title: Green groups slam solar waste recycling

content_text:
COSTLY PROCESS: Processing 1 kilowatt of waste panels would cost about NT$2,000, but the recycling fund only levies NT$1,000 per kilowatt, a Miaoli group president said

It is to expected take 155 days to completely remove the 135,000 damaged solar panels left by Typhoon Danas in July, environmental groups said on Wednesday, urging the establishment of a mechanism to manage waste solar panels and ensure reasonable recycling fees.

High-value utilization of waste solar panels is currently prioritized at a nationwide processing capacity of 6.5 million tonnes per month, meaning that the remaining 135,000 damaged panels would require 155 days to be cleared out, Miaoli County Environmental Protection Association president Chen Chi-chung (陳祺忠) said.

Panels that are too deformed to be high-value utilized must be crushed or thermally melted, but such processes would generate lots of waste materials that require further control, he said, adding that relevant data should be disclosed.

Solar panels damaged during Typhoon Danas are pictured in Chiayi County’s Budai Township on July 8. Photo: Lin Yi-chang, Taipei Times

Chen also suggested the recycling fees levied on solar panel users should be calibrated to actual processing fees.

As waste panels’ high-value utilization fees range from NT$25 to NT$30 per kilogram, processing 1 kilowatt of waste panels would cost NT$1,953 to NT$2,343, he said.

However, the solar panel recycling fund set up in 2020 levies only NT$1,000 per kilowatt in recycling fees on users, which is payable over a 10-year period and clearly insufficient, Chen said.

Herlin Hsieh (謝和霖), secretary-general of Taiwan Watch Institute, said that concern had been raised over the recycling fee being insufficient when the fund was established, but it was countered by the viewpoint that the fund’s interest accumulated over 20 years would be enough to cover recycling fees in the future.

While the reality five years later is not as optimistic as initially thought, advanced recycling techniques and increased labor costs have driven up waste panel recycling costs, he said, calling on the Energy Administration to increase the rate of recycling.

Changhua Environmental Protection Union researcher Lin Cheng-han (林政翰) said that transportation and manual dismantling would incur fees on top of the recycling fee.

Panels that cannot be high-value utilized would also push up the costs, as their reuse value is relatively low, he said.

If waste management costs become so high that panel users are unwilling to bear them, illegal disposal could ensue, Lin said, urging the government to make the inquiry system of solar panel serial numbers open to the public to allow for greater oversight.

In response, the Resource Circulation Administration said the Ministry of Environment would conduct a comprehensive examination of the waste panel management process along with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to propose a standard operation procedure.

The environment ministry is also planning to amend the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法) to enhance the product liability systems for solar panels and wind turbine blades, it said, adding that the bill is expected to be sent to the legislature for review by the end of this year.

The Energy Administration said the economic ministry would discuss the feasibility of increasing waste panel recycling fees.

Additional reporting by CNA


title: Taiwan’s lychees gain Australian approval

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Applications for plant breeders’ rights (PBR) for four Taiwanese lychee varieties have been approved by Australia, marking the official entry of Taiwanese fruit tree varieties into Australia, the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute said on Wednesday.

Two lychee varieties, “Tainung No. 6 (Colorful Lychee)” and “Tainung No. 7 (Early Big)” obtained the PBR from Australia this year following the country’s approval of the PBR for “Tainung No. 5 (Ruby)” and “Tainung No. 3 (Rose Red)” last year, it said.

That made lychees the first Taiwanese fruit granted PBR by Australia, institute Chiayi Agriculture Experiment Branch director Chang Che-wei (張哲瑋) said.

Lychees grow on a tree in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute

Australia is a member state of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, which establishes plant variety certification criteria according to trait variations, the institute said.

A plant variety’s distinctness, uniformity and stability would be evaluated based on such criteria to determine whether it can obtain the PBR, it said.

However, Taiwan is not a member state of the union and its applications for overseas variety rights used to be lengthy processes, particularly as the certification systems and report formats of Taiwan are different from the union, Chang said.

The lychee varieties would have had to be sent to Australia for cultivation and comparison with designated Australian lychee varieties, if past practice was to be followed, he said.

It could have taken the institute six to seven years to have these lychee varieties granted PBRs, as lychee seedlings require four years to mature and bear fruits, and the whole certification process conducted in Australia would have required an extra two years, Chang said, adding that the previous practice was also costly.

“It cost about NT$60,000 simply to have a local expert attend a meeting in Australia,” he said.

Therefore, the institute first had Taiwanese breeders accredited by Australia to work as plant variety qualified persons this time, so that the four lychee varieties could be bred and certified in Taiwan to apply for the Australian PBR, Chang said.

“That significantly saved time and costs required for certification in Australia,” he said, adding that the experience can serve as a reference for future overseas PBR applications.

The institute said that PBRs not only provide legal protections, but also pave the way for Taiwanese fruit varieties to expand into international markets.

Previous achievements in fruit tree variety development usually could not be turned into commercial benefits, as asexual propagation used to lead to the leakage of newly developed varieties, it said.

With the PBR of targeted international markets, such as the Australian PBR for the lychee varieties, illegal propagation or sales can be prevented to help foster a global market for Taiwan-bred varieties, the institute said, adding that the PBR also helps increase the product value and distinctiveness of Taiwanese lychees in Australia.


title: Kaohsiung sacks writer over sexual harassment claims

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The Kaohsiung Bureau of Cultural Affairs yesterday said it would terminate its contract with screenwriter Tsai Kuen-lin (蔡坤霖) after he was accused of sexually harassing a female student at a screenwriting course.

The bureau said it has asked Tsai, who was one of the writers of last year’s horror-comedy movie Dead Talents Society (鬼才之道), to cooperate with an investigation by the city’s Department of Social Welfare and would respect the findings.

It added that Tsai served as both the responsible contractor and the chief mentor for the “screenwriter practical connection project,” which was awarded under the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法).

The Kaohsiung skyline is pictured on April 25. Photo: Hsu Li-chuan, Taipei Times

Officials said the contract would be canceled to protect the project’s credibility, and reaffirmed a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment, pledging to handle the matter strictly under relevant regulations.

