Fri, Sep 22, 2023
ECONOMIC INDICATORS: A team would report on the effects of adjustments to the minimum wage on the economy and employment, the proposed legislation says The Cabinet yesterday approved a draft national minimum-wage bill that would use the consumer price index (CPI) as a reference, as well as fines of up to NT$1.5 million (US$46,712) for employers who contravene the law.The Ministry of Labor’s proposal would establish a review committee to develop a m
A plan to relax regulations on naturalization processes advanced yesterday, with the Executive Yuan approving proposed amendments to the Nationality Act (國籍法), including provisions to protect children’s rights, a reduction of the wait period to two years and waiving fees for exceptional applicants.T
Russian missiles and artillery yesterday pounded cities across Ukraine, killing at least two people and trapping others under rubble, while Poland said it would stop providing weapons to its ally amid a trade dispute.The early-morning wave of missile strikes was Russia’s largest in more than a month
Saudi Arabian negotiations with Israel mean the prospects of normalized relations between the two is getting closer every day, but treatment of Palestinians remains a “very important” issue to be resolved, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday
CALL FOR PEACE: Czech President Petr Pavel raised concerns about China’s military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and its ‘unfriendly action’ in the South China Sea The leaders of three diplomatic allies — Guatemala, Paraguay and Palau — on Tuesday voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN on the first day of the UN General Debate in New York.In his address during the 78th UN General Assembly, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr urged the UN and all part
CROSS-STRAIT CONCERNS: At the same US Congress hearing, Mira Resnick said a US government shutdown could affect weapons sales and licenses to allies such as Taiwan A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be a “monster risk” for Beijing and likely to fail, while a military invasion would be extremely difficult, senior Pentagon officials told the US Congress on Tuesday.Growing worries of a conflict come as China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan, holding larg
HIGHER EDUCATION: The Ministry of Education said funding for each of seven select universities would range between NT$50 million and NT$82.5 million The government is allocating NT$424.7 million (US$13.23 million) to fund bilingual education programs in seven universities as well as colleges, in the 2023 to 2025 school years, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said yesterday. The ministry launched a project in 2021 to help university and college st
More than 200 belongings of passengers who were killed in the derailments of Puyuma Express 6432 in Yilan in 2018 and Taroko Express 408 in Hualien in 2021 are now available for family members to retrieve following conclusions of investigations into the incidents, the Taiwan Railways Administration
The Indonesian Economic and Trade Office (IETO) has issued an ordinance prohibiting migrant worker groups in Taiwan from holding non-religious events until Dec. 12, following the death of an Indonesian man in a mass brawl in Changhua County on Sept. 2.The IETO on Tuesday said that the ordinance was
The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said it would prioritize imports of prepackaged eggs in future programs to avoid the controversies incurred by a special import program this year.When facing an egg shortage at the start of the year, agriculture officials in the special egg import program purcha
GLOBAL INTERESTS: Taiwan is facing security challenges on a daily basis, President Tsai Ing-wen said, as she called democratic nations to cooperate and be ‘relentless’ Taiwan is a key partner in the international democratic community, and it is in the interest of all people to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Concordia Annual Summit in New York on Wednesday.In a recorded video address, Tsai said she was grate
SPYING PRECAUTIONS: A draft legislation suggests harsher penalties for actions such as trespassing restricted areas, recording facilities by using drones The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a draft act authorizing military personnel to use their weapons to defend a base against trespassers and imposing prison sentences for spying on restricted military sites with drones.Defense officials proposed the law to bolster the security of military bases an
More than half of “US skepticism” narratives were created by Taiwan actors, while People’s Republic of China (PRC) actors had strong inclinations to spread such messages, the Information Operations Research Group (IORG) told a news conference yesterday.The IORG, a civilian research organization work
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Wednesday returned from Saint Kitts and Nevis, where he attended the celebration of the nation’s 40th anniversary of independence and signed an agreement to cooperate on training diplomatic personnel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.As a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential nominee Hou You-yi (侯友宜) told a Silicon Valley event on Wednesday that Taiwan would emulate the US’ “friend-shoring” policy to reduce its reliance on a China-based production.At a forum in Foster City, California, Hou described getting Taiwan-headquartere
