President-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday urged his new Cabinet to listen to public opinion and work to garner public support.As long as the DPP maintains sufficient public support, it can push for policies it wants, even without a majority in the Legislat
Twenty opposition lawmakers are to visit the Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島) on May 16, the largest group of legislators to have set foot on the island.The last time legislators visited the island was in 2016, and the delegation then consisted of five legislators, all from the Democratic Progressive P
CONTRADICTORY: The vice president-elect was not ‘allowed to transit by ground transport’ and did not leave Dresden airport, a think tank director said
Vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) visit to Europe in March proceeded smoothly and included transits through Frankfurt, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Friday, after the German government reportedly restricted her travel in the country.Hsiao’s request to travel through the sou
Taiwan has imposed export controls on high-density nitrocellulose, an explosives precursor, and there is no record of Taiwanese exports of such a substance, the International Trade Administration (ITA) said on Friday.No company in Taiwan produces high-density nitrocellulose, it added.The remarks cam
COVID-19: Taiwan’s average excess mortality between 2020 and last year during the pandemic was 3.3 percent, better than the OECD average
Taiwan’s average excess mortality in the past four years during the COVID-19 pandemic was 3.3 percent, much lower than many of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, a Taipei Medical University (TMU) research team said yesterday.The research team’s survey
JAPANESE ERA: Recent restoration helped uncover the building’s original motif and historical design, which called for a name more appropriate to this legacy, officials said
The Kaohsiung Cultural Affairs Bureau has removed Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) name from a tourist attraction at its Sizihwan (西子灣) waterfront to better reflect the Japanese-era building’s original motif and historic value.The hall is now to be referred to as City-certified Historic Site of Sizihwan Hall
Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC), Ministry of Health and Welfare, and South Korea’s Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) on Friday signed a “Combating Digital Sex Crime Online” joint statement, the NCC said.The joint statement has three main focuses, including ensuring t
A man on Friday was sentenced to six years and eight months behind bars for hitting and killing a Singaporean pedestrian in Taipei while driving under the influence, the Taipei District Court said.The Taiwanese driver, surnamed Hsiang (向), showed remorse and made an effort to make up for the inciden
A team of Taiwanese and US scientists warned of “super termites” after a three-year study suggested that two destructive subterranean species are producing hybridized offspring in the wild.This research, which consisted of lab tests and a three-year field study in Taiwan, was published in the March
ASTRONOMYMeteor shower tomorrowThe Eta Aquarid meteor shower, one of the biggest celestial events of the spring, is to peak tomorrow with a maximum rate of 50 shooting stars per hour, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. As many as 50 Eta Aquarids per hour could flash through the radiant in the nort
“Star Wars” fans in costume walk in the lobby area of Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) yesterday in celebration of May 4 “Star Wars Day.” The day is globally recognized by fans of the space opera as a commemorative day because “May the fourth” sounds like the movie series’ most iconic
President Tsai Ing-wen, center, and Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, center right, take part in a religious ritual in Taipei yesterday marking the Queen Mother of the West cultural festival.
People lie on the ground at the Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung yesterday. The center is being promoted by the city government among other spots including the Shoushan Zoo and Baolaihuashang Hot Springs Par as places to visit during the upcoming Mother’s Day.
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China.DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act
The Ministry of National Defense’s Defense Mission to the US and the American Institute in Taiwan have signed a NT$518.2 million (US$16 million) continuing service agreement for the Maritime Operations Support Center at the Pingtung Air Base.The ministry said the contract for continued US technical
Taiwan and the US have been looking at a piece of legislation that has guided their unofficial relations over the past 45 years, and they both think it is adequate for their current needs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Thursday.The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) provides the U
‘NOT ENOUGH’: The effect would be limited, because a price discount would also be offered to industries that take measures to reduce emissions, an expert said
The three laws proposed by the Ministry of Environment to promote carbon reduction through the use of carbon fees would only have a limited impact on reining in emissions if adopted, experts said.Earlier this week, the ministry proposed three new laws based on the Climate Change Response Act (氣候變遷因應
BLOOD SUCKER: The researchers plans to publish the complete genome of the tiny black mosquito on an open-access Web site to encourage further study of the species
Taiwanese scientists have cracked the genetic code of a tiny bloodsucker in an advancement of research on repellant and insecticide development, a study published this month in the journal Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology showed.Forcipomyia taiwana, commonly known in Chinese as the “tiny bl
A presentation yesterday on Taiwan’s self-built language model TAIDE, released commercially on April 15, showed the many fields it can be applied to, from language learning and agricultural knowledge searches to banking customer service. The project to develop TAIDE, which stands for Trustworthy AI
SPRING COLORS: Chengfu Elementary School principal said yesterday the incident was an excellent opportunity to teach students how to approach nudity and art
A billboard put up by the Li Mei-shu Art Gallery featuring a female nude painting by late artist Lee Shih-chiao (李石樵) was partially censored yesterday following complaints from the parents of students at a nearby elementary school.The gallery put a QR code on the blacked-out portion alongside a prin