Wed, Oct 02, 2024
Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there.Force 17 wind w
The Republic of China (ROC) is a sovereign state that is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan has never been ruled by the PRC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday stated in response to PRC President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) claim that “Taiwan is a sacred territor
FRAUD: Taiwan ranked fourth in total losses from scams in a survey of 13 Asian nations and areas, with nearly 30 percent saying they would not report being defrauded People in Taiwan might have lost as much as NT$239.5 billion (US$7.52 billion) to scams over the past 12 months, an anti-scam research report released on Monday showed, based on a survey of people in East, Southeast and South Asia.The total losses to scams in Taiwan ranked fourth behind those in Sou
Israeli forces have been carrying out raids into southern Lebanon for months, uncovering Hezbollah tunnels and weapon caches under homes and uncovering invasion plans by the group, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said yesterday.Hagari said the details were being declassified, hours after Is
South Korea yesterday unveiled its most powerful ballistic missile and other weapons that could target North Korea during a massive Armed Forces Day ceremony, as the South’s president warned the North’s regime would collapse if it attempts to use nuclear weapons.South Korea’s weapons displays and wa
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon a
US President Joe Biden on Sunday approved US$567 million in defense assistance for Taiwan, the White House said.While the US does not officially recognize Taiwan diplomatically, it is Taipei’s key partner and a major provider of weapons — a point of consternation for Beijing, which has repeatedly ca
MORE TO COME: Beijing would likely continue combining ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ tactics to test the Chinese military’s capability to attack Taiwan, the defense ministry report said Beijing is attempting to internalize the Taiwan Strait and wage “lawfare” and influence campaigns to ramp up its “gray zone” efforts against Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report.The ministry’s latest report to the Legislative Yuan presented an analysis of Chinese military activi
RECOGNITION: Rocket and missile designer Su Yu-pen was joined by Nvidia cofounder Jensen Huang at the NAE honorary member induction ceremony in Washington Aerospace researcher Su Yu-pen (蘇玉本) was on Sunday inducted as an honorary member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) at its annual meeting in Washington, a source confirmed.Su has served at the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the research and development arm of the Minist
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it hopes that Taiwanese celebrities who reposted Chinese state media articles celebrating the National Day of the People’s Republic of China would consider public perceptions in Taiwan.Yesterday, China’s National Day, several Taiwanese celebrities re
President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) congratulated the newly elected chief of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba on assuming the role of the country’s prime minister on Tuesday, according to Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧).On behalf of Taiwan’s government and people, Lai
Cooperation projects between Taiwan and the Czech Republic that are being overseen by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are on schedule, a senior Taiwanese diplomat said yesterday.Department of European Affairs Deputy-Director Lin Chu-en (林主恩) gave the update in response to a question about a delay in
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) yesterday touted the growing ties between Taiwan and Italy as the legislature inaugurated an interparliamentary friendship caucus.Over the past few years, Taiwan and Italy have made consistent progress in expanding cooperation in trade
PREVENTION EFFORTS: Vaccination aims to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, but it does not ensure that people would not get infected at all, an expert said The seasonal influenza vaccine and the Omicron JN.1-adapted COVID-19 vaccine are now available, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it advised people to get vaccinated as soon as possible. “The flu vaccine on the left arm and COVID-19 vaccine on the right arm, to be healthy and
The Housing Act (住宅法) needs to be amended to address soaring housing prices and a lack of land, which contribute to the problem of an inadequate number of social welfare housing units, lawmakers across party lines said yesterday. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) criticiz
NEW RULES: The UK is implementing a new system and Taiwanese passport holders would be required to get an electronic authorization, the British Office Taipei said Taiwanese passport holders heading to Europe on short trips would need to be aware of two new entry systems that are to go into effect next month and next year, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. However, the two systems would not impact the ability of Taiwanese passport holders
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain.The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices wer
LABOR WATCH: Jerome Powell said policymakers would be guided by incoming data, allowing the Fed to cut rates faster if the economy slows more than expected US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the bank would lower interest rates “over time,” while again emphasizing that the overall US economy remains on solid footing.Powell also reiterated his confidence that inflation would continue moving toward the Fed’s 2 percent target, adding that eco
