Thu, Jul 30, 2026
TOUGH CONDITIONS: More than 8,800 residents sought refuge as utilities failed and crews, including some from Taiwan, helped searched for survivors Soldiers and emergency workers yesterday combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people, including a foreigner, in southwestern Japan, knocking out power to thousands of homes and rupturing ro
UBS Group AG has again raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan, projecting the economy would expand 11 percent this year, up from its previous estimate of 9.9 percent growth. The upgrade came as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom continues to exceed expectations, and its impact broaden beyond t
Taiwan’s electronic toll collection (ETC) system, already in operation in Thailand, has been installed in India, Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (FETC, 遠通電收) said yesterday. The first barrier-free tolling gantry was installed at Choryasi in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state
The US and Saudi Arabia yesterday jointly struck Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, the first US airstrikes in the Middle East since US President Donald Trump suspended the US bombing campaign against Iran last week. Iran, for its part, said it had fired on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Stra
SIDE-BY-SIDE: The US appreciates Taiwan’s partnership in maritime security and safety, and supports its strong contributions to global maritime law enforcement, the AIT said The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday for the first time shared a photograph of Taiwanese and US coast guard vessels operating side-by-side, saying that the two sides conducted joint operations ranging from search-and-rescue to maritime law enforcement.The Coast Guard Administration (CGA)
“Many people” were feared trapped in a stricken shopping mall in Japan late yesterday, authorities said, after a major earthquake toppled buildings, sparked fires and reportedly injured more than 100 people.In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said that no Taiwanese nationals had been r
RELIGIOUS GROUNDS: Followers of the I-Kuan Tao are especially advised not to travel to China, following a 50 percent surge in religious detentions in three months Nineteen people have been detained in China in the past three months because of their religious beliefs, representing a 50 percent surge from the previous three months, Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) said yesterday.The Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Commi
CHANGING WARFARE: The use of drones in recent conflicts has shown that they are no longer supplementary tools, but core equipment for asymmetric warfare, Lai said Uncrewed vehicles are a critical part of maintaining asymmetric warfare capabilities, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he called on all parties to put the nation’s security first and support the Executive Yuan’s version of the national defense autonomy uncrewed vehicle procurement spec
A social media post by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) showing US and Taiwanese coast guard vessels sailing in formation indicates that Washington views Taipei as an important partner, several academics said on Tuesday.A Facebook post by the de facto US embassy in Taiwan shows the Taipei, a 4
Taiwan-based drone manufacturer Thunder Tiger Corp. teamed up with U.S. defense company Shield AI on Wednesday to demonstrate mission autonomy software in a coordinated operation involving unmanned surface vessels (USVs).During a demonstration at Dapeng Bay in Pingtung County, Thunder Tiger’s SeaSha
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to lodge a formal protest with the South African government to correct the designation of Taiwan as “Taiwan, China” in the nation’s electronic travel authorization (ETA) system, it said on Tuesday.Although Taiwanese travelers are not yet eligible to use the ETA sys
KUMAMOTO RESPONSE: Taiwan’s major convenience store chains and PXPay Plus have partnered with a social welfare organization to launch a fundraising campaign Japan yesterday thanked President William Lai (賴清德) for his immediate and heart-warming message following the Kumamoto earthquake, saying that Taiwan has always been the first to extend a helping hand when the nation is hit by disaster.Japan-Taiwan Exchange Foundation Representative Kazuyuki Katayam
Taiwanese commercial airlines with direct flights to Japan’s Kumamoto and Taiwan’s largest online air ticket vendor yesterday announced refunds and rescheduling policies for people with flights booked to the prefecture, a day after a magnitude 7.1 quake struck the region.Kumamoto Airport was tempora
Government officials, lawmakers and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) yesterday pledged financial support for relief efforts following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture.At a dinner in Fukuoka City ahead of the unveiling of a THSRC N700ST trainset at Hitachi’s Kasado Works i
NHI SUBSIDIES: Manufacturers are to charge the same price for 0.01% and 0.05% atropine solutions, with officials outlining the benefits and side effects of each Taiwan is to extend a national health insurance (NHI) policy to cover pupil-dilating solutions containing 0.05 percent atropine used in eyedrops to mitigate the progression of myopia in children, health officials said yesterday.The policy, which is to take effect on Saturday, would benefit about 365
TECH TUMBLE: Investors getting the jeebies about the prospects for future sales in the AI boom have caused stock markets in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to tumble The TAIEX recovered to above 40,000 points by the close of trading yesterday on late bargain hunting, but still posted a decline of more than 1,500 points as concerns over heavy spending on artificial intelligence (AI) weighed on investors.The index dipped below 40,000 points during the morning sess
RUNNING HOT: The contract chipmaker is planning to both deepen and broaden its capacity, with more facility space and more advanced chips on offer United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s fourth-largest contract chipmaker, plans to invest US$5 billion over the next two to three years to expand silicon photonics and advanced packaging capacity as artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand accelerates.The company views silicon photoni
