.Local Chinese-language media firms on Monday reported that a Taipei American School teacher surnamed Cloos in March allegedly conspired with his fr
MIX-UP? The episode has prompted lawmakers to raise concerns about the financial regulator’s supervision efficiency, while Cathay compensates investors Taiwan’s biggest financial conglomerate would prohibit senior executives at its subsidiaries from taking external positions following a scandal that has led to the resignation of its banking chief and millions of dollars in payouts.Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) would ban all senior managers acr
GLOBAL IMPACT: Easing tensions between the US and Iran have helped lower commodity prices and reduce procurement costs for manufacturers, an expert said Taiwan’s factory activity remained firmly in expansion territory last month, supported by robust artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand, even as supply chain bottlenecks and easing raw material costs tempered the pace of growth, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中經院) said ye
Global notebook computer shipments are expected to decline 13.6 percent year-on-year this year amid rising prices and weaker consumer demand, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday.As brands start to pass higher component costs onto consumers, replacement demand has suffered, the Taipei-based market
The Ministry of Environment on Monday conducted a multiagency exercise simulating a three-day extreme heatwave of 40°C across northern Taiwan.The drill involved 34 agencies and tested cascading impacts including power outages, transport disruptions and heat-related injuries. The scenario escalated f
Ministry of Education data show that, for the first time, less than 50 percent of senior high-school students are in vocational high schools — often known as skill-based or technical schools. The number of students enrolled in vocational high schools has dropped by 210,000 over the past 10 years, wi
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to North Korea last month underlined China’s and North Korea’s efforts to sustain their strategic partnership amid the fast-changing security environment in Northeast Asia. Although the visit was primarily a bilateral engagement, it carried significance far
SUPERSTAR: Kylian Mbappe scored two goals to take his career World Cup goals record to an incredible 18 in 18 matches, one behind Argentina’s Lionel Messi Kylian Mbappe on Tuesday extended his red-hot scoring streak to fire France past Sweden and into the round-of-16 of the FIFA World Cup as Norway and Mexico won their opening knockout-round games. Mbappe took his tally for the tournament to six goals — making him joint top-scorer alongside Lionel Mes
Yet another FIFA World Cup failure has Germany questioning its soccer identity, with some calling for radical changes at all levels in the soccer-mad nation. Germany’s shock capitulation to Paraguay in the last 32 on Monday, their first ever World Cup penalty shootout defeat, continues the four-time
Serena Williams on Tuesday suffered a dramatic first-round defeat on her return to singles tennis at Wimbledon as she succumbed to inspired Australian youngster Maya Joint, while Iga Swiatek started her title defense with a nervy win. Williams lost 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 on Centre Court in her first pr
NBA superstar LeBron James would return for an unprecedented 24th season, but not with the Los Angeles Lakers, a move that rocked the league on Tuesday as free agency opened. “Truly an honor to wear the [purple and gold] while trying to continue the greatness and legacies that came before me,” James
GRIEVANCES: If there had been no coup, children would be studying at schools, said a man whose teenage son was killed in combat while fighting for pro-democracy rebels More than 100,000 people have been killed across all sides in Myanmar since a military coup five years ago triggered civil war, a conflict monitor said yesterday.The military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and ending Myanm
Mourners yesterday gathered in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore to bury 14 schoolchildren who were killed when the roof of a tutoring center collapsed on Tuesday.Police are investigating whether negligence during ongoing construction work caused the collapse that left another eight children injured
The US Department of Justice on Tuesday directed federal prosecutors to prioritize investigations of so-called birth tourism schemes after the US Supreme Court rejected US President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in the US.US Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, told
The greatest asset of democracies is the widespread sense of personal responsibility held by citizens. They do not just vote, they form political parties, businesses, civil society groups and, when disaster strikes, self-mobilize and self-organize.On September 23, 2025, an overflow of a barrier lake
Unfazed by the crashing waves, 72-year-old Wu Feng-chiao (吳鳳嬌) yanks fistfuls of brownish-purple seaweed she will process into jelly, one of the last women in Taiwan keeping the marine harvest tradition alive.Seaweed foraging on the rocky coastline at the edge of the Pacific Ocean can be arduous and
Shortly after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated that a People’s Republic of China (PRC) invasion of Taiwan would be an existential crisis for Japan, PRC actors began agitating for the independence of Okinawa, taking many of the same positions that the US and other democracies take in sup
A: My American friend invited me to a barbecue party on Saturday to celebrate the “Semiquincentennial” — the 250th anniversary of US independence.B: So how was the US founded?A: In 1620, a group of Brits — most of whom were Puritans regarded as “separatists” — sailed to North America aboard the “
Pomegranates often resemble small jewel boxes, their glossy red skin hiding clusters of seeds that shine like rubies. This striking appearance has long attracted curiosity and fascination, and has helped the fruit acquire symbolic weight across different civilizations.In Western traditions, especial
Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Sagrada Familia Basilica as a masterpiece of “stones, colors and light,” as he marked the centenary of the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudi, with a Mass on June 10 to inaugurate its final soaring sandcastle spire.Leo called Gaudi’s unfinished temple, one of the world’
| New Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Hsinchu City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Miaoli County | 24-26 | 10% | |
| Taoyuan City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Keelung City | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Yunlin County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taichung City | 26-28 | 10% | |
| Nantou County | 25-26 | 10% | |
| Changhua County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Chiayi County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Chiayi City | 25-27 | 10% | |
| Tainan City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Pingtung County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Yilan County | 25-26 | 30% |  |
| Hualien County | 25-26 | 30% | |
| Taitung County | 25-27 | 30% | |
| Kinmen County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Penghu County | 27-27 | 20% | |
| Lienchiang County | 27-28 | 20% | |
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