TECH WOES: The sentiment shift was linked to the market’s lack of enthusiasm over global sales of iPhone 16s and a stall in demand for AI gadgets, a CIER official said Operating conditions for Taiwanese manufacturers fell last month amid lingering economic weakness in the US, Europe and China, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) shed 4.4 points to 49.2, dropping
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) has good reason to raise electricity rates — to stay afloat. The state-run utilities company is facing imminent bankruptcy, with losses of NT$421.9 billion (US$13.25 billion) as of the end of August, approaching the limit of its NT$582.9 billion assets. Taipower’s collapse
On Sept. 18, the same day a group of travel industry representatives from the Xiamen Tourism Association visited Kinmen County for a “familiarization tour,” the Chinese Ministry of Finance abruptly announced that 34 Taiwanese agricultural products — including fresh fruit, vegetables and aquatic prod
On Tuesday last week, after a long silence, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned Uighurs at the 79th UN General Assembly. “We are sensitive to the protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Muslim Uighur Turks in a way that does not in any way harm the ‘one China policy’ an
DEJA VU: The game was a throwback to 1973, when the New York Mets also clinched a playoff spot on the day after the season was supposed to finish The New York Mets know a thing or two about comebacks.They saved their best one for the final day of the regular season.Overcoming deficits of 3-0 in the eighth inning and 7-6 in the ninth on Monday, they clinched a playoff berth when Francisco Lindor’s two-run homer capped a thrilling 8-7 win over
LeBron James on Monday said that the historic prospect of playing alongside his eldest son Bronny for the Los Angeles Lakers has given him a new lease of life ahead of the upcoming NBA season.LeBron James, 39, will tie Vince Carter’s record of playing 22 seasons in the NBA this year when he suits up
AFC Bournemouth’s record signing Evanilson on Monday scored his first goal for the club as the Cherries beat Southampton 3-1 in the English Premier League.The Brazilian international sparked a three-goal blitz from the hosts in the opening 39 minutes as Dango Ouattara and Antoine Semenyo also struck
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open.The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa ree
GENDER GAP: That was down from five in Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet, and well below female representation in other G7 nations, with a rights advocate terming it a backslide New Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Prime Minister yesterday appointed only two women to his 20-strong Cabinet, down from five previously, in what a rights group said represented a “backslide” in Tokyo’s push for greater female representation in politics.Ishiba, who held off a challenge from
NON-STICK: The former Dutch prime minister earned the nickname for his ability to ride out scandals, including earthquakes caused by extraction at a gas plant A laid-back people person known for holding firm when things get tough, Dutchman Mark Rutte will need all those skills to lead NATO through one of its most challenging times.Often pictured cycling to work, the 57-year-old yesterday started his new position as NATO secretary-general, charged with ste
Dockworkers have walked out of every major port on the US east and Gulf coasts, marking the beginning of a strike that could ripple through the world’s largest economy and cause political turmoil just weeks before the US presidential election.The affected ports have the combined capacity to handle a
Every year in India’s megacity Kolkata, the world’s oldest trade gets fleeting respect from an ancient custom — when soil outside brothels is considered sacred and collected for Hindu rituals.Those working in the eastern port city’s ever-busy red light district say the coveted earth is a bitter refl
Common sense is not that common: a recent study from the University of Pennsylvania concludes the concept is “somewhat illusory.” Researchers collected statements from various sources that had been described as “common sense” and put them to test subjects. The mixed bag of results suggested there wa
It is barely 10am and the queue outside Onigiri Bongo already stretches around the block. Some of the 30 or so early-bird diners sit on stools, sipping green tea and poring over laminated menus. Further back it is standing-room only.“It’s always like this,” says Yumiko Ukon, who has run this modest
At an unusual event, a group of people gather and sit together without interacting or checking their phones. Instead, they concentrate on nothing at all and empty their minds for the Space-Out Competition. Originally proposed by South Korean artist Woopsyang in 2014, this event is a form of performa
Jiang Yiwu paced the small room and wondered how the leader of the Literary Society had got here. He could hear the Russian and Manchu police outside. They were looking for him. The Russians controlled the railways now, cutting through China, taking land and resources. The people were angry, and so
對話 Dialogue清清:華華,你去過日本嗎?Qīngqing: Huáhua, nǐ qùguò Rìběn ma?華華:你這是什麼問題?台灣人最愛去日本旅遊了,一有假期,大家就都往日本擠,我怎麼可能沒去過?Huáhua: Nǐ zhè shì shénme wèntí? Táiwān rén zuì ài qù Rìběn lǚyóu le, yì yǒu jiàqí, dàjiā jiù dōu wǎng Rìběn jǐ, wǒ zěnme kěnéng méi qùguò?清清:那你坐沒坐過新幹線?Qīngqing: Nà nǐ zuò méi zuòguò Xīngànxiàn
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% |