The Kaohsiung Department of Social Welfare said the case is under review by the city government’s sexual harassment prevention review committee and that confirmed violations would trigger fines of NT$10,000 to NT$100,000 for ordinary cases and NT$60,000 to NT$600,000 for power-related offenses under the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法).


people: 賴清德 林沛祥 陳雪生 卓榮泰 賴士葆

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UNEVEN ALLOCATION: The latest act revision would lead to urban-rural inequity and is creating difficulties for next year’s national budget, the premier was quoted as saying

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it would propose amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) to separate fiscal allocations for the three outlying counties from the 19 municipalities on Taiwan proper.

KMT Legislator Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) has started working on the amendments to Article 16-1, which should reach a party consensus soon, it said.

President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday criticized recent changes to the act, passed by opposition parties last year, for leading to non-distributable funds, central government debt and unequal distribution across urban and rural areas.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang, right, and Legislator Lai Shyh-bao hold a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

The opposition’s amendments to the act last year were a “grave mistake,” Lai said.

The formula was improper, leading to more than NT$30 billion (US$988.7 million) in non-distributable funds and uneven horizontal allocation, leading to less funding for southern counties and cities, he said.

The amendments further pushed the central government to borrow more than NT$300 billion to balance out next year’s budget, weakening its ability to provide relief to local governments in the event of natural disasters, he added.

When the amendments were originally proposed last year, the opposition expected the Cabinet to present its own version, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) told a news conference yesterday.

However, the Executive Yuan did not offer an alternative proposal and reiterated that the original system of allocating 75 percent of national tax revenues to the central government and the remaining 25 percent to local governments was the best one, Lin said.

KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) called the flaws in the formula highlighted by the Cabinet “small flaws” and “calculation errors,” referring to the calculation of funds for the three outlying counties of Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang.

Amendments should be made accordingly, he said, adding that there are no problems with the law other than that.

The problems posed by the amendments were raised by the Cabinet when it requested the legislature to reconsider the bill, Cho said.

Cho is scheduled to invite local governments to two discussion sessions on the act tomorrow.

The latest revision of the act would lead to urban-rural inequity and is being rushed through, creating major difficulties in compiling next year’s national budget, Cho was quoted by Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) as saying.

Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) blamed the controversy on a “power grab” by the KMT, as legislators seized the authority to distribute state funds away from Ministry of Finance.

“In the KMT’s motion at the time regarding the authority to decide and set the formula for fiscal allocation, it wrote that ‘the Cabinet cannot be trusted’ and ‘also shall prohibit the Ministry of Finance from deciding on proportion of funds for distribution,’” Lai added.

Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) lashed out at the KMT’s 14 local government heads for piling scorn on the central government over the chaos of the fiscal allocation.

“During the final process prior to voting, the amendment text kept on changing, legislators received many different versions within just an hour, and it was a very chaotic scene in the legislative chamber,” she said. “Many members of opposition parties did not even know which version they were voting on and asked others afterward which version had been passed.”

Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan,

Huang Mei-chu and Jason Pan

title: KMT plans to amend budget act again


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New guidelines on civil servants’ visits to Hong Kong and Macau have been in effect since they were promulgated by the Executive Yuan on Tuesday, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, adding that those who contravene the rules would be subject to penalties starting on July 1 next year.

The amendments to the Travel Guidelines for Personnel of the Executive Yuan and its Subordinate Agencies Traveling to Hong Kong or Macau (行政院及所屬各機關人員赴香港或澳門注意事項) require government workers to report all their trips to the two Chinese territories, whether they occur on weekdays or holidays, MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei.

Government workers must report to the agencies they work for regarding the people of special statuses they are to meet or contact during the trips, he said, adding that trips and their purposes must be registered at the government’s human resources system a week prior to departure.

Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh speaks to reporters in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times

All government workers are expected to abide by the new guidelines, Liang said.

Penalties for those who contravene the new guidelines would be set by the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration and would be officially administered on July 1 next year, he added.

“We would not issue any punishment if they failed to follow the guidelines between now and July 1 next year,” Liang said.

The council does not have a list of officials or people that government workers are not supposed to meet while traveling in the two territories, he added.

“Generally, there are two kinds of people: government officials, or employees or people engaging in suspicious activities,” Liang said. “Hong Kong and Macau are known to be hubs of espionage activities, and we cannot list all the possible Chinese agents, as they can work as a chairman of a company or a foundation. However, we believe that Taiwanese civil servants would be on alert and report these individuals.”

Civil servants should report and register their trips to Hong Kong and Macau three days before departure if they are not traveling for government business, the council said.

Reports and registrations must be completed seven days before departure if they are to meet with officials and legislators in the two territories, or Chinese military personnel, Chinese Communist Party officials or Chinese government officials who are based in Hong Kong or Macau, it said.

Any unscheduled meeting or contact with such people must be reported within one week of returning to Taiwan, with the report filed through the person’s agency and forwarded to the MAC, the council said.

In related news, Liang said that the government has launched an investigation into a man named Ying Chih-hung (應志宏), who cut up his Taiwanese passport during a live broadcast on Xiaohongshu, or Rednote, after saying that he has obtained a Chinese ID.

“The National Immigration Agency will cancel his household registration and Taiwanese ID card if it was determined he has contravened the law,” Liang said.

Ying was placed on Taiwan’s wanted list after he fled to China in October 2021 to avoid investigations into his alleged involvement in fraud and money laundering cases.

“We think that he verbally expressed his love for the ‘motherland’ and wanted to renounce his Taiwanese citizenship, because he is on the wanted list in Taiwan,” he said.

The government has yet to receive an application from Ying renouncing his Taiwanese citizenship, Liang said, adding that Beijing should repatriate those who committed or are involved in crimes in Taiwan so they could be legally punished.

title: New HK, Macau travel rules for officials in effect

countries: 澳門 香港


title: DPP’s Huang Jie receives Politician of the Year Award

content_text:
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) received the Politician of the Year Award, One Young World said yesterday.

The award recognizes three young politicians aged 18 to 35 annually as the “world’s most outstanding politicians.”

