[{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Tyler Cottenie","ar_views":"1231","ar_id":"2003829564","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2025-01-03","ar_head":"The Hengchun Grand Trail","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"When the weather is too cold to enjoy the white beaches and blue waters of Pingtung County\u2019s Kenting (\u58be\u4e01), it\u2019s the perfect time to head up into the hills and enjoy a different part of the national park. In the highlands above the bustling beach resorts, a simple set of trails treats visitors to lus","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2025\/01\/03\/2003829564","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829564","ph_attr":"Photo: Tyler Cottenie","ph_cap":"A hiker taking a break to sit in the grass.","ph_fpath":"2025\/01\/03","ph_fname":"p12-250103-Grassland.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2025\/01\/03\/p12-250103-Grassland.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2025\/01\/03\/thumbs\/p12-250103-Grassland.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"","ar_views":"358","ar_id":"2003829565","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2025-01-03","ar_head":"What to expect in  2025","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"TECHNOLOGYA few themes will dominate the year. The first is the AI bubble into which the tech giants have been pumping unconscionable sums of money with, at the moment, no conceivable or proportionate return. The two big questions then are: when will it burst \u2014 and when it does, what will be the con","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2025\/01\/03\/2003829565","photo":[]},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Wendy Ide","ar_views":"454","ar_id":"2003829566","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2025-01-03","ar_head":"Movie review: Robbie Williams monkeys around in  a raw and emotional biopic","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"It was a throwaway comment: Robbie Williams, Take That\u2019s cheeky chappie-turned-tabloid fodder solo phenomenon, described himself as a performing monkey, prancing and preening in front of the cameras and seeking the approval of the audience (or at least a banana or two). But for director Michael Grac","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2025\/01\/03\/2003829566","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829566","ph_attr":"Photo: AP","ph_cap":"Robbie Williams on Nov. 27 poses for photographers upon arrival at the European premiere for the film <i>Better Man<\/i> in London.","ph_fpath":"2025\/01\/03","ph_fname":"P11-250103-347.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2025\/01\/03\/P11-250103-347.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2025\/01\/03\/thumbs\/P11-250103-347.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Madeleine Aggeler","ar_views":"375","ar_id":"2003829505","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2025-01-02","ar_head":"New year resolutions that actually stuck","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"For some, new year resolutions are an opportunity to grow. For others, they\u2019re a pointless exercise in self-flagellation.That might be because they\u2019re hard to keep up. In the US, 44 percent of new year resolutions last two to three months; only 6 percent last a year. In the UK, 17 percent of people ","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2025\/01\/02\/2003829505","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829505","ph_attr":"Photo: EPA-EFE","ph_cap":"Light shows and fireworks from the Taipei 101 skyscraper yesterday light up the night sky to celebrate the New Year.","ph_fpath":"2025\/01\/02","ph_fname":"P12-250102-307.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2025\/01\/02\/P12-250102-307.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2025\/01\/02\/thumbs\/P12-250102-307.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Andrew Gregory ","ar_views":"354","ar_id":"2003829506","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2025-01-02","ar_head":"Quitting smoking may be easier with a smartwatch app, researchers say","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"Smartwatches could be used to help people quit smoking, a study suggests.Researchers have developed pioneering motion sensor software that can detect the typical hand movements that occur when someone is holding a cigarette.When cigarette use is detected, an alert flashes up on the smartwatch screen","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2025\/01\/02\/2003829506","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829506","ph_attr":"Photo: Bloomberg","ph_cap":"A wall display of smart wearable devices are pictured in Paris last July.","ph_fpath":"2025\/01\/02","ph_fname":"P12-250102-308.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2025\/01\/02\/P12-250102-308.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2025\/01\/02\/thumbs\/P12-250102-308.