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is banning imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots and power inverters, citing national security risks, in a move that targets China.The measures are likely to test relations with Beijing ahead of a planned US visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping (
The Ministry of National Defense said it is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) construction of full-scale replicas of key Taiwanese military and government sites after satellite imagery showed mock-ups of locations including the Presidential Office Building and Suao (蘇澳)
For more than three decades, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) system has relied on clear legal standards and scientific data to evaluate issues such as air pollution, water pollution, noise and waste management. It seems to be ecological conservation, but that has consistently remained a st
India’s defense diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific region is entering a new phase. What began with the landmark export of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to the Philippines is now expanding to Indonesia, while Vietnam has long been considered a likely customer and several Southeast Asian states con
ARMS AND KNEES: A sore left knee and right biceps are keeping the star player off the pitcher’s mound, though he is still batting for the Dodgers as he is in recovery Shohei Ohtani said his right biceps is not 100 percent in addition to his sore left knee, and those factored into the Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way superstar decision not to practice pitching last week.The four-time MVP has not pitched in a game since July 3, but has continued to play regularly as th
Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme defied torrential rain in Glasgow to win the men’s 100m in a Commonwealth Games record time on Tuesday as New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs surged to a surprise victory in the women’s 100m.Persistent downpours throughout the evening session at the Scoutstoun track made for hazardous
South Africa would use their one-off test against Argentina on Saturday next week to give field time to a group of players who have returned from injury in the past few weeks as they build toward their crunch four-game home series against New Zealand starting next month.The Springboks won all three
Eduardo Valencia homered twice and drove in four runs, Gleyber Torres had a home run and five RBIs, and the Detroit Tigers scored in every inning they went to the plate in a 14-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.The Tigers became the 22nd team in MLB history to score in every inning t
‘GOOD MEETING’: Zelenskiy said Trump accepted the US would give Ukraine Patriot licenses; the Ukrainian president also met with US companies on possible coproduction The US Senate on Tuesday advanced sweeping Russian energy sanctions legislation as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the Capitol, seeing the vote as a tribute to the bill’s author, the late US senator Lindsey Graham, on the day of his funeral. Graham was among Kyiv’s most influential a
‘OPEN FOR BUSINESS’: The US gave a ‘firm commitment’ to finance a wharf and roads at Bina Harbour, Wale said, but a US official declined to comment on the specifics The US is in advanced talks to fund a port in the Solomon Islands, the Pacific nation’s leader said, reinvigorating a race for influence with China in the region. The US International Development Finance Corp (DFC), an agency designed to advance Washington’s foreign policy in developing countries, h
EBay Inc agreed to pay almost US$50 million to a Massachusetts couple who said former employees of the company targeted them with threats and bizarre anonymous deliveries — including live insects, a funeral wreath and a bloody pig Halloween mask, according to settlement details released on Tuesday.
This paper ran a piece this week on the rampant smuggling of Kaoliang liquor from Kinmen through customs to Xiamen in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Our paper reported that “Chinese frequently approach passengers heading to Xiamen and offer them 80 yuan (US$11.82) to carry kaoliang liquor thr
Prior to March 6, 2011, Taichung was the place to be. Known as the “city of culture” in the 1920s, Martial Law crackdowns had made Taichung a sleepy backwater by the 1990s. Taipei, and even the port city of Kaohsiung, were more exciting and cosmopolitan.In the 2000s, Taichung began to punch well abo
An old Japanese house with its walls covered in what looks like the pages of an ancient grimoire showing fantastic animals: this is the exhibition “The Notes of Lef: Collected Specimen” by Wu Shu-yan (吳書延), known as LeoceanRyu.“It started with one small creature and one small world,” he tells the Ta
A: Two major international sports events are going to take place in Hualien County next month.B: The 58th International Children’s Games, or ICG, will run from Aug. 1 to 6. What’s the other event?A: The other is the 15th International Dragon Boat Federation Club Crew World Championships, from Au
When summer arrives, music lovers around the world gather at outdoor festivals to enjoy live performances, meet fellow fans and celebrate music in unique settings. Among the most famous of these events are Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and Lollapalooza in the US. Though both attract huge crowds and wo
After months of debates across the continent, France became the first EU member to ban social media for young teenagers last week, kicking off what’s set to be a wave of new regulations and pressuring the bloc to find a unified approach toward the big tech platforms.France passed legislation banning
| New Taipei City | 27-29 | 20% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 26-28 | 20% | |
| Hsinchu City | 26-28 | 20% | |
| Taipei City | 27-29 | 20% | |
| Miaoli County | 25-27 | 20% |  |
| Taoyuan City | 27-29 | 20% | |
| Keelung City | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Yunlin County | 25-27 | 20% | |
| Taichung City | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Nantou County | 25-26 | 20% | |
| Changhua County | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Chiayi County | 25-27 | 20% | |
| Chiayi City | 26-27 | 20% |  |
| Tainan City | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 27-29 | 20% | |
| Pingtung County | 26-28 | 20% | |
| Yilan County | 26-27 | 20% | |
| Hualien County | 26-28 | 20% | |
| Taitung County | 26-27 | 20% | |
| Kinmen County | 26-27 | 20% | |
| Penghu County | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Lienchiang County | 27-28 | 20% | |
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