Huang is to be presented with the award in November during the One Young World Summit in Munich, Germany.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Jie canvasses for recall votes in New Taipei City on July 13. Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times

She became the youngest member of the Legislative Yuan last year at the age of 31.

Huang is “dedicated to promoting generational justice, gender equality, national security and transitional justice, actively advocating for human rights,” One World said.

Her political work “demonstrates the civic engagement spirit of Taiwan’s younger generation,” it added.

Huang is the first Taiwanese politician to receive the award.

She is also the first Taiwanese woman to be recognized by Time magazine in its TIME100 Next list and by the BBC in its 100 Women list.

Huang wrote on Facebook that she is honored to receive the recognition and would “continue working to ensure that Taiwan walks alongside the world.”

“Age has never been a barrier — it is the driving force of change,” she added.

Huang said she is to travel to Germany in November to attend the summit’s opening ceremony and “bring Taiwan’s voice to the global stage.”

She would also meet with young leaders from all over the world to “address key issues of democracy, peace and human rights,” she added.

This year’s selection panel included Laura Chinchilla — the first female president of Costa Rica — Tunisian politician Aya Chebbi and Hasina Safi, an Afghan politician who works to rescue female refugees.

The other two recipients were Zaynab Mohamed, the first Muslim woman to serve in the Minnesota Senate, and Sunita Dangol, the deputy mayor of Kathmandu.


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HIGH ALERT: Taiwan is conducting 24-hour patrols near sea cables, monitoring 96 blacklisted China-linked boats and sharing intelligence with allies on suspicious vessels

Taiwanese coast guard captain Juan Chung-ching’s (阮俊慶) patrol boat moves across the Taiwan Strait, scanning for threats to what Taipei said is the newest target of China’s “gray zone” warfare: undersea cables vital to the nation’s communications.

Juan steered his 100-tonne vessel, armed with water cannons and an autocannon, toward TP3, the undersea cable that made international headlines this year when a Chinese captain was found guilty of deliberately severing it.

TP3 is one of 24 undersea cables connecting Taiwan to the domestic or global Internet.

Coast guard captain Juan Chung-Ching, left, is pictured aboard the Taiwan Coast Guard ship PP-10079 in Tainan on Aug. 28. Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters

Such missions have become a top priority to combat China’s “gray zone” warfare, a tactic to drain Taiwan’s resources while falling short of an act of war, Juan said.

On Aug. 28, Reuters became the first news media outlet to join one of these patrols.

“Their incursions have severely undermined the peace and stability of Taiwanese society,” Juan said, whose boat escorted the Chinese-crewed Hong Tai 58 (鴻泰58號) for investigation hours after TP3 went offline in February.

“We are stepping up patrols in this area, monitoring for any vessels engaging in disruptive or destructive activities,” he said.

Taiwanese authorities have connected two incidents of suspected underwater sabotage with China-linked boats this year, including one in Taiwan’s north.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has said that Taiwan was “manipulating” possible Chinese involvement in the severing of undersea cables and making up accusations before the facts were clear.

Taiwan’s stepped-up response comes with the Baltic Sea region on high alert after a string of suspected underwater sabotage incidents since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

In the waters near TP3, coast guard vessels are now conducting 24-hour patrols.

An alert system detects vessels that come within a 1km range off TP3 at slow speed, while dozens of operators at radar stations work to identify suspicious ships, the coast guard said.

Radio warnings are issued to those boats before coast guard vessels are dispatched to warn them away.

“Taiwan ranks among the top countries facing this issue,” National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said. “We are indeed very close to China and many densely populated submarine cable areas are highly vulnerable to damage.”

The task has stretched coast guard resources. Their eight boats and nearly 500 officers in the area are also responsible for life-saving missions and enforcing maritime law.

High on their watch list are 96 China-linked boats blacklisted by Taiwan. Many carry flags of convenience registered to third countries to avoid taxes and regulations.

Taiwan is also monitoring nearly 400 other China-linked boats, including cargo ships that could be converted into war vehicles, a senior Taiwanese security official briefed on the matter said.

Taipei and other “like-minded” capitals are sharing intelligence on the real-time locations of these boats, the official said.

“Those ships are like cannon fodder, piles of scrap metal,” said Jenson Chien, commander of a coast guard flotilla near TP3, pointing to several dilapidated Chinese boats.

“They employ minimal resources to disrupt and sever our connections, sowing unrest throughout Taiwanese society,” he said.

title: Cable patrols stepped up amid new ‘gray zone’ threat


content_text:
The US Department of Defense needs to “swiftly develop counter drone capabilities,” as US forces are unprepared for threats from low-cost drones in the Middle East or in potential conflicts with China over Taiwan, a US think tank said on Wednesday.

US air dominance is being undermined by drones used as mass precision weapons, as seen in the Middle East, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) said in a report.

CNAS defense program director Stacie Pettyjohn and research assistant Molly Campbell in the report analyzed US combat operations in the Middle East to assess whether the country is prepared for drone threats, especially from China.

A soldier replaces the batteries in a reconnaissance drone in Kaohsiung on July 14. Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times

Since 2004, Iran-produced drones have provided Tehran-backed proxy forces with cheap precision weapons more accurate than missiles or rockets, imposing disproportionate costs on the US, the report said.

US troops have used missiles costing up to millions of dollars to take down drones worth US$50,000, which is not cost-effective or sustainable, CNAS said.

The report described China as Washington’s “foremost strategic threat,” and said that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army “is rapidly advancing its drone capabilities by developing more autonomous systems and acquiring them at scale.”

CNAS conducted a tabletop exercise to examine US capabilities against Chinese drone attacks if a protracted war over Taiwan took place, with US forces operating from a Japanese outlying island and the Philippines, the report said.

The exercise showed that Chinese drones pose a very different threat than those in the Middle East or Ukraine, it said.

Given the Indo-Pacific region’s vast distances and geography, sustained drone attacks could suppress US forces and overwhelm active defenses, such as jammers, missile interceptors and high-power microwaves, the report said.

CNAS recommended that the US build large stockpiles of proven counter drone systems and invest in mobile, easily repositioned defenses to protect forces across the region.

