Wed, Sep 02, 2026
RARE EVENT: Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han said his itinerary would be arranged in accordance with agencies’ recommendations, adding that ‘I am not concerned’ Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) is slated to attend an APEC meeting in Nanjing later this month, becoming the first minister to visit China during President William Lai’s (賴清德) presidency. Hung yesterday told reporters that he had received the official invitation from APEC and would attend the
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said Taiwan’s semiconductor industry has created new industrial connections around the world, reinforcing international ties and creating a more diversified and resilient supply chain.Speaking at this year’s Semicon Network Summit in Taipei, Lai said Taiwan has
South Korea’s intelligence agency sees signs that the US and North Korea might be moving toward renewed dialogue and assesses that a summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could take place “at any time,” a South Korean lawmaker briefed by the agency said yesterd
US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to hit Iran “hard” after the two foes traded fire for the first time in weeks, as his Treasury secretary vowed to keep up a pressure campaign aimed at hobbling Tehran’s economy. After six months of war, the foes remain at an impasse, with Iran keeping t
MILITARY BUILDUP: Aside from this year’s budget, the defense ministry detailed its mid-term plan to upgrade, develop and procure defense materiel amid Chinese threats The military is reviewing budget execution trends and postponing non-urgent projects to maximize defense spending, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday as it submitted its budget for next year and other defense documents to the legislature.The ministry said China’s “gray zone” harassment
President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration plans to allocate more than NT$40 billion (US$1.26 billion) next year to develop 10 major artificial intelligence (AI) projects, with a goal of training at least 500,000 AI professionals by 2040.Lai yesterday met with the VIS Mars robotics team, which rep
Taitung County is to continue to face "widespread and persistent" showers or thunderstorms today, while southern Taiwan and Hualien County in the east are to see localized heavy rain, the Central Weather Administration said.The agency also predicted a high chance of some rain across all of Taiwan to
Visa-free travel to Thailand for citizens of 60 countries, including Taiwan, would be cut from 60 days to 30 with effect from Sept. 15, according to a new Thai government policy.Under the revised policy, which was published in the nation's Royal Gazette on Monday, Thailand would no longer apply a un
PACIFIC PARTNER: Lin Chia-lung said that he was ‘very happy’ to participate in the forum, adding Taiwan will continue to promote prosperity and peace in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday thanked Palau for enabling him to make a rare appearance at a major annual political gathering of Pacific nations on Monday, despite Taiwan not being an official member of the bloc.“I am very happy to be able to participate in this year’s Pac
MILITARY FOCUS: While Taiwan is focused on whole-of-society resilience, China might do something that is ‘foolish’ amid its nationalist fervor, the official said China’s changes to its National Defense Mobilization Law to prepare for a rapid transition to a war footing are aimed at helping Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) fulfill his “historic mission of national unification,” a Taiwanese official said yesterday.Xi believes in military dominance and is wor
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday welcomed the largest-ever cross-party Italian parliamentary delegation to Taiwan, led by Italian Senate Vice President Gian Marco Centinaio.Receiving the 10-member delegation, Lai noted that Centinaio has long supported Taiwan and is making his fifth visit t
The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) 2026 report on China’s military power, submitted to the Legislative Yuan on Monday, places greater emphasis than last year’s report on the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) efforts to strengthen its capabilities for a potential landing operation on Taiwan
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus would demand the Presidential Office next year buy extra mooncakes from disadvantaged groups after the KMT failed to exempt payments for such products amid budget constraints imposed by the opposition, KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi said yesterday.Fu apologized
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi yesterday challenged Kathrin Hille, a former Financial Times reporter, over accusations that there has been widespread vote-buying in Hualien County.In an interview with Formosa TV aired on Saturday, Hille spoke about Taiwan’s democracy and said
Taitung County Council Deputy Speaker Lin Tsung-han (林琮翰) and six other current and former county councilors were questioned by the Taitung District Prosecutors Office yesterday over allegations that they abused their positions to benefit the family of Taitung County Council Speaker Wu Hsiu-hua (吳秀華
GOOD SIGNS: New products entering production and long-term, high-revenue deals with international partners are healthy business for the silicon wafer supplier GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, said yesterday that advanced packaging wafers are expected to make a substantial revenue contribution this year following limited contribution last year, driven by their production ramp-up.The company started delivering sample
SPECIALIST COMPONENT: Without power, computer chips are inert, and Hi-Tech is capitalizing on that as it looks forward to new products and new customers Cable and connector maker Wonderful Hi-Tech Co (萬泰科技) yesterday said it expects revenue this year to exceed its NT$10 billion (US$316.1 million) target, driven by demand for high-speed cables for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite products and other high-margin pro
