Pineapple prices have risen despite pressure on the market from China, officials said yesterday. Pineapples are Taiwan’s top fruit export. China suspended imports of the fruit in March 2021, citing pest concerns, in a move that Taiwan said lacked scientific basis, contravened normal trade practice a
A scheme to develop urban forests is coming, with the goal of allowing people to walk under seamless shade from MRT stations to their workplace, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said yesterday.The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a weekend market at Taipei’s Daan Forest Park (大安森林公園
PROJECTIONS: It expects the economy to grow by 4 percent next year, if AI demand moderates, and headline inflation to edge up by 1.8 percent this year
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) projected Taiwan’s economy would grow 7.6 percent this year, as surging demand for advanced semiconductors underpins the nation’s technology exports and investments despite higher energy prices amid the Middle East conflict. The figure was up 3.6 percentage points fr
US President Donald Trump said that US negotiators would be in Pakistan today for talks with Iran, but did not detail which officials would be sent to the second round of in-person talks.Trump in a post on social media said Iran violated the ceasefire agreement by firing bullets on Saturday in the S
North Korea yesterday test-fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea’s military said, the latest in a recent flurry of launches by the nuclear-armed state.The launches add to a series of weapons tests Pyongyang has carried out in recent weeks, including ballistic missiles, anti-wars
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said
China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed.The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halv
Japan’s rare two-pronged deployment near Taiwan during its first-ever participation in Philippine drills as an “operational combat unit” underscores a shift in first island chain posture and reflects Tokyo’s efforts to play a more central role in regional alliances, analysts said.Japanese destroyer
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA
Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday.The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishin
Iran yesterday rowed back on its decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and fired on a tanker attempting to pass through the waterway. It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.Confusion over the critical chok
Australia and Japan yesterday signed contracts to deliver the first three of a A$10 billion (US$7.2 billion) order of Japanese-designed warships, with the first due for delivery in three years.Mitsubishi Heavy Industries would build the first three Mogami-class frigates in Japan, while Australia pla
BIPARTISAN PUSH: In a letter, US lawmakers reiterated the importance of enabling procurement of US equipment and domestic production of asymmetric capabilities
The US is likely to approve pending weapons sales to Taiwan in the coming weeks, a bipartisan group of senators assured Taiwanese lawmakers in a letter, urging Taipei to hasten its stalled defense spending in the face of pressure from China.The letter comes ahead of a planned May 14 to 15 trip to Ch
PROTECTING YOUNG PEOPLE: The expansion covers the murder of young children, the abuse and obstruction of an adolescent’s well-being and sexual exploitation of minors
The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed an amendment expanding “pre-emptive detention” to include suspects in the sexual exploitation of minors, the homicide of young children, fraud and drunk driving as stipulated in the Criminal Code, among other offenses.The expansion of the grounds for pre-emptive
Taiwan’s importance is rising as a key to artificial intelligence (AI) hardware resilience, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) holding the lifeline of the global AI hardware supply chain, according to this year’s AI Index report released this week by Stanford University’s Institu
Thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians yesterday took to the road, hoping a 10-day ceasefire with Israel would allow them to return to their homes in southern Beirut and the nation’s war-torn south.Roads heading south from the capital were clogged with traffic, despite Israel’s defense minister w
Former Burmese president Win Myint, detained since a 2021 military coup, was yesterday freed under a mass amnesty which, according to a source close to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, also reduced her sentence.Win Myint and Aung San Suu Kyi, the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, led Mya
MARINE WATCH: Premier Cho Jung-tai said the first task should be to integrate 57 marine radar systems, which use different formats, across government agencies
The government is building an ocean radar network to enhance monitoring capabilities in key strategic waters, including the Taiwan Shoal (台灣灘), the Luzon Strait and Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼), the National Academy of Marine Research said yesterday.The project was launched last year amid a rise in ocean res
A bipartisan group of US senators on Tuesday sent a joint letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and lawmakers from each party, urging the passage of a special defense budget and assuring the upcoming announcement of further arms sales.The letter was cosigned by US senators Jeanne Shaheen, J
FOUNDATION DENIAL: The KMT said the funds were to promote freedom and democracy in China, while the DPP said the exchanges lacked democratic elements
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy yesterday said that it has not yet reimbursed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for a trip to China led by KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), adding that the foundation’s charter prohibits sponsoring activities involving unification or independence.Earlier in th
Taiwan overtook the UK in stock market value as the country’s tech firms regained favor amid hopes for further de-escalation in the Iran war.Taiwan’s market capitalization rose to US$4.14 trillion as of Wednesday, making it the world’s seventh-largest, according to data compiled by Bloomberg that sh
Columns of fire engulfed a crucial Australian oil refinery after a chain of explosions, authorities said yesterday, as they warned of disruptions to domestic fuel supply.Flames as high as 60m erupted late on Wednesday after a gas leak ignited at the Viva Energy fuel plant in Victoria state, firefigh