“Without deep magazines of substantially enhanced counter-drone capabilities, the United States risks having its distributed warfighting strategies overwhelmed by massed Chinese drone attacks, and could lose a war over Taiwan,” it said.

title: US must develop counter drone defenses fast: CNAS


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The High Court’s Taichung Branch yesterday rejected an appeal by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒), upholding his prison sentence of eight years and four months for corruption and related crimes.

The court said the corruption conviction could still be appealed to the Supreme Court, so the opposition lawmaker’s seat in the Legislative Yuan is not immediately affected.

Yen used a sham house transaction with a design company to hide the illegal occupation of state-owned land in Taichung’s Shalu District (沙鹿), prosecutors said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng, center, appears outside the Taichung branch of the High Court yesterday. Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times

Yen and construction company head Lin Chin-fu (林進福) arranged a NT$45.41 million (US$1.5 million) “loan” to design company head Chang Yu-ting (張于廷), who then used the money to purchase the property, they said.

Yen used Lin as a proxy to illegally collect NT$1.08 million in Legislative Yuan staff salaries, prosecutors said, citing account records such as a “Yen collection and payment summary” as key evidence of a contravention of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).

In July last year, the Taichung District Court convicted Yen of corruption, sentencing him to seven years and 10 months in prison, and stripping him of his civil rights for three years.

It added a six-month term for document forgery, convertible to a fine.

However, the district court found Yen not guilty of unauthorized occupation of publicly owned land.

The High Court’s Taichung Branch upheld those findings yesterday, saying the forgery and land encroachment rulings are final, and ordering Yen and Lin to be restricted from leaving Taiwan for eight months.

Outside the courthouse, Yen said he “cannot accept the verdict,” which he described as “judicial persecution.”

He also argued that assistant duties and salary disbursements were “entirely under Lin Chin-fu’s control.”

Regarding the house sale, Yen said it was “a real transaction without any falsehood, and all money flows were presented.”

title: Court upholds jail term for Legislator Yen Kuan-heng


title: Rise and bloom

content_text: Changhua County Commissioner Wang Hui-mei, third left, and dancers pose in a flower art installation at a news conference at the Changhua Confucius Temple in Changhua County yesterday, to promote the installation during this year’s Changhua Walking Art Festival, to be held from Sept. 27 to Oct. 26.


title: TSMC touts plans for Pingtung center

content_text:
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES:  A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem.

TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said.

The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said.

A smartphone screen shows Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co signage at a brokerage firm in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

It would be Taiwan’s first cluster featuring high-tech facility construction companies, it said.

“As Taiwan’s land and infrastructure resources are reaching their limits, it is important to think about how to prevent Taiwan’s industry from making a hard landing, as it is vital to Taiwan’s economy,” TSMC vice president for facility construction Arthur Chuang (莊子壽) said at a forum in Taipei.

“It is very important for Taiwanese companies to think about how to participate in the global supply chain,” Chuang said. “To serve that purpose, they have to enhance their global competitiveness.”

TSMC plans to install testing labs at the center, at which its partners could validate their products based on international standards, it said.

The company would encourage its partners to deploy teams to the center, which would be part of a semiconductor industry supply chain zone, it said.

The center in Pingtung Science Park in Pingtung City is expected to start operations in the second quarter of 2027, when public utilities are completed at the site, Chuang said.

Yesterday’s forum was organized by the Taiwan High-Tech Facility Association, which reported that its member companies increased to 166 last month from 70 in 2021.

United Integrated Services Co (UIS, 漢唐), which helps TSMC and other electronics companies build manufacturing facilities and install clean rooms, and Marketech International Corp (帆宣), a facility monitor control system provider, are two of the major members of the association.

“As this is a one-stop service center, it will help manufactures to shrink the time to commercialize products and increase the chance for the products to be donated for their factories,” UIS president Lai Chih-ming (賴志明) said.

Asked what differences and challenges arise in building factories for TSMC in Taiwan, the US and Japan, Lai said the company has underestimated the challenges in the US and overestimated its abilities to handle them.

“It is not appropriate to apply the approaches we adopt in Taiwan for the US. The mindsets are totally different,” Lai said.

US contractors and field workers use a systematic methodology, which UIS highly appreciated, Lai said.


content_text:
No risk of rolling blackouts after Hsingta Power Plant fire: Minister

FIRE RESPONSE: Standby units at the Hsinta Power Plant were activated to compensate for a dip in reserves after a fire and normal electricity supply was unaffected

A fire at Kaohsiung’s Hsinta Power Plant (興達電廠) two days ago, suspected to have been caused by a leak of natural gas from its new Unit 2, would not trigger rolling blackouts, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday.

Backup units and emergency reserves would ensure stable electricity, Kung told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei.

Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) has added new generating units and converted older units into emergency standby units in the past few years, allowing it to maintain a nighttime peak reserve margin of at least 6 percent, he said.

Solar power during the day can boost reserves to 15 to 17 percent, although margins dip slightly after sunset, he said.

Under normal conditions, reserves are 6 to 7 percent to facilitate stable supply in emergencies, he added.

Standby units were activated after the fire to compensate for the slight dip in reserves and normal supply was unaffected, Kung said.

Officials hope to complete an inspection of Unit 1 at the Hsinta plant within a week, as it appears to have been largely unaffected by the blaze, he said.


title: Leotek forecasts an uptick in sales

content_text:
Leotek Corp (光林智能), a lighting and traffic signaling equipment subsidiary of Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技), expects revenue this year to surpass last year’s, driven by infrastructure project gains in Taiwan, North America and elsewhere, company president Torrent Chin (金海濤) said yesterday.

Orders for street lighting fixtures and traffic signaling equipment in Taiwan, and in the US, Canada, Mexico and Chile, as well as for products used in parks, campuses and parking lots in Australia, New Zealand, China and Spain are expected to increase, Chin said on the sidelines of an exhibition in Taipei.

The company has received several orders for electric vehicle (EV) charging piles this quarter from the public and private sectors, he said.

Leotek Corp president Torrent Chin poses for a photograph at the SDG Asia Expo in Taipei yesterday. Photo courtesy of Leotek Corp

The company last year acquired UK-based industrial LED solutions provider Dialight PLC, which mainly operates in the US and Mexico.

