Wed, Dec 04, 2024
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday declared emergency martial law, accusing the opposition of being “anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the regime” amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill. “To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist
MUTUAL RESPECT: The protest was to share with the Chinese the values that Taiwan holds dear, such as human rights, freedom and democracy, a student said A group of National Taiwan University (NTU) students yesterday said that they today would join students from institutions visited by a Chinese student delegation and launch a protest alliance.The NTU students are to unite with students from other universities and high schools to refuse to accept the
Ahead of the visit of President William Lai (賴清德), Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr on Monday asked for China to respect his nation’s sovereignty and international law.The visit to Palau is part of Lai’s first overseas official trip as president, touring the pacific island nations of the Marshal
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte yesterday sidestepped questions about Ukraine’s possible membership of the military alliance, saying that the priority now must be to strengthen the nation’s hand in any future peace talks with Russia by sending it more weapons.Rutte’s remarks, ahead of a meeting of
A Vietnamese court yesterday upheld the death penalty for a property tycoon in a multibillion-dollar fraud case — but said her life could still be spared if she pays back three-quarters of the assets she embezzled.Property developer Truong My Lan, 68, was convicted this year of swindling money from
President William Lai (賴清德) arrived in the Marshall Islands today, after visiting Hawaii on the first stop of a Pacific tour.The Marshall Islands is one of 12 remaining nations that recognize Taiwan officially.Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine extended Lai a "very warm welcome" after his arriva
CHINA FACTOR? Taiwan would continue its efforts that began when it applied to convince members that it has met the high standards required, an official said Taiwan will continue to solicit support from member countries to join a regional trade bloc even though the group last week decided not to initiate Taiwan’s accession process, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official in charge of the membership bid said yesterday.It is regrettable that members of the
COMBAT TRAINING: The air force dispatched six Mirages to Hualien, with members of the 2nd Tactical Fighter Wing and French pilots operating the planes Taiwan’s Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) jets were included in the air force’s joint exercises with French pilots for the first time this year, the Ministry of National Defense said.This year’s exercises, which ended yesterday, were conducted at air force bases in Hsinchu County and Hualien County.
New hotlines to help people evaluate possible safety risks before they travel to China, Hong Kong or Macau have been launched, the Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement on Monday.The hotlines were launched amid a rise in inquiries from Taiwanese planning to travel to China, the council said.T
It is regrettable that the Chinese government does not understand normal diplomatic behaviors between democratic countries and thus frequently takes provocative actions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.China on Sunday expressed its opposition to a telephone call between
The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) to lay out a framework for the two nations to forge closer cooperation in the space industry.Based on the MOU, Taiwanese and Polish companies and academics would seek to explore coopera
MEASLES CLUSTER: The CDC is monitoring 328 people who have had close contact with the two men living in the north who have developed the highly infectious disease The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said enterovirus activity remained high, with 26,426 hospital visits last week, and a second local case of measles was confirmed on Monday — a man who had close contact with the first case reported last week.Enterovirus hospital visit numbers were stil
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it has decided to separate the issue of surrogacy from its proposed package of amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法).The ministry’s draft amendments were first announced on May 14, with the ministry aiming to broaden access to artificial insemina
U-TURN: Lu Shiow-yen said she had been too quick to comment about the incident in which a pupil who allegedly hit a teacher was taken to a police station for questioning Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) yesterday apologized for criticizing an elementary-school teacher as being unfit for the job after drawing a backlash from educators.Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taichung City Councilor Lee Chung (李中) said during a question-and-answer session at the city council
Taoyuan posted the largest increase in deaths from traffic incidents in the first nine months of this year, while Taichung had the most pedestrian deaths, Ministry of Transportation and Communications data showed yesterday.The number of people who died within 30 days of a traffic incident in Taoyuan
COLLABORATION: The operations center shows the close partnership between Taiwan and Japan in the field of semiconductors, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Tokyo Electron Ltd, Asia’s biggest semiconductor equipment supplier, yesterday launched a NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) operations center in Tainan as it aims to expand capacity and meet growing demand. Its new Taiwan Operations Center is expected to help customers release their products faster, bo