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Senay Boztas ","ar_views":"437","ar_id":"2003829507","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2025-01-02","ar_head":"Netherlands to open archive on people accused of wartime Nazi collaboration","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"For 80 years, details of their ancestors\u2019 collaboration with the Nazis have been buried in spotless rows of filing cabinets in The Hague. But thousands of Dutch families face having their relatives\u2019 history laid bare when an archive opens on 425,000 people accused of siding with the occupier during ","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2025\/01\/02\/2003829507","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829507","ph_attr":"Photo: AFP","ph_cap":"Jean-Louis Bertrand, son of the French Nazi concentration camp survivor Louis Bertrand (1923 - 2013), points on a model depicting the former camp site at the \u201cLangenstein-Zwieberge Concentration Camp Memorial\u201d in November last year near Halberstadt, eastern Germany.","ph_fpath":"2025\/01\/02","ph_fname":"P11-250102-314.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2025\/01\/02\/P11-250102-314.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2025\/01\/02\/thumbs\/P11-250102-314.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Tim Adams","ar_views":"80","ar_id":"2003829508","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2025-01-02","ar_head":"Book Review: 100 years of magical thinking","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"Edwin Frank vows in his introduction to this book to try to do for the fiction of the last century what the critic Alex Ross\u2019s landmark book The Rest Is Noise did for its music. He is as good as his word. This is the most engaging imagining of the progress of the 20th-century novel you will read. Fr","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2025\/01\/02\/2003829508","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829508","ph_attr":"","ph_cap":"<i>Stranger than Fiction:Lives of the Twentieth-Century Novel<\/i>\r\nby Edwin Frank","ph_fpath":"2025\/01\/02","ph_fname":"P11-250102-aa.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2025\/01\/02\/P11-250102-aa.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2025\/01\/02\/thumbs\/P11-250102-aa.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Courtney Donovan Smith \u77f3\u6771\u6587 ","ar_views":"856","ar_id":"2003829450","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2025-01-01","ar_head":"Donovan\u2019s Deep Dives: Why Tsai, and now Lai, poll so highly","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"Something strange happened in former president Tsai Ing-wen\u2019s (\u8521\u82f1\u6587) second term: She remained popular. According to My-Formosa.com polling at the time, she scored high on trustworthiness and satisfaction with her governance spiked at the beginning of her second term, then in the remaining three year","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2025\/01\/01\/2003829450","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829450","ph_attr":"Photo  courtesy of the Presidential Office","ph_cap":"President William Lai on Dec. 25 poses with boxer Ho Shan-i at Changhua County\u2019s Chenggong High School after he awarded her the Presidential Education Award.","ph_fpath":"2025\/01\/01","ph_fname":"p12-250101-001.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2025\/01\/01\/p12-250101-001.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2025\/01\/01\/thumbs\/p12-250101-001.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Arwa Mahdawi","ar_views":"441","ar_id":"2003829451","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2025-01-01","ar_head":"Do only half of people have an inner voice?","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"Sometimes I like to start a column by asking myself: should this really be a column that will live on the Internet forever, for all and sundry to see? Or is this really an airing of my many neuroses that is better shared privately, with a therapist?Not infrequently the answer is the latter. But ther","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2025\/01\/01\/2003829451","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829451","ph_attr":"Photo: EPA-EFE","ph_cap":"A person on Dec. 26 views a sunset in Phang Nga province, southern Thailand.","ph_fpath":"2025\/01\/01","ph_fname":"p12-250101-305.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2025\/01\/01\/p12-250101-305.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2025\/01\/01\/thumbs\/p12-250101-305.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Courtney Donovan Smith \u77f3\u6771\u6587","ar_views":"931","ar_id":"2003829393","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-31","ar_head":"Donovan\u2019s Deep Dives: Big shifts in support for Ko and the TPP","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"Charges have formally been brought in Taiwan People\u2019s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je\u2019s (\u67ef\u6587\u54f2) bribery, corruption and embezzling of campaign funds cases. Ko was briefly released on bail by the Taipei District Court on Friday, but the High Court on Sunday reversed the decision. Then, the Taipei Distri","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/31\/2003829393","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829393","ph_attr":"Photo:  Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times","ph_cap":"Supporters of Taiwan People\u2019s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je on Dec. 26 hold a candlelight vigil outside the Taipei District Prosecutor\u2019s Office.","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/31","ph_fname":"P12-241231-002.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/31\/P12-241231-002.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/31\/thumbs\/P12-241231-002.