The deal helped Leotek receive more US orders this year and achieve a penetration rate of up to 90 percent in the street lighting and traffic signaling equipment market in major US cities, including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago, Chin said.

He did not provide an exact figure for the company’s projected revenue for this year, saying only that revenue in the first half was expected to outpace the second half at a 45 to 55 percent split, with the result depending on government bids and budgets, which vary from year to year.

Leotek operates plants in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭) and in San Jose, California, with each site accounting for 50 percent of the company’s total output, he said.

Most shipments to US customers are made through its US plant, while shipments to other countries are handled through its Taiwanese plant, he said.

Orders are likely to remain stable as local governments in Taiwan continue infrastructure renewal, while their counterparts in the US expand in smart transportation, EV charging and safety sensing, Chin said.


content_text:
Indian officials visit Semicon Taiwan, promote bilateral partnership

Two Indian officials are visiting Taiwan to attend Semicon Taiwan trade show and meet with local industry leaders to enhance collaboration between India and Taiwan in the global semiconductor ecosystem.

“Taiwan has built a place for itself in this entire value chain. So clearly, there is something that Taiwan has done right over the years,” S. Krishnan, secretary of Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, said at a press event in Taipei.

Over the past decades, Taiwanese companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), Pegatron Corp (和碩) and Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) have been successful in India, particularly in the electronics sector, he noted.

S. Krishnan, secretary of the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, attends a press event in Taipei yesterday. Photo courtesy of the India Taipei Association via CNA

Last year, India’s Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd partnered with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) to establish India’s first 12-inch wafer fabrication plant, in Dholera, Gujarat, Krishnan said.

Such cooperation between India and Taiwan indicates that India is “favorable ground” for the high tech industry, as it is “a big market, a source of human resources, and a source of a youthful population with talent,” he said.

The other Indian official visiting Taiwan this week is Amitesh Sinha, CEO of India Semiconductor Mission, the government agency responsible for formulating and implementing strategic initiatives in the field of semiconductors.

The two Indian officials are aiming to explore new synergies in areas such as advanced semiconductor design and manufacturing, capital equipment, and supply chain resilience, according to the India Taipei Association, which represents India’s interests in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties.

Asked about his impressions so far, Krishnan said he has learned that Taiwan hosts a number of niche technologies in the semiconductor sector, which provide different kinds of services.

“We [in India] need to look at the entire ecosystem in order to support a number of linked companies,” he said.

The secretary also said he was impressed with how Taiwan’s “academic institutions are aligned with what is being done for the semiconductor sector.”

“So, we have to aim for a much closer alignment between our leading academic institutions and what is happening in the semiconductor space,” he added.

Semicon Taiwan is an annual trade exhibition and conference for semiconductor, semiconductor device fabrication, microelectronics manufacturing, packaging, and test technologies.

The three-day event, which concludes today, features more than 1,200 semiconductor and technology companies, with over 4,100 booths, and it is expected to draw an estimated 100,000 industry professionals, according to the organizers.


content_text: A man looks at a display of silicon wafers at Semicon Taiwan in Taipei yesterday. This year’s event, the highlight of International Semiconductor Week, has the theme “Leading with Collaboration. Innovating with the World.” With more than 25 forums and 13 core technology tracks, the event emphasizes partnership as the engine for the next wave of innovation, bringing industry leaders together to discuss artificial intelligence-driven semiconductor trends, market strategies and unveil critical industry data.

title: Silicon spotting


content_text:
A report by the US-based Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday last week warned that China is operating illegal oil drilling inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), marking a sharp escalation in Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics.

The report said that, starting in July, state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp installed 12 permanent or semi-permanent oil rig structures and dozens of associated ships deep inside Taiwan’s EEZ about 48km from the restricted waters of the Pratas Islands in the northeast of the South China Sea, islands that are home to a Taiwanese garrison.

The rigs not only typify China’s maritime “gray zone” operations aimed at eroding Taiwan’s jurisdiction by building in area where Taipei demands explicit permission, but could also host military infrastructure to facilitate operations against the Pratas Islands and even Taiwan proper.

Beijing has a long history of “gray zone” tactics to harass Taiwan and “normalize” its encroachments with the aim of “legalizing” its expansionist territorial claims. Accompanied by military aircraft intruding into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and across the Taiwan Strait median line, China has regularly deployed its non-military “shadow fleet,” including private fishing boats, cargo ships, sand dredgers and research ships, to disturb Taiwanese vessels and maritime administration.

China’s tactics have expanded to pressure other neighboring countries, such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam in Southeast Asia, as well as Japan and South Korea in East Asia. As a military invasion would be costly, Beijing opts to use non-military forces to carry out its strategic objectives. Chinese maritime vessels and militia have incessantly generated “gray zone” conflicts through attacks or harassment of other nations’ vessels.

The Chinese oil rigs near the Pratas Islands, which have been encroaching into the region since 2020, demonstrate Beijing’s expansion in the South China Sea. The moves violate the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, seriously undermining regional security and the international order, as well as aggravating the complexity of overlapping territorial claims.

To deter China’s maritime encroachments, Jamestown Foundation president Peter Mattis (“Taiwan needs real-time awareness,” Sept. 9, page 8) wrote that “the most effective counter to China’s oil rigs was the combination of presence and publicity.” He urged Taiwan to invest more in collecting intelligence techniques, such as geospatial intelligence, synthetic aperture radar coverage or even build up its own satellite network to monitor in real-time the vast maritime area, and pinpoint the locations of China’s civil militia and possible military activities.

A Chinese ship was recently detained by the coast guard and its captain sentenced to three years in prison for cutting an undersea cable in Taiwan’s waters, marking a first such conviction amid a series of alleged cable-cutting incidents by Chinese vessels aimed at disrupting Taiwan’s digital infrastructure.

The government must further boost capacity for naval and coast guard ships to patrol outlying islands to deter “gray zone” tactics.

Facing the increasing disputes and tension driven by expansive and aggressive Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, Taiwan should cooperate with neighboring like-minded countries, such as the Philippines and Japan, to maintain regional stability, and protect maritime resources in Taiwan and other countries’ economic zones.