CENTRAL BANK: The consumer price index would grow while core CPI is set to move forward at a milder rate, the governor said, adding that the GDP forecast is down The central bank yesterday kept its policy rate unchanged for the second straight quarter, saying that a rate pause would help support the economy, as consumer prices have moderated and would return to the 2 percent target next year.“The board gave unanimous support to a policy hold, although some m
NXP Semiconductors NV expects its first automotive-grade 5-nanometer chip built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to become available for automakers within one-and-a-half years at the earliest, following demand for better computing performance and energy efficiency for connected v
E.SUN Bank has announced its support for Yulon Motor with one of the very first sustainability-linked loan in Taiwan to address biodiversity and climate issues. With a loan volume of NTD 1 billion, this loan includes key performance indicators related to biodiversity, incentivizing Yulon Motor to re
In the public mind, the vice presidency is probably a decorative position. High-ranking yet without any executive power in the real sense, vice presidents are often underestimated by the public, so much so that former US president John Adams once described the vice presidency as “the most insignific
The National Health Research Institutes has said that there would be a shortage of between 15,000 and 24,000 nurses by next year. Sub-replacement fertility and young nurses’ dislike of clinical work are not the only reasons for this, with low wages and overwork exacerbating the issue. There are four
During a news conference in Vietnam on Sept. 10, a reporter asked US President Joe Biden about the possibility of China invading Taiwan. Biden replied that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is too busy handling major domestic economic problems to launch an invasion of Taiwan. On Wednesday last week
GIANTS DOWNED: Carroll had four hits, including a solo homer that made the Taiwanese-American outfielder the first rookie to enter the 25-50 club Taiwanese-American outfielder Corbin Carroll on Wednesday swiped his 50th base of the season, followed with his 25th homer and then made a nice, running defensive play to track down a line drive in left field that wrapped up Arizona’s 7-1 win over the San Francisco Giants.Just another day in one of
Italy captain Michele Lamaro on Wednesday praised his team for “embracing the challenge” of a 10-point halftime deficit to run out convincing 38-17 winners over Uruguay in their Rugby World Cup Pool A match in Nice, France.The South Americans, seeking a shock win to mirror their victory over Fiji fo
China hopes to make a splash with the Asian Games, which officially open tomorrow, but nationwide excitement has been muted as the economy sputters and some question the cost of the sporting extravaganza.Delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, the quadrennial Games, kicking off in the eastern city
Harry Kane was among the scorers on Wednesday as Bayern Munich beat Manchester United 4-3 in their heavyweight UEFA Champions League clash, while Jude Bellingham snatched a dramatic late winner for Real Madrid and Arsenal began their campaign with a big victory.The meeting between German champions B
‘GAME OVER’: A Belgian politician said the ocean is ‘in urgent need of protection,’ while environmentalists said the signatures would establish meaningful protections Nearly 70 countries at the UN on Wednesday signed a first-ever treaty on protecting the international high seas.“It’s an amazing moment to be here and see such multilateral cooperation and so much hope,” actress Sigourney Weaver said in New York as the signatures opened.The treaty marks change in “t
VISA ACTION: ’Visa services have been suspended till further notice,’ the BLS Indian Visa Application Center said, citing ‘operational reasons,’ without elaborating India’s visa processing center in Canada yesterday suspended services as a rift widened between the countries after Canada’s leader said India might have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Parliament on Monday that there were “credible alle
The son of jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai (黎智英) on Wednesday said that he did not want to see his father die in detention, as his lawyers raised the prospect that his long-delayed trial might be pushed back indefinitely.Sebastien Lai (黎崇恩) also said that the British government was “shameful”
Small things can mean a lot, and all revolutions start somewhere. So it is that the humble pocket, a repository for small things and once a minor consideration in clothes design, has become big news.A growing movement decrying the lack of proper pockets in women’s clothing has begun to find disciple
People who work remotely all the time produce less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of office workers, according to a new study.Employees in the US who worked from home all the time were predicted to reduce their emissions by 54 percent, compared with workers in an office, the study found. But
After three years, the Taipei Poetry Festival (臺北詩歌節) is once more able to invite resident poets from abroad to spend time and create in Taiwan’s capital. Mumbai-based Bina Sarkar Ellias, who will spend 17 days here, is also a designer and founded in 1997 the award-winning International Gallerie, an