Nvidia Corp’s US$3.5 billion outlay in MediaTek Inc (聯發科), its largest direct investment outside the US, has thrust a little-known Taiwanese chip designer into the center of the global artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure boom.Shares for MediaTek gained 10 percent, or US$20 billion, in market
Taiwan is betting heavily on artificial intelligence (AI) as a pillar of its competitiveness. President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration plans to spend more than NT$40 billion (US$1.26 billion) next year on 10 major AI projects and train at least 500,000 AI professionals by 2040.The ambition goes
The devastation in Tibet from flooding caused by a glacial collapse in the Himalayas was immediate and profound. Entire communities were left in shock, families were torn apart and countless lives were disrupted. That was followed by deafening silence from the Chinese authorities. No official tally
If the Chinese People’s Liberation Army attacked Taiwan, Southeast Asian countries would matter strategically, diplomatically and economically. Their cooperation or neutrality is critical for US military access and logistics support.It is crucial whether they define the conflict as “Chinese aggressi
CATCHING AIR: Lee has two of the Tigers’ farthest-hit homers this season and is one homer shy of tying the single-season record for a Taiwanese in the MLB Taiwanese third baseman Lee Hao-yu on Monday launched a 152.1kph fastball a Statcast-projected 134m for his eighth home run of the season to give the Detroit Tigers their only run in a devastating 11-1 defeat to the Minnesota Twins.Lee’s homer off Taj Bradley in the top of the sixth inning put the T
Ketel Marte said his teammates welcomed him back to the clubhouse on Monday, two weeks after the three-time All-Star’s unexpected no-show before a game in Boston left the Arizona Diamondbacks scrambling.Diamondbacks fans might take a little longer to forgive and forget.Marte was greeted with a choru
Lionel Messi on Monday said he was retiring from international soccer after leading Argentina to a second successive FIFA World Cup final in July.The 39-year-old forward who won the World Cup in 2022 and dragged his nation to the final in the US only to lose to Spain, said the decision had been pain
The NFL is looking to bring a game to Australia every season as part of its international strategy and sees the nation as a strategic growth market for football, a senior executive said yesterday.Australia hosts its first NFL game at the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday next wee
DEFENSE FAILED: Davis has boasted of involvement in Shakur’s murder for years, and wrote about it in his autobiography, but his attorney said it was all ‘fiction’ Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former Los Angeles gang member, was on Monday found guilty by a Las Vegas court of the 1996 murder of chart-topping rapper Tupac Shakur. Thirty years after the rap legend’s death, the jury found Davis, 63, guilty of murder after just a few hours of deliberation. “Count one,
A woman on Monday randomly stabbed two people in New York City’s Times Square, killing one woman, and then was fatally shot by police, officials said. The shooting happened just before 4:30pm next to a New York Police Department (NYPD) substation, just outside One Times Square, the building that hos
MISSION COMPLETED: Sanders, whose trail name is Grey Beard, has become something of a star among fellow hikers and thousands follow him on social media More than 14 million older adults fall every year in the US, perhaps none so often as 91-year-old Dale Sanders. By his count, Sanders fell 71 times while reclaiming his record as the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail. Six were what he calls hard falls, including one that led to a brief
The name “Taiwan” is to appear at South Korea’s Gwangju Biennale when it opens on Saturday, after months of objections from Taiwanese artists and government agencies over an attempted name change.China Pavilion personnel halted installation and left the venue on Friday, after China’s Ambassador to S
Inflammation is the immune system’s response to injury or infection. If you cut yourself and the area becomes red and swollen, that’s inflammation: immune cells are rushing to fight germs and repair tissue.But inflammation can also occur in the body during illnesses, and a low level of inflammation
Every year on the anniversary of the 1958 Kinmen 823 Artillery Bombardment — a central episode in what has become known as the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis — carefully crafted speeches reveal the underlying ideological divide over sovereignty between the Taiwan-centric, pan-green Democratic Progressi
In September 2025, Kaohsiung’s Beiling Elementary School became Taiwan’s first public Taigi (Taiwanese Hokkien) experimental primary school. Taigi used to dominate everyday speech in Taiwan, but its speaker base shrank after the promotion of Mandarin. According to the 2020 census, while 31.7 percent
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。The dress was black, short and tight. The lights caught her smooth legs as she moved. She tipped her head back, tossing her hair aside. Men watched. She knew. Hsin-yi watched, too. “Are you quite done?” a voice hissed. Hsin-yi felt the f
對話 Dialogue清清：唉！今天早上我家附近又塞車了！真煩！Qīngqing: Āi! Jīntiān zǎoshàng wǒ jiā fùjìn yòu sāichē le! Zhēn fán!華華：怎麼了？發生了什麼事？Huáhua: Zěnme le? Fāshēng le shénme shì? 清清：今天是中小學的開學日，我家附近有學校，路上塞滿了送孩子上學的家長，到處都是汽車和摩托車，好可怕！Qīngqing: Jīntiān shì zhōngxiǎoxué de kāixuérì, wǒ jiā fùjìn yǒu xuéxiào, lùshàng sāimǎn le sò
| New Taipei City | 30-33 | 30% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 30-32 | 40% | |
| Hsinchu City | 30-32 | 30% | |
| Taipei City | 30-33 | 20% |  |
| Miaoli County | 30-32 | 20% |  |
| Taoyuan City | 30-33 | 30% | |
| Keelung City | 29-31 | 20% |  |
| Yunlin County | 29-32 | 70% | |
| Taichung City | 30-32 | 20% | |
| Nantou County | 29-31 | 50% | |
| Changhua County | 30-32 | 50% | |
| Chiayi County | 29-31 | 70% | |
| Chiayi City | 28-31 | 60% | |
| Tainan City | 29-31 | 60% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 28-30 | 70% | |
| Pingtung County | 27-29 | 80% | |
| Yilan County | 29-31 | 20% |  |
| Hualien County | 28-30 | 50% | |
| Taitung County | 27-28 | 90% | |
| Kinmen County | 27-29 | 40% | |
| Penghu County | 27-29 | 60% | |
| Lienchiang County | 28-30 | 20% | |
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