Taiwan and like-minded nations should file lawsuits in international courts to protest China’s illegal activities and highlight the case on a global stage.

As the Jamestown Foundation report warned, “failure to protest today would encourage further encroachment.” Taiwan must take more action to safeguard its sovereignty and jointly uphold the international order.

title: EDITORIAL: China’s ‘gray zone’ escalation


content_text:
Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School only allows each class to order food delivery to the school once a month. To fight for greater rights to order meals, some students have launched a protest movement, eating lunch in front of the principal’s office. In response, doctor Shen Chen-lan (沈政男) praised the students’ bravery, and asked: “What are the teachers and school afraid of?”

Actually, the school policy is not a matter of fear, but a matter of safety management and campus order. The main entrance to Taipei First Girls High School is often blocked by food couriers during lunchtime. Some couriers even put lunchboxes inside a public phone booth by the entrance. It is far better for students to try to pack their own lunchboxes at home, thereby cultivating their ability to do housework. This is part and parcel of their education.

The school song encourages students to prepare themselves for the responsibilities of “managing family and state affairs,” an idea that appears in other schools’ songs, too. Why do students only know how to sing the songs, but not how to follow their advice?

In Japan, high-school students generally do not order food delivery to school. Most Japanese high schools do not allow ordering food delivery, as it impacts safety management and campus order, not to mention that such food is expensive.

Moreover, many Japanese public high schools do not have cafeterias, so students bring their own lunches, mostly prepared by their parents or themselves. Some schools have snack bars selling bread and rice balls on campus. Only a few private or large high schools have canteens that provide set meals, ramen noodles or curry rice.

Finally, there are the cultural factors. In Japan, students are generally expected to be frugal and follow the rules. Ordering food delivery is often considered an adult’s or office worker’s behavior.

Naturally, there are exceptions, as some more liberal high schools allow students to dine off-campus or order food delivery. During extracurricular activities or exam periods, teachers might also allow delivery of pizza or boxed lunches, but this is not commonly seen.

Teng Hon-yuan is a university professor.

Translated by Eddy Chang

title: Cultivating awareness in students


content_text:
US President Donald Trump’s policy preferences and orientations during the first eight months of his second term have created an unprecedented level of uncertainty about the US’ commitment to promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Except for some ceremonial meetings, interactions, and visits between the Trump administration and like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region, the US has so far not produced a detailed plan of action to institutionalize the conception of the Indo-Pacific as a free and open region. The focus of the Trump administration is largely devoted to realizing the idea of “America first” at the cost of sustaining the efforts to promote the liberal order in the Indo-Pacific.

One major objective of the US Indo-Pacific strategy is to work with democratic countries to promote security in the region. Instead of holding dialogues with its allies and partners to explore ways to enhance the security architecture in the region, Trump has focused on pressuring them to share the burden of maintaining security. Without the US’ unwavering support, the vulnerability of most of the countries of the region would further increase vis-a-vis China.

The second objective is to enhance free, fair and transparent trade and commerce in the Indo-Pacific. The US has treated its friends and foes alike. While Trump has extended an olive branch to China by providing Beijing with more time to develop a trade deal, he has imposed exorbitant tariffs on its friends. Instead of forcing China to comply with the liberal global trade regime, US policies have negatively impacted the trade prospects of its allies and partners.

Third is strengthening governance in the Indo-Pacific. However, in the name of “America first,” Trump has withdrawn the US from several global organizations, institutions and agreements. This has weakened efforts to prevent autocratic regimes from undermining the significance of liberal global institutions. This would certainly encourage China to fill the vacuum at the international level created by the US. Trump’s “America first” has also made US-led groupings, such as AUKUS and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), uncertain about what it happening.

The promotion of democracy, sovereignty and freedom is an integral part of the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy. The role of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was significant in achieving these objectives. US soft power remains major force behind the liberal international order, but Trump feels that USAID and other similar activities are a waste of US resources.

Trump’s foreign, security and economic policies have alarmed US allies and partners, including India. While the imposition of 50 percent tariffs by the US has put India-US relations under stress, Trump’s reported reluctance to attend the Quad summit to be held in New Delhi later this year has underscored the tensions between India and the US.

India’s unease also stems from the fact that New Delhi had, in the recent past, intensified efforts to work with Washington to counter Beijing by conducting joint military exercises with Quad member countries in the South China Sea and elsewhere. To minimize its vulnerability in the changing geopolitical, security and economic environment of the Indo-Pacific, India has moved to thaw its ties with China and accelerate cooperation with Russia. In this context, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India later this year also assumes significance.

The Trump administration’s new bonhomie toward Pakistan, coupled with the possible China-Russia-Pakistan nexus, would compound India’s security and other national security interests in South Asia and beyond.

There is also a strong realization among many Indian strategic experts that to expect a positive change in China’s policy toward India would be unwise. Therefore, it would be prudent for New Delhi to use its diplomatic channels effectively to quell trade tensions with the US. That both sides’ diplomats are engaged to prevent bilateral ties from further damage is visible from Trump’s latest comment on India, saying that the India-US relationship remained “special” and that he shared strong bonds with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, since Trump’s approach toward India has revived New Delhi’s Cold War experiences with Washington, the Modi government might exercise restraint in expanding ties with the US, especially in the security domain, impacting the overall security of the Indo-Pacific.

The Trump administration should realize that world leadership comes with responsibility. Only time will tell if the Trump administration could work with US allies and partners to achieve a free and open regional order in the Indo-Pacific.

Sumit Kumar is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi, and a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs visiting fellow at National Chengchi University.

title: Trump and a ‘free and open’ region


people: 賴清德 柯文哲 黃國昌

content_text:
It is common to refer to the period of authoritarian rule under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) from the implementation of martial law on May 20, 1949, until its abolition on June 3, 1991, as the White Terror era.

Since the first direct presidential election in 1996, the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have taken turns in governing, each maintaining a support base of at least 30 percent. With the inevitable re-evaluation of 23 million voters after each four-year term, incumbent parties are also obliged to court swing voters outside their traditional base to remain in office. Under such a system, where could there possibly be room for a new “white terror”?