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Caroline Davies","ar_views":"478","ar_id":"2003829394","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-31","ar_head":"Scientist\u2019s \u2018ruthlessly imaginative\u2019 1925 predictions for the future come true \u2014 mostly","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"When the scientist and inventor Archibald Montgomery Low predicted \u201ca day in the life of a man of the future\u201d one century ago, his prophecies were sometimes dismissed as \u201cruthlessly imaginative.\u201dThey included, reported the London Daily News in 1925, \u201csuch horrors\u201d as being woken by radio alarm clock","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/31\/2003829394","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829394","ph_attr":"Photo: Reuters\r\n","ph_cap":"People use escalators at Penn Station on Christmas Day in Manhattan in New York City, US.","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/31","ph_fname":"P12-241231-301.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/31\/P12-241231-301.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/31\/thumbs\/P12-241231-301.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Michael Turton","ar_views":"1366","ar_id":"2003829335","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-30","ar_head":"Notes from Central Taiwan: The KMT unleashes chaos","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"This month Taiwan received a brutal Christmas present as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) passed all three of its desired amendments, making recalls of elected officials more difficult, gutting the Constitutional Court and altering the budgetary allocations to local governments. The nation at pre","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/30\/2003829335","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829335","ph_attr":"Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times","ph_cap":"DPP and KMT legislators on Dec. 20 fight each other during fierce clashes in the legislative chamber.","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/30","ph_fname":"P12-241230-002.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/30\/P12-241230-002.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/30\/thumbs\/P12-241230-002.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Han Cheung","ar_views":"916","ar_id":"2003829292","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-29","ar_head":"Taiwan in Time: The first Taiwanese-language blockbuster","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"Dec. 30 to Jan. 5Premiering on Jan. 4, 1956, Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan (\u859b\u5e73\u8cb4\u8207\u738b\u5bf6\u91e7) unexpectedly packed theaters for the next 27 days. Taiwan\u2019s first 35mm Hoklo-language (commonly known as Taiwanese) movie beat out the top Hollywood blockbuster, Land of the Pharaohs, and the Mandarin-language Peach","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/29\/2003829292","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829292","ph_attr":"Photo courtesy of Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute","ph_cap":"A promotional booklet for the 1956 hit movie <i>Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan.<\/i>","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/29","ph_fname":"p12-241229-promotional.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/29\/p12-241229-promotional.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/29\/thumbs\/p12-241229-promotional.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Courtney Donovan Smith \u77f3\u6771\u6587","ar_views":"1356","ar_id":"2003829248","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-28","ar_head":"Donovan\u2019s Deep Dives: Targeting Russian Asia","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"On Sept. 1, President William Lai (\u8cf4\u6e05\u5fb7) said \u201cIf it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn\u2019t [China] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun? Russia is now at its weakest, right?\u201d\u201cYou can ask Russia [for the land back] but you don\u2019t. So it\u2019s o","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/28\/2003829248","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829248","ph_attr":"Photo: AFP","ph_cap":"Russia\u2019s President Vladimir Putin and China\u2019s President Xi Jinping on May 16 shake hands during a signing ceremony following their talks in Beijing, China.","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/28","ph_fname":"p12-241228-330.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/28\/p12-241228-330.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/28\/thumbs\/p12-241228-330.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Deepa Bharath and Jessie Wardarski","ar_views":"687","ar_id":"2003829249","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-28","ar_head":"Native American psychedelic under threat","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"In Hebbronville, a corner of southern Texas, the plump cacti seem to pop out of arid dust and cracked earth, like magic dumplings.It\u2019s only here and in northern Mexico that the bluish-green peyote plant can be found growing naturally, nestled under thorny mesquite, acacia and blackbrush.For many Nat","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/28\/2003829249","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829249","ph_attr":"Photo: AP","ph_cap":"Yankton Sioux and Apache tribal member Adrian Primeaux, on March 25 stands for a portrait at the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative in Hebbronville, Texas.","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/28","ph_fname":"p12-241228-301.