Sun, May 10, 2026
ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan ranked ahead of the US, Denmark and Germany, which placed 21st, 22nd and 23rd respectively, in use of generative AI Taiwan recorded the world’s 20th-highest artificial intelligence (AI) diffusion rate in the first quarter of this year, entering the top 20 for the first time, a report released by a Microsoft think tank showed. In the AI Economy Institute report published on Thursday, Taiwan recorded a generative A
English test participation at elementary schools has surged over the past decade, test administrator Language Training and Testing Center (LTTC) said.Since the introduction of an elementary-school-level English test in 2015, registrations for the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT, 全民英檢) have su
Iran yesterday questioned the seriousness of US diplomacy in the wake of renewed naval clashes in the Gulf, while keeping Washington waiting for a response to its latest negotiating position. US President Donald Trump had said on Friday that he was expecting Iran’s response to Washington’s latest pr
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that his soldiers in Ukraine were fighting an “aggressive force” backed by all of NATO and described his war goals as “just,” as he addressed a scaled back Victory Day parade on Red Square in Moscow. Putin has made the memory of the Soviet victory over
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion).The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative
Taiwan is to open its market to Paraguayan poultry imports as the two nations continue to deepen bilateral economic ties, President William Lai (賴清德) announced yesterday following a ceremony in Taipei welcoming Paraguayan President Santiago Pena.The two nations signed a memorandum of understanding (
‘NO ROOM FOR HAGGLING’: The approved budget did not include allocations for the local defense industry and was not enough to pay for US arms, President William Lai said The Cabinet is mulling a new special budget act to fund critical defense programs, a source said yesterday, after opposition lawmakers on Friday rejected the Cabinet’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.77 billion) military spending plan and passed a reduced bill that capped the budget at NT$780 billion.The Ex
The legislature on Friday approved a scaled-down defense budget, a move analysts viewed as a “positive first step,” despite concerns that delays to local defense programs could hurt Taiwan’s long-term military buildup.The opposition-backed bill has a spending cap of NT$780 billion (US$24.82 billion)
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday accompanied Paraguayan President Santiago Pena during his visit to the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan, which houses the facilities of many tech heavyweights, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.Pena, who arrived in Taiwan o
BETTER PARTNER: Honduran President Nasry Asfura said it was his duty to seek out and deepen ties with allies that would be the most beneficial to his country Honduras’ new president is reviewing his predecessor’s agreements with China, a process that could help the US push to reduce the Asian nation’s influence in the region and lead to recognition of Taiwan.Before Honduras can make a “final decision” on its relationships in Asia, the government needs to
COSMETICS CHAIN FALLOUT: Inspections should be conducted at locations such as changing rooms and restrooms to make sure no spying is going on, a lawmaker said The government should act fast to limit access to high-risk spy cameras, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said yesterday in response to outrage over allegations that cosmetic chain Airlee Group Co (愛爾麗集團), Taiwan’s leading medical aesthetics group, had surveillance camera
The New Taipei City District Court yesterday granted prosecutors’ request to have two staff of cosmetic chain Dr Shine’s branch in New Taipei City detained incommunicado for allegedly installing surveillance equipment disguised as a smoke detector in treatment rooms.The investigations came amid a si
DIVORCED, DRINKING, JOBLESS: A man’s mother sought professional help on his behalf, as his drinking was destabilizing, an agency of the ministry of health said Forty-nine percent of people who sought help about alcohol addiction were family members of people with an alcohol issue, implying that addiction also affects family members, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, which was Taiwan No Alcohol Day.The Department of Mental Health said that
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) has wasted money to give its logo a slight overhaul while the firm is deep in the red, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) wrote on Facebook on Friday.The state-run energy company spent NT$968,000 to update its logo, Wang said, adding that the or
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday.A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday a
Dozens of urban artists from 17 countries have converged on one of Europe’s most important industrial landmarks for a show that takes advantage of the former ironworks’ sprawling spaces and aura of abandonment.At the Volklinger Hutte, or Volklingen Ironworks, this year’s Urban Art Biennale is gettin
Developers bankrolled by two of the world’s biggest asset managers set their sights on building a massive datacenter hub in Northern Virginia. A battle over newspaper advertising threw their plans into disarray.Compass Datacenters, backed by investment company Brookfield Asset Management, abandoned
Malaysia is attempting to use cloud seeding to bring much-needed rain to the country’s “rice bowl” north, where a drought has delayed planting of the staple crop and raised supply fears.“This year ... has been affected by prolonged dry weather, low rainfall and reduced dam water levels,” Malaysian M
A Pale View of Hills, a movie released last year, follows the story of a Japanese woman from Nagasaki who moved to Britain in the 1950s with her British husband and daughter from a previous marriage. The daughter was born at a time when memories of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki during World War
The quality of urban governance hinges on the unseen infrastructure that lies beneath the ground. The core measure of a city’s beauty or ugliness is not the height of its skyline, but the sophistication of its sewers, sewage and waste disposal. When a city appears old and ugly, the root cause often
Taiwan’s Special Defense Budget Act (軍購特別條例) debate should begin with a basic procedural distinction: A legal authorization ceiling is not the budget itself. A special act does not immediately spend every dollar it authorizes; it only creates the legal basis, scope and upper limit for the Executive
CRISIS AVERTED: The referees’ union and the NFL have been locked in negotiations for two years, as the league started hiring replacement referees in case of a stalemate The NFL and the NFL Referees Association agreed on Friday to a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement that avoids a potential work stoppage and use of replacement officials.The agreement, which was approved by the union’s board of directors and ratified by a vote of the membership, runs thro
