The death penalty conforms with the Constitution, but should only be applied in “exceptional” cases, the Constitutional Court said yesterday.The judgement was issued in response to a petition by prisoners on death row who said that capital punishment was unconstitutional.“The death penalty is a capi
TECH LEADER: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines said it is unthinkable to exclude Taiwan from deliberations on the Pact for the Future and Global Digital Contract
Nine of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies yesterday called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to include the nation in the deliberations about technology and sustainable development at the UN Summit for the Future.The 79th session of the UN General Assembly opened on Tuesday last week, with the high-
Authorities in Taiwan and Bulgaria yesterday denied involvement in the supply chain of thousands of pagers that detonated on Tuesday in Lebanon in a deadly blow to Hezbollah.Tuesday’s attack, and another on Wednesday involving exploding hand-held radios used by Hezbollah, together killed 37 people a
Moscow would defend its interests in the arctic in diplomatic and military terms, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published yesterday.Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying in a series of documentaries that Russia was resolved to counter a drive by the U
A Hong Kong man was jailed yesterday for “seditious” posts on social media, becoming the third person to be imprisoned under a new National Security Law in the span of two days.Au Kin-wai (區健威), 58, was sentenced to 14 months behind bars after he pleaded guilty to publishing 239 seditious posts on F
The Constitutional Court this afternoon decided against abolishing the death penalty, but limited the scope in which it can be applied to only the "most serious crimes."The court heard oral arguments on the case on April 23 from attorneys representing 37 convicts on death row who have exhausted all
PRODUCTION PARTNERSHIPS: Although the technology might not use Taiwanese branding, the nation’s tech prowess can offer opportunities, Wellington Koo said
Taiwan intends to focus on the research, development and implementation of drone systems, artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies to fortify the nation’s defense, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said at a meeting with journalists on Wednesday.As part of this in
HOUSING WATCH: Governor Yang Chin-long said he had turned neutral in tackling inflation, but stiffer rules were needed to moderate real-estate lending
The central bank yesterday kept its interest rates unchanged, but hiked the required reserve ratio (RRR) on time and demand deposits by 25 basis points, and tightened mortgage rules for retail and corporate buyers.The policy moves came after the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut interest rates by
The government is planning “global elite” cards, which would provide more incentives than the Employment Gold Card, in another bid to attract high-skilled workers to Taiwan, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.Six years after the launch of the Gold Card, the NDC is planning to issu
Israel yesterday said that it bombed Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, piling pressure on the militant group already reeling after a series of deadly explosions targeting its communications systems that it blamed on Israel.The coordinated blasts involving electronic devices killed 32 people across two day
Officials in Tokyo yesterday said that a Japanese boy who was stabbed near his school in southern China has died.He was 10.The officials asked Beijing to provide details of the stabbing and take preventive measures.A suspect is in custody.Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa expressed
RETALIATION EXPECTED: About 200 people are in critical condition following the explosions that took place in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanese media said
The audacious pager attack in Lebanon, which killed 12 people and injured at least 2,800, has increased tensions between Israel and militant group Hezbollah, which vowed to retaliate. Hezbollah, the Lebanese government and Iran blamed Israel for the near-simultaneous blasts on Tuesday afternoon. Man
Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) yesterday said that it authorized its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria, but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them. The pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, Gold Apollo said in a sta
Three people had died and nine were hospitalized as of yesterday morning after eating millet dumplings that might have contained toxic pesticides.On Tuesday evening, after consuming millet dumplings she had made earlier, a woman surnamed Tseng (曾) in Taitung County’s Jinfong Township (金峰) developed
A Chinese naval formation led by the Liaoning aircraft carrier sailed through waters northeast of Taiwan yesterday and continued toward the southeast of Japan’s Yonaguni Island, the Ministry of National Defense said. “During this period, the armed forces monitored the situation and responded accordi
DRONE STRIKES: The weapons storehouse in Toropets in the Tver region was built in 2018 and is one of Russia’s biggest, state media TASS reported
Ukraine said it destroyed a large weapons stockpile in Russia overnight using long-range drones to stage the attack as Kyiv awaits US permission to use Western-made missiles in such operations. About 100 explosive-laden uncrewed aircraft destroyed a large cache of Iskander and Tochka-U missiles, as
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety
The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday.The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has released new guidelines advising government employees visiting Hong Kong and Macau not to take part in any activity that could be construed as contravening the Chinese territories’ new national security law.Officials from the Executive Yuan and its affiliated o
Delegations from Canada and Germany yesterday visited government officials in Taipei, weeks after warships from both nations sailed through the Taiwan Strait.Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Remus Chen (陳立國) headed a luncheon to welcome the Canadian delegation, including Richard Fadden, former natio
ELECTION DISPUTE: The Maduro government has reactivated its harshest and most violent tools of repression, members of a fact-finding mission said
Independent UN human rights experts said in a new report yesterday that their findings show Venezuela’s government has intensified the use of the “harshest and most violent” tools of repression following the disputed July 28 presidential election.The official results have been widely criticized as u