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/28\/p12-241228-301.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/28\/thumbs\/p12-241228-301.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Steven Crook","ar_views":"1308","ar_id":"2003829189","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-27","ar_head":"Travel: Traces of Japan in a southern village","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"One of my more inexplicable ambitions is to board or alight from a train at every one of the 240 Taiwan Railway Corp stations that offer passenger services. I reckon I\u2019ve still got over 100 to go, but if I live to a ripe old age, I might complete the list. Anyhow, this means that when I took a train","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/27\/2003829189","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829189","ph_attr":"Photo: Steven Crook","ph_cap":"Inactive, inauthentic, yet worth seeing: Luye Shinto Shrine.","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/27","ph_fname":"p12-241227-Shrine.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/27\/p12-241227-Shrine.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/27\/thumbs\/p12-241227-Shrine.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Jocelyn Noveck","ar_views":"435","ar_id":"2003829190","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-27","ar_head":"Film review: Let there be blood","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"Oh, the weather outside is frightful. But don\u2019t head to the multiplex to stay warm. Not if you\u2019re seeing Nosferatu, anyway. Bring your hand warmers, toe warmers, heart warmers and soul warmers \u2014 this update of the 1922 silent vampire classic will chill you to the bone.But the film, in Taiwan theater","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/27\/2003829190","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829190","ph_attr":"Photo: AP","ph_cap":"A scene from <i>Nosferatu.<\/i>","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/27","ph_fname":"p11-241227-323.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/27\/p11-241227-323.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/27\/thumbs\/p11-241227-323.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"","ar_views":"409","ar_id":"2003829191","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-27","ar_head":"How to teach youth to spot disinformation","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"Finland is consistently ranked as Europe\u2019s most media literate country and the skills needed to spot online hoaxes are on the school curriculum, amid a boom of mis and disinformation campaigns.\u201cWho knew what a troll was before?\u201d literature and Finnish language teacher Saara Varmola asked her 14 to 1","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/27\/2003829191","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829191","ph_attr":"Photo: AFP","ph_cap":"Students last month attend a class on media literacy at the Hiidenkiven Koulu school in Helsinki, Finland.","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/27","ph_fname":"p11-241227-329.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/27\/p11-241227-329.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/27\/thumbs\/p11-241227-329.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Ben Finley","ar_views":"421","ar_id":"2003829123","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-26","ar_head":"Where is Santa?","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth, delivering presents and defying time.Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa\u2019s location. M","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/26\/2003829123","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829123","ph_attr":" Photo: AP","ph_cap":"This image provided by NORAD shows its Santa Tracker.","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/26","ph_fname":"p12-241226-318.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/26\/p12-241226-318.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/26\/thumbs\/p12-241226-318.jpg"}},{"ar_sbhdtease":"","ar_byline":"By Angela Giuffrida ","ar_views":"487","ar_id":"2003829124","ar_sbhdbody":"","ar_section":"Features","ar_pubdate":"2024-12-26","ar_head":"Meet the 100-year old barista","dp_urlname":"feat","ar_desc":"Anna Possi answers the phone in the cafe but immediately asks to call her back. \u201cI have a customer,\u201d she says.It\u2019s mid-afternoon and Possi, who owns Bar Centrale in Nebbiuno, a small town overlooking Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, has been serving coffee since 7am. She usually finishes at 7pm.It\u2019s","ar_url":"News\/feat\/archives\/2024\/12\/26\/2003829124","photo":{"ar_id":"2003829124","ph_attr":"Photo: AFP","ph_cap":"Coffee cups are seen during a barista competition in Caracas on Nov. 13. Anna Possi, has been working as a barista since 1958, when she opened up her coffee shop with her husband. ","ph_fpath":"2024\/12\/26","ph_fname":"p12-241226-313.jpg","ph_url":"images\/2024\/12\/26\/p12-241226-313.jpg","ph_url_thumbs":"images\/2024\/12\/26\/thumbs\/p12-241226-313.jpg"}}]