The FIFA World Cup features a trilogy of opening ceremonies, with each of the host countries — Mexico, US and Canada — getting its turn at a star-studded celebration.Global music stars including Katy Perry, Future, Alanis Morissette, Michael Buble, J Balvin and Lisa are performing, world governing b
Despite the dire humanitarian crisis across the Gaza Strip, where a fragile ceasefire remains in place, a handful of Palestinian surfers are finding joy — and relief — riding the Mediterranean coastal waves.Only three or four men still surf due to a shortage of surfboards and the materials needed to
Real Madrid announced on Friday they had fined Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde 500,000 euros (US$588,000) each after a training ground clash that saw Valverde transported for medical care.The club did not impose any sporting sanctions on the two players, saying in a statement that the fine
‘RESULTS ARETOUGH’: The Labour Party came in third in Wales with just nine seats, a humiliation for the party that has dominated Welsh politics for a century British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Friday to remain as after disastrous local elections he saw his center-left Labour Party humiliated across the UK, with disillusioned voters backing hard-right and nationalist parties. Thursday’s ballots — Starmer’s biggest electoral test since Labour ousted
The Pentagon on Friday released an initial group of previously secret files documenting reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) — a move sought for decades by some. “These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it fo
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death
May 11 to May 17Traversing the southern slopes of the Yushan Range in 1931, Japanese naturalist Tadao Kano knew he was approaching the last swath of Taiwan still beyond colonial control.The “vast, unknown territory,” protected by the “fierce” Bunun headman Dahu Ali, was “filled with an utterly endle
As a different column was being written, the big news dropped that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) announced that negotiations within his caucus, with legislative speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT, party Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) and T
On my way to the sprawling Wuci Fish Market (梧棲), I happened upon the Taichung Aquarium. The rows of seafood — salmon, milkfish and varieties of bivalves laid out on ice — could wait. Instead, I paid my NT$500 admission and stepped inside the aquarium to see the real thing: hundreds of species of fi
A growing green movement allows hotel guests to fund tree planting projects simply by opting out of daily room cleans. This approach turns an ordinary hotel stay into a direct contribution to nature. Founded in the Netherlands, the nonprofit “Hotels for Trees” operates on the principle that one ski
The New England Aquarium in Boston, US, has set up a “retirement home” to offer a safe and supportive environment for aging penguins. With over half the aquarium’s penguins now older than the usual 10 to 15 years they reach in the wild, staff separated one island for closer monitoring. The space fe
A: Apart from the Danjiang Bridge in New Taipei City, the MRT Sanying Line (Light Blue Line) will open in June.B: Is that the new line leading to Yingge District, the ceramic town?A: Yup, the line will connect the Yingge Ceramics Museum and the Old Streets in Sanxia and Yingge Districts.B: The e
Two moves show Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is gunning for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party chair and the 2028 presidential election. Technically, these are not yet “officially” official, but by the rules of Taiwan politics, she is now on the dance floor. Earlier this month Lu confirmed in an interview in Japan’s Nikkei that she was considering running for KMT chair. This is not new news, but according to reports from her camp she previously was still considering the case for and against running. By choosing a respected, international news outlet, she declared it to the world. While the outside world likely paid little attention, domestically the message was unmistakable: She is moving on to a larger stage. Part of the dance is to leave options open before formally committing, and with the chair race due in late September, she has time. If something goes wrong in the meantime, or if power brokers in the party offer her a deal that provides more benefits than taking on the role of chair, she can pivot accordingly. Earlier this year, I suggested that strategically, she would be better off concentrating on her job as Taichung mayor until she is term-limited out of office in December next year. Taichung mayor is obviously a full-time job, and concurrently running the Taipei-headquartered party runs the risk of doing one or both jobs poorly and making mistakes that could imperil her shot at the presidency in 2028. The situation has changed. Current KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), knowing he is likely to face challengers of a higher caliber than the three relative nobodies already declared, has gone all in on appealing to the base. The base is more likely to turn out to vote in the chair election, so this makes some strategic sense in the short term.
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan. Last spring at Arunothai’s Jiaolian School, principal Wang Mingming (王明明) had forewarned me of the division between villages, saying, “We are not like the people in Mae Salong. They are rich. Because of the Taiwanese.” Arunothai has in recent years become split in its loyalties between Taiwan and China (see part one, “A tale of two schools,” on May 15), but in Mae Salong, links to Taiwan remain strong. Taiwan-funded monuments pay homage to the Lost Army, villagers wear T-shirts emblazoned with the Republic of China (ROC) flag and tea plantations grown Taiwan’s most famous tea varieties, including Dong Ding (“frozen peak”) Oolong, Oriental Beauty and Jin Xuan (Golden Daylily or Milk Oolong). Even the numerical classifications of the teas — Oolong No. 12 or No. 17, for example — are the same, and the shops resemble those found on Alishan. At the tomb of General Tuan Hsi-wen (段希文) — perched on a Mae Salong hilltop with a view of his ancestral homeland in China’s Yunnan province — a third generation villager wearing a vintage KMT army uniform, Yan Si-Chung (岩思中), greets visitors with sharp military salutes. “Both my father and my grandfather were soldiers in the KMT army,” the 44-year-old
| New Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Hsinchu City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Miaoli County | 24-26 | 10% | |
| Taoyuan City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Keelung City | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Yunlin County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taichung City | 26-28 | 10% | |
| Nantou County | 25-26 | 10% | |
| Changhua County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Chiayi County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Chiayi City | 25-27 | 10% | |
| Tainan City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Pingtung County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Yilan County | 25-26 | 30% |  |
| Hualien County | 25-26 | 30% | |
| Taitung County | 25-27 | 30% | |
| Kinmen County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Penghu County | 27-27 | 20% | |
| Lienchiang County | 27-28 | 20% | |
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