Established in 2019, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has branded itself as the “white” camp to carve out a piece of the political landscape outside of the blue-green dichotomy. Although the TPP has never held national office, the words and actions alone of its members are enough to impart a foreboding sense of a new kind of white terror.

Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), claiming to act as an ordinary Taipei citizen, obtained concessions of more than NT$10 billion (US$329.6 million) from then-Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the founder of the TPP. We are asked to believe that all this is “perfectly legal.”

Furthermore, if Ko’s then-secretary Hsu Chih-yu (許芷瑜) truly has no skeletons in the closet, why does she not board the next flight back to Taipei and testify to Ko’s innocence? Political donations attested to in court were not found in official TPP bank accounts — and yet the party still makes claims of openness and transparency.

Finally, regarding the TPP’s young supporters: Is it that they do not understand, or that they do not care? Is it not important that this party, which has not even come close to winning the presidency, is already proving its corruption?

Dissatisfaction with the “status quo” and a pursuit of novelty are the hallmarks of youth. Between the DPP, the KMT and the TPP, the political landscape is changing. Young people have little interest in the old KMT, and take the democratic freedoms hard-won by their predecessors for granted. They show limited awareness of and vigilance toward the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the DPP’s “resist China, protect Taiwan” stance is no longer a silver bullet for the youth vote. Enthusiasm has begun to coalesce around the TPP as an emerging political party promising rationality, pragmatism and a scientific approach.

Where is the rationality behind young TPP supporters verbally abusing prosecutors and judges, running riot in prohibited areas, and mowing down on-duty police officers — with TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appearing to give a public demonstration on how to put an officer into a chokehold. Where is the pragmatism when people turn up to their unauthorized gatherings with clothes emblazoned with the five stars of the Chinese flag? Where is the objectivity in refusing to accept the evidence and numerous confessions from those involved in the Core Pacific City corruption case?

Our nation’s hope for the future resides with the young. However, we see young TPP supporters with complete disregard for the law and contempt for differing opinions in the judiciary blindly sticking to their guns and refusing to accept hard evidence. They seem to have made it their goal to provoke President William Lai (賴清德) at every opportunity, and remain uninterested in stopping their protest group from flying the Chinese flag.

What are we to make of the new TPP, marred blue with the KMT, red with the CCP and black with corruption? What future would come of this white terror?

Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired National Hsinchu University associate professor.

Translated by Gilda Knox Streader

title: Is the TPP a new kind of ‘white terror’?


title: EDITORIAL CARTOON

content_text: Taiwan stands at the epicenter of a seismic shift that will determine the Indo-Pacific’s future security architecture. Whether deterrence prevails or collapses will reverberate far beyond the Taiwan Strait, fundamentally reshaping global power dynamics.The stakes could not be higher. Today, Taipei confronts an unprecedented convergence of threats from an increasingly muscular China that has intensified its multidimensional pressure campaign. Beijing’s strategy is comprehensive: military intimidation, diplomatic isolation, economic coercion, and sophisticated influence operations designed to fracture Taiwan’s democratic society from within.This challenge is magnified by Taiwan’s internal political divisions, which extend to fundamental questions about the island’s identity and future


content_text:
To address the widespread discontent over abuses of power and the erosion of constitutional norms, President Prabowo Subianto must focus on four priorities

Less than 11 months into his term, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto faces a stark choice. He could be remembered either as a leader whose presidency was defined by public anger and discontent, or as one who recognized the challenges facing his country and acted in the national interest.

The anti-government protests sweeping Indonesia over the past two weeks are not fleeting outbursts, but the culmination of long-suppressed grievances against abuses of power, the erosion of constitutional norms and the violation of basic human rights. The protesters are not seeking an apology or even sympathy from the president; they demand the chance to live a decent life in which their dignity and human rights are respected and upheld.

Prabowo’s administration has set its sights on making the country the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2045 — a goal that would require sustained annual growth of 8 percent. However, with 68 percent of Indonesia’s population living below the poverty line for upper-middle-income countries, such ambitions mean little if millions of citizens remain trapped in poverty and hardship.

Indonesians have experienced rapid growth before, most notably during the long dictatorship of Suharto (1967 to 1998), Prabowo’s former father-in-law. Given that history, they know that lasting and inclusive development gains depend on political and social reform, not strongman rule.

Blaming previous administrations or consolidating power among key parties — which might provide short-term stability, but weakens democratic resilience — would not absolve the current government of responsibility for its decisions today. What Indonesia needs are concrete measures to reduce poverty, create employment opportunities and restore trust in the government.

To heal the country’s deepening social fractures, policymakers must focus on four urgent priorities.

First, they must enforce the separation of powers and eliminate conflicts of interest. Democracy flourishes only when the executive, legislative and judicial branches operate independently, yet in Indonesia, power remains heavily concentrated. Many political parties operate as family-run enterprises, with leaders holding executive roles or wielding outsize influence across institutions. This concentration fosters a culture of impunity and erodes public trust.

Clear ethics rules are essential. Public officials — including the president, Cabinet members and parliamentary leaders — should not hold party posts, positions in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and private-sector jobs simultaneously. Eliminating these overlaps would reduce corruption, ensure that policies serve citizens rather than private or partisan interests and bolster the credibility of Indonesia’s democratic institutions.

Second, fiscal transparency is critical to delivering better-targeted social assistance and accelerating SOE reform. For two decades, Indonesia’s tax-to-GDP ratio has stagnated at 10 percent to 12 percent. While the budget for next year projects revenues totaling 12 percent of GDP, early figures this year are lagging this target — a shortfall worsened by a decline in commodity revenues.

At the same time, budget pressures continue to mount, underscoring the need for fiscal discipline. The government’s Free Nutritious Meals program is a prime example. Although well-intentioned, it is prohibitively expensive, with a budget of 171 trillion rupiahs (US$10.38 billion) that is expected to rise to 335 trillion rupiahs next year. A more effective approach would be to pilot the program in five underserved regions, at a cost of no more than 5 trillion rupiahs, while engaging with local communities. The remaining funds could be used to support teachers, health professionals and waste-management workers, or finance programs that deliver tangible benefits to low and middle-income households.

