Mon, Feb 09, 2026
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) was sentenced today to a total of 20 years in jail on three charges comprising two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials.The Mainland Affairs Council condemned the "harsh" sentence and called for Lai
DIPLOMACY: During Honduras’ presidential election last year, Nasry Asfura had expressed his intention to restore relations with Taiwan Honduran President Nasry Asfura on Saturday said he is considering switching diplomatic ties to Taiwan from China. Asfura was quoted as making the remarks after his meeting with US President Donald Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Asfura, a conservative businessman and former mayo
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday released the first video documenting the submerged sea trials of Taiwan’s indigenous defense submarine prototype, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, showing underwater navigation and the launch of countermeasures.The footage shows the vessel’s first dive, steering and
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling coalition won a super-majority of at least two-thirds of the seats in yesterday’s snap lower house elections, national broadcaster NHK projected. Takaichi’s ruling bloc capitalized on her honeymoon start as Japan’s first female prime minister. If confi
Vote counting was under way last night in Thailand’s early general election, seen as a three-way race among competing visions of progressive, populist and old-fashioned patronage politics. The battle for support from 53 million registered voters came against a backdrop of slow economic growth and he
SHRINKING WINDOW: If Taiwan continues to stall the passage of its defense budget, the US might redirect arms sales to other, more proactive countries, an expert said US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order for the customer list of US weapons that would prioritize countries with higher defense spending and strategic importance, the White House said on Friday.The order establishing the “America First Arms Transfer Strategy” marks a significant shif
The High Prosecutors’ Office is continuing to investigate the infamous Lin (林) family murders from 1980 in the hopes that an unmatched fingerprint could bring a breakthrough in the cold case. The case of the Lin family murders is one of the highest-profile homicides in modern Taiwanese history. A ne
The government today congratulated Thailand on the smooth completion of its general election a day earlier, in which the country's ruling conservative party secured a solid victory.Yesterday's election was held to fill all 500 seats in the House of Representatives, including 400 constituency seats a
Researchers used satellites to track five critically endangered Taiwanese wedgefish, identifying the waters off the west coast and Penghu County as key habitats essential to its survival, the Fisheries Research Institute said today. The wedgefish (Rhynchobatus immaculatus) is a shark-like ray that i
President William Lai (賴清德) last night congratulated Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on their historic landslide victory in Japan's general election earlier in the day.The decisive win "clearly demonstrates the trust and expectations of Japanese voters f
The landslide victory by Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) yesterday signals the collapse of the pro-China faction in Japanese politics, academics said today.The LDP, led by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, secured 316 seats in Japan’s House of Representatives in yesterday’s election. It
The administration of US President Donald Trump remains committed to Taiwan, a US official said yesterday, following reports that Beijing had privately warned the US that arms sales to Taiwan could jeopardize Trump's visit to China in April."This administration has been very clear that the enduring
Cool and partly to mostly sunny conditions are expected around Taiwan this week, forecasters said today, after temperatures dipped below 10°C in the north and center of the country early in the morning.Nantou County's Jhongliao Township (中寮) recorded an early morning low of 7.1°C today, the coldest
FAUX PAS: ‘Murder of the Century’ faced a backlash after it had not obtained family members’ consent and held a promotion a day before the murdered twins’ birthday Actor Johnny Kou (寇世勳), who stars in a period suspense movie adapted from the story of the Lin (林) family murders, yesterday apologized to the victims’ family after it was brought to light that the production had been shot without consent.The film, titled Murder of the Century (世紀血案), was based on t
A 73-year-old man was arrested for allegedly starting fires in two Taipei MRT bathrooms yesterday to draw attention to his repeated petitions to be excluded from a redevelopment.The man, surnamed Zeng (曾), owns land in an area that is being redeveloped in Taichung’s Shengang District (神岡).He and sev
AI SPLURGE: The four major US tech companies have lost more than US$950 billion in value since releasing earnings and outlooks, while equipment makers were gaining Four of the biggest US technology companies together have forecast capital expenditures that would reach about US$650 billion this year — a flood of cash earmarked for new data centers and all the gear within them.The spending planned by Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft
TAKING OFF: Analysts had predicted it would take four more years to reach US$1 trillion, as logic-chip revenue soared 40% and memorychip sales grew 35%, SIA said The semiconductor industry is to reach US$1 trillion in revenue this year for the first time, fueled by artificial intelligence (AI) and the spread of computer chips to virtually every part of the economy.Total industry sales were US$791.7 billion last year and are forecast to chalk up another 26 pe
CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) are today to lower gasoline prices by NT$0.2 per liter, after international crude oil prices last week snapped a six-week rising streak.CPC and Formosa gasoline prices are to fall to NT$27.2, NT$28.7 and NT$30.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 9
The wrap-up press event on Feb. 1 for the new local period suspense film Murder of the Century (世紀血案), adapted from the true story of the Lin family murders (林家血案) in 1980, has sparked waves of condemnation in the past week, as well as a boycott.The film is based on the shocking, unsolved murders th
This year’s cold weather hit Taiwan abruptly and fiercely. National Fire Agency statistics showed that within just six days last month, 181 people, most of them older, across the country had “out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.” Behind the cold numbers are loved ones collapsing in bathrooms, living roo
In a stark reminder of China’s persistent territorial overreach, Pema Wangjom Thongdok, a woman from Arunachal Pradesh holding an Indian passport, was detained for 18 hours at Shanghai Pudong Airport on Nov. 24 last year. Chinese immigration officials allegedly informed her that her passport was “in
‘SO BORING’: After falling on his second try, Kira Kimura won by riding backward and spinning five-and-a-half times with a grab of his board between the bindings That ever-growing bench of Japanese snowboarders runs deep. Jumps very high, too.The country that has steadily been asserting mastery over the halfpipe took that show to the Winter Olympics big air contest on Saturday night, where Kira Kimura and Ryoma Kimata flew and stomped their way to a 1-2 fini
There are four matches happening at once in Cortina’s curling stadium, yet you would hardly know it. All attention in the venue seems trained on young, ponytailed Stefania Constantini, the defending gold medalist, who hails from Cortina and is battling for a spot in the next round of the competition
A sparkling unbeaten 84 from India captain Suryakumar Yadav and three wickets from late call-up Mohammed Siraj in Mumbai on Saturday helped India avoid a shock defeat to the US as they opened their defense of the T20 World Cup.India were in trouble at 77-6 before Suryakumar took them to a competitiv
Jamie George was proud of England’s dynamic start to the Six Nations after they thrashed Wales 48-7 at Twickenham, England, on Saturday ahead of next week’s trip to Edinburgh.Henry Arundell, making his first Test start since the 2023 Rugby World Cup, ran in a first-half hat-trick of tries, with Ben
China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites.In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants fro
SHIFTING BLAME: Near the end of the one-minute-long video, the Obamas were shown with their faces on the bodies of monkeys for about one second US President Donald Trump on Friday refused to apologize for a video posted on his social media account depicting former US president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as monkeys, although he said he condemned the post as the White House shifted the blame to staff. The video shared on Trump
ANTI-SEMITISM: Some newsletters promote hateful ideas such as white supremacy and Holocaust denial, with one describing Adolf Hitler as ‘one of the greatest men of all time’ The global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters that promote virulent Nazi ideology, white supremacy and anti-Semitism, a Guardian investigation has found. The platform, which says it has about 50 million users worldwide, allows members of the public to self-publish ar
In 2012, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) heroically seized residences belonging to the family of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “purchased with the proceeds of alleged bribes,” the DOJ announcement said. “Alleged” was enough. Strangely, the DOJ remains unmoved by the any of the extensive
Feb. 9 to Feb.15 Growing up in the 1980s, Pan Wen-li (潘文立) was repeatedly told in elementary school that his family could not have originated in Taipei. At the time, there was a lack of understanding of Pingpu (plains Indigenous) peoples, who had mostly assimilated to Han-Taiwanese society and had
On paper, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) enters this year’s nine-in-one elections with almost nowhere to go but up. Yet, there are fears in the pan-green camp that they may not do much better then they did in 2022.Though the DPP did somewhat better at the city and county councillor level in
1. 喬治氣得發抖。ˇ George trembled with anger.χ George trembled with angry.註：介詞 with 後面應用名詞作介詞的受詞；angry 是形容詞，anger 是名詞。2. 他過分客氣，沒表示意見。ˇ He is over modest and withholds his opinion.χ He is over modesty and withholds his opinion.註：modesty 是名詞，modest 是形容詞，描寫或修飾主詞，應以形容詞作補語。3. 我對你的作品印象非常深刻。ˇ I am very impressed
Continued from yesterday（延續自昨日）https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/langBy now, it’s clear that pigs are not what we imagine them to be. But the surprises don’t end here. These creatures also carry traits that further defy common stereotypes. Take their noses, for example. A pig’s sense of smell is so
People praise the wisdom of owls and the loyalty of dogs, yet pigs are rarely commended for anything. Branded as lazy and dirty, they’ve long had a bad rap. But if you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll find that pigs are among the most underestimated animals of all. If you’ve watched the animated
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 | 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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