IMPORTANCE: The firm is based in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground that Biden won in 2020 and Trump took in the election last month US president-elect Donald Trump reiterated his opposition to the sale of United States Steel Corp to Nippon Steel Corp, saying he would instead use tariffs and tax incentives to revive the US steelmaker. Trump made the comment in a Truth Social post on Monday night, with the decision on whether it g
A US judge on Monday upheld her decision to reject Elon Musk’s massive US$55.8 billion compensation package at Tesla Inc, denying an attempt to restore the pay deal through a shareholder vote. In a court filing, Delaware Chancery Court Chief Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled that Tesla’s attempt to ra
On Tuesday, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) issued a statement criticizing Song Siyao (宋思瑤), a student from Shanghai’s Fudan University, saying she had offended the sensibilities of Taiwanese. It also called for the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation — established by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — wh
According to media reports, after the national baseball team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, rumor has it that President William Lai (賴清德) is considering replacing the image of Nanwang Puyuma Wreath Experimental Elementary School’s (南王國小) junior baseball team on t
Imagine that you are fully conscious, but your family, friends and healthcare workers all believe you are vegetative. You hear people discussing euthanasia, cessation of medical treatment, or moving you to a long-term care facility, none of which are able to monitor for signs of recovery. Illness is
QB LAPSES: Browns quarterback Jameis Winston threw a pair of pick-6s to go with four touchdown passes and a franchise-best 497 yards passing as the Broncos won Explosive Cleveland Browns wideout Jerry Jeudy on Monday turned in an electric performance with nine catches for 235 yards — the most in NFL history by a receiver against his former team — and also had a 70-yard touchdown in a 41-32 loss to the Broncos.The boos only brought out the best in Jeudy as
Australia center Jordan Petaia yesterday confirmed that he is to step away from rugby union and bid to win a contract with an NFL team to pursue a childhood dream he shared with his father.Petaia said he will join the NFL’s international pathway program (IPP) for next year and look to follow in the
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday.That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday.Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most po
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television.Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of t
‘HARSH RESPONSE’: Earlier, Hezbollah said that it had launched an attack targeting an Israeli position in ‘the occupied hills of Kfar Shouba,’ a disputed part of the border Nine people were killed on Monday in Israeli strikes on villages in southern Lebanon, after Israel said it was taking aim at dozens of Hezbollah targets in retaliation for an attack claimed by the militant group amid a fragile ceasefire.Both Israel and Hezbollah faced accusations of breaching the tr
Georgian police on Monday fired tear gas to try to disperse thousands of pro-EU demonstrators rallying in the center of Tbilisi amid a deepening political crisis in the Black Sea nation.Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze hours earlier had vowed “no negotiations” with the opposition, enraged b
Leo Puglisi was just 11 when he started an online news channel.What was a passion project in his last year of primary school has grown into a 24/7 streaming service that has reported through bushfires and a pandemic, and featured interviews with two prime ministers.Puglisi, now 17, has recruited 10
Surrounded by racks of colorful dresses and blazers in China’s manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao is on a mission to promote body positivity.She is part of a small but growing number of women in China challenging restrictive beauty standards, inc
It is dangerous to engage in business in China now, and those considering engaging with it should pay close attention to the example Taiwanese businesspeople are setting. Though way down from the heady days of Taiwanese investments in China two decades ago, a few hundred thousand Taiwanese continue
Have you ever wanted to go camping but were put off by the thought of setting up a tent, sleeping on hard ground and dealing with a lack of basic amenities? If so, glamping might be the perfect solution for you. Glamping, combining the words “glamorous” and “camping,” takes the outdoor experience t
At 3:19am on a cold December morning in 1941, a father was jolted awake by violent shaking, loud crashes and the sound of breaking pottery and tiles. And then, a woman’s terrified scream. He instinctively reached for his wife beside him. She was not there. She must have gone to check on their younge
對話 Dialogue清清：這禮拜的臺北好熱鬧！Qīngqing: Zhè lǐbài de Táiběi hǎo rènào!華華：怎麼了？臺北哪天不熱鬧啊？Huáhua: Zěnmele? Táiběi nǎ tiān bú rènào a? 清清：不一樣啊！從明天起，周杰倫一連四天都在臺北大巨蛋開《嘉年華》演唱會，搶到票的歌迷都開心死了！Qīngqing: Bù yíyàng a! Cóng míngtiān qǐ, Zhōujiélún yìlián sì tiān dōu zài Táiběi Dàjùdàn kāi “Jiāniánhuá” yǎnchànghuì, qiǎngd
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 | 14-23 | 10% | |
| Hsinchu County | 14-22 | 10% | |
| Hsinchu City | 14-22 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 14-22 | 10% | |
| Miaoli County | 12-22 | 10% | |
| Taoyuan City | 14-22 | 10% | |
| Keelung City | 15-21 | 10% |
| Yunlin County | 14-24 | 0% | |
| Taichung City | 14-24 | 0% | |
| Nantou County | 14-24 | 0% | |
| Changhua County | 14-23 | 0% |
| Chiayi County | 13-24 | 0% | |
| Chiayi City | 14-25 | 0% | |
| Tainan City | 15-22 | 0% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 17-23 | 0% | |
| Pingtung County | 16-25 | 0% |
| Yilan County | 14-22 | 10% | |
| Hualien County | 16-22 | 10% | |
| Taitung County | 17-23 | 10% |
| Kinmen County | 11-18 | 0% | |
| Penghu County | 17-20 | 0% | |
| Lienchiang County | 10-13 | 10% |