Similarly, the new Danantara sovereign wealth fund, with its 300 trillion rupiah budget, is unnecessary. With public debt at 41 percent of GDP, new borrowing should be directed toward productive investment rather than bureaucratic expansion. Reforming existing SOEs would be cheaper, faster and more effective. While consolidation has reduced the number of SOEs from 118 in 2018 to 64 last year, the state still dominates sectors ranging from banking to hospitality, crowding out small enterprises.

Third, civil authority must be bolstered to curb military interference. Military or police intervention in civilian affairs tends to undermine democratic institutions. In Indonesia, where the military continues to wield significant political influence, preserving clear boundaries is particularly important. That means codified institutional checks, stronger civilian oversight and strict adherence to human rights norms. Without these safeguards, Indonesia risks sliding toward the instability seen in Myanmar or in parts of Latin America and Africa.

Lastly, the long-delayed Asset Recovery Bill, which would empower the state to reclaim disproportionate wealth without waiting for a criminal conviction, must be enacted. Crucially, its aim is not to seize assets arbitrarily, but to ensure that stolen public assets are restored to their rightful owners — the people. First drafted in 2008 and submitted to parliament in 2012, the bill has languished for nearly two decades, enabling corrupt actors to plunder public resources with impunity.

By establishing a civil process for recovering unexplained wealth (in rem asset recovery), the law fulfills Indonesia’s obligations under the UN Convention Against Corruption and shows that the government stands with citizens in fighting abuses of power. If Prabowo channels this recovered wealth into education, healthcare and social programs, he could leave a truly transformative legacy.

Indonesia’s leadership could choose to deepen repression, or it could take a different path and bolster democratic governance. Prabowo’s legacy would not be measured by electoral margins, but by whether his government respects human rights, improves healthcare and education, and creates more good jobs. He could be remembered as the president who presided over Indonesia’s largest protests since Suharto, or he could be celebrated as a leader who delivered political, social and economic justice. The choice is his.

Lili Yan Ing, secretary-general of the International Economic Association, is lead adviser for the Southeast Asian region at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia.

Copyright: Project Syndicate

title: Indonesian democracy on the brink


content_text:
The White House is caught between supporting Israel’s war against Hamas and patching up relations with a key US ally in the region

In the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas negotiators in the heart of Qatar’s capital, Doha, the White House appeared sidelined from halting a conflict that US President Donald Trump has claimed only he could mediate.

As details of the diplomatic flurry before Tuesday’s extraordinary strike were revealed, it was claimed that the White House had little say in how Israel opened its latest front in its war against Hamas — this one on a US ally hosting negotiations days after Trump had claimed he was close to reaching a deal.

Instead, the Trump administration appears once again to have been caught by surprise, as with Israel’s strikes in June against Iranian military and nuclear program targets that upended US efforts to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Tehran.

US officials said warnings of the impending strikes on Qatar came so late that US officials were only informed of the attack by the time that Israeli F-16 jets were already en route to the Gulf.

Whether or not the US had closer coordination with the Israelis on the strike than admitted, the White House only informed Qatari officials of the attack 10 minutes after it had begun, Qatar’s prime minister said on Tuesday.

“I immediately directed Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack, which he did, however, unfortunately, too late to stop the attack,” Trump said in a statement.

By Tuesday afternoon, the White House was caught between a policy of supporting Israel’s war against Hamas and of patching up relations with a key US ally in the region with close ties to his administration, in particular Witkoff.

The tightrope walk that the administration is performing was apparent on Tuesday, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a condemnation and justification of the strike, in a statement that appeared desperate to keep the Qatari government onside.

“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” Leavitt said from the podium of the White House press room.

However, she added a tacit endorsement of the strike, saying: “Eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”

The strikes could mark the end of the ceasefire negotiation process in Qatar, which has mediated talks between Israel and Hamas for nearly two years.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Tuesday said that the country would continue to mediate between Israel and Hamas, but “for current talks, I do not think there’s something valid right now after what we saw from today’s attack.”

“It is difficult to imagine the Qataris picking up where they left off,” Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Steven Cook said. “From Doha’s perspective, Qatar has exerted considerable effort to release Israeli hostages only to be repaid with an airstrike on their country.”

Egypt could act as mediator instead, but it is a “thankless task” when “neither the Israeli government nor the Hamas leadership seem interested in a deal,” Cook said.

“I think it really calls into question what is prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s intention,” Israel Policy Forum Washington Managing Director and senior fellow Rachel Brandenburg said during an episode of a podcast hosted by War on the Rocks. “If he is really serious about negotiations and is serious about ending the war, then why strike the political leaders who are negotiating?”

Despite questions about Qatar’s influence on Hamas and whether the militant group’s leaders could negotiate in good faith, “you need someone to mediate and you need someone to negotiate with and this makes that conversation a lot more difficult,” she said.

Qatar was also caught in the crossfire in the aftermath of a US strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in June, as a US military base in the Gulf country was targeted by an Iranian missile barrage that was easily parried by US missile defense systems.

Trump on Tuesday said that he had assured the prime minister and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that “such a thing will not happen again on their soil.”

However, Israel has suggested otherwise. After Algeria called an emergency session of the UN Security Council, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said: “There will be no immunity for terrorists — not in Gaza, Lebanon or in Qatar.”

title: US sidelined by Israel’s unprecedented Qatar strike


content_text:
In the lead-up to the vote that ejected him from office this week after a mere nine months, the center-right French prime minister Francois Bayrou appeared stoically reconciled to his fate.

“There are worse disasters in life than the fall of a government,” Bayrou said on national radio, implicitly acknowledging his failure to win backing for a swingeing austerity strategy.

On Monday, members of parliament duly used a debate called by the prime minister himself to oust him.

And so another one bites the dust. The entrance to Matignon, France’s baroque prime ministerial residence, has become a revolving door during French President Emmanuel Macron’s benighted second term. Lacking a majority in a divided and deadlocked parliament, the president has gone through four prime ministers in a little more than three years. Following the departure of the latest, he announced his intention to appoint a fifth within days, rather than countenance a new election with far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally ahead in the polls.

Continuing instability and paralysