“All of my joints are in excruciating pain, as if I’ve been beaten.” This is not an account from a “re-education” camp in China’s Xinjiang region — it is how a person who contracted chikungunya fever in Guangdong Province’s Foshan described the illness.Yes, it was mosquitoes that did the beating, bu
Back-to-back killings of women supposedly protected by restraining orders have raised questions about what has gone so wrong in our legal system.The government has failed to heed the warning from the double homicide in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城), in which the elder sister’s abusive husb
At a public hearing to discuss draft amendments to the Act for Education Development of Schools in Remote Areas (偏遠地區學校教育發展條例), research by the National Academy for Educational Research was presented that referred to post-bachelor’s degree programs as “back doors” for acting teachers — a category of
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A Japanese anime has unexpectedly become a symbol of resistance in Indonesia, as young people lean into popular culture to speak out against corruption and ineffective governance. The viral protests come as space for dissent in the world’s third-largest democracy shrinks. Young Indonesians are using
The past year has been marked by a series of revolutions and political shocks as young people across Asia and Africa have taken to the streets, demanding accountable governments, fairer societies and economic opportunities — a wave of resistance that Open Society Foundations president Binaifer Nowro
Sam Altman has a good problem. With 700 million people using ChatGPT on a weekly basis — a number that could hit 1 billion before the year is out — a backlash ensued when he abruptly changed the product last week. OpenAI’s innovator’s dilemma, one that has beset the likes of Alphabet Inc’s Google an
On Thursday last week — one day after the legislature’s Transportation Committee announced that deliberations over a draft news media and digital platform bargaining act remain at an impasse — students from the nation’s top journalism schools publicly urged lawmakers to pass the act and include a jo
For the past few years, China has been proud of its efforts to promote China’s digital yuan (e-CNY). Armed with advanced technology, China believed e-CNY could help realize the internationalization of the yuan, and as a result, China wholeheartedly backed e-CNY, aimed at replacing cash, as well as m
In Lagos, Nigeria, Aisha imports electronics from East Asia. The naira’s volatility drained her margins — until she switched to US dollar-pegged stablecoins such as USDC and USDT. What took days now settles in minutes, shielding her from currency swings and bank fees. With inflation at about 30 perc
World War II reached its conclusion on Aug. 15, 1945. Japan announced its unconditional surrender, thereby relinquishing its colonial rule over Taiwan. Filled with dreams of a “motherland,” Taiwanese welcomed the Republic of China (ROC) — which had come to take over on behalf of the Allied forces —
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With two weeks to avoid US President Donald Trump’s punitive 50 percent tariffs, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has drawn a red line.India “will never compromise on the interests of its farmers, livestock producers and fisherfolk,” he says.That commitment is partly dictated by realpolitik. Near
The British National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing have backed plans to offer greater “transparency” on the ethnicity, and potentially the immigration status, of police suspects, but in a world where rumors travel faster than facts, the new approach will have profound consequenc
Taiwan is to hold a referendum on Saturday next week to decide whether the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, which was shut down in May after 40 years of service, should restart operations for as long as another 20 years. The referendum was proposed by the opposition Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and pas
Eighty years ago, on Aug. 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb in Hiroshima; three days later, Nagasaki would receive the same fate. On Aug. 15, 1945, Japan proclaimed its unconditional surrender, bringing World War II to an end. I have been revisiting Genbaku Shishu (“Poems of the Atomic Bomb”),
On May 13, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to Article 6 of the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Control Act (核子反應器設施管制法). Proposed by Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators, it allows nuclear power units to extend their operating periods. On May 20, the Legislative Yuan also approved the TPP’s p
Taiwan has experienced rampant fraud in recent years; a report by the National Audit Office showed an astonishing NT$47.8 billion (US$1.59 billion) was lost to fraud in Taiwan last year. Since 2022, the government has launched several anti-fraud strategy guidelines, while the Executive Yuan set up a
The recent spate of domestic violence has once again cast a harsh light on the limitations of protection orders. Last month alone, two shocking incidents shook Taiwan. In New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城), a man surnamed Hsieh (謝) allegedly killed his wife and sister-in-law — just a day after