A: After being delayed for a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Games in China’s Hangzhou are finally opening tomorrow. B: Yeah, more than 500 Taiwanese athletes are set to compete in 32 sports.A: Plus, “Breaking” and “e-Sports” will be included in the games for the first time.B: Will th
對話 Dialogue清清：下禮拜四是教師節，我那個在念清華大學的弟弟放一天假，真羨慕他！Qīngqing: Xià lǐbài sì shì Jiàoshī jié, wǒ nàge zài niàn Qīnghuá Dàxué de dìdifàng yìtiān jià, zhēn xiànmù tā!華華：噢！9月28號是孔子的生日，也是台灣的教師節。Huáhua: Ō! 9Yuè 28hào shì Kǒngzǐ de shēngrì, yěshì Táiwān de Jiàoshī jié.清清：我以前去中國大陸玩的時候，聽說他們的教師節不是9月28號，而是9月10號，跟我們不一樣
The human body’s most remarkable and resilient parts are its bones, which are an awe-inspiring subject to explore. A fully developed human skeleton is composed of 206 bones and over 200 joints, accounting for around 20 percent of an adult’s body weight. Bones have various functions, including essent
It’s certainly been a pleasure watching the presidential campaign launch of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) lurch painfully about like a wounded pachyderm in search of an elephant graveyard. Hou’s fall to third place in some polls last week appears early, and it might still be recoverable. But grumbling in his party about replacing him has already begun. Indeed, all indications are that the party that twice gave us Lien Chan (連戰), the most despised politician in Taiwan, as a presidential candidate and later offered voters Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), is arcing along its normal descending trajectory, the North Korean missile test of electoral politics. A KIND OF POLICY PLATFORM Last week the KMT doubled down on this path with Hou’s calls for nuclear power and more death penalty executions, standard KMT fare for decades (the latter is unnecessary since so many potential criminals are likely to die in traffic accidents long before they harm anyone). Apparently KMT policy institutions are not echo chambers so much as mausoleums where dead ideas are embalmed and then periodically put on display. The lack of public policy imagination is obvious. A less obvious facet of KMT ineptitude: with years of speculation that Hou would be their man in 2024, neither Hou nor the party insisted on interesting or experimental public policies to showcase Hou’s greatness in preparation for the showdown. Of course, that is even more true of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Hou’s slide and the media buzz surrounding it are obscuring the truly urgent problem the pro-Taiwan side faces: DPP presidential candidate William Lai (賴清德) has not expanded his voter support beyond the party base. In most polls he remains below 40 percent. Independent voters are staying away in droves, and for the moment the young are turning to
July 17 to July 23 When Yeh Ken-chuang (葉根壯) came of age, the traditional skills of architecture and carpentry that had been in his family for four generations were disappearing. After helping his uncle Yeh Teh-ling (葉得令) construct ships, residences and temples for more than a decade, Yeh struck out on his own at the age of 28 in 1960 as a damusi (大木司, chief carpenter), earning his lifelong title “Chief Chuang” (壯司). Around this time, builders in his homeland of Penghu were increasingly using reinforced concrete instead of wood, due to the humid climate. The period also saw a frenzy in temple construction as the economy improved, meaning there was plenty of work for Yeh. Adept in non-structural techniques such as doors, windows and furniture, as well as the intricate carvings and detailed decorations that adorned the structures, Yeh was able to adapt his skills, leading the reconstruction of the historic Hsiliao Daitian Temple (西寮代天宮) on Penghu’s main island in 1963. According to the book Crossing Traditions in Yeh Ken-chuang’s Large-scale Carpentry Skills (宮廟巧藝 :跨越傳統的葉根壯大木作技術), it was Penghu’s first temple that used a purely reinforced concrete structure. Before his life was cut short, Yeh created more than 70 temples and related structures across the various islands of Penghu and left behind more than 230 building plans. Although Yeh could have built temples and other structures on Taiwan proper, he only worked on a handful of projects outside of Penghu because he wanted to be close to his family. CLAN OF CARPENTERS The Yeh family’s woodworking tradition began with Yeh Ma-li (葉媽利), who learned the architecture and carpentry trade from an unknown master on Kinmen. The Yehs trace their roots to Kinmen, although this branch had been living in Penghu since the early 1600s. Yeh Ma-li was Penghu’s chief temple builder between 1860 and
| New Taipei City | 26-33 | 20% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 25-33 | 20% | |
| Hsinchu City | 26-33 | 20% | |
| Taipei City | 26-34 | 30% |  |
| Miaoli County | 25-33 | 20% | |
| Taoyuan City | 26-34 | 20% | |
| Keelung City | 26-30 | 30% | |
| Yunlin County | 25-33 | 30% |  |
| Taichung City | 26-33 | 30% | |
| Nantou County | 25-33 | 30% | |
| Changhua County | 26-33 | 20% | |
| Chiayi County | 26-34 | 20% | |
| Chiayi City | 24-34 | 30% | |
| Tainan City | 27-32 | 20% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 27-33 | 20% | |
| Pingtung County | 25-33 | 30% | |
| Yilan County | 25-31 | 40% | |
| Hualien County | 25-31 | 30% | |
| Taitung County | 26-32 | 20% | |
| Kinmen County | 27-32 | 20% | |
| Penghu County | 26-31 | 20% | |
| Lienchiang County | 26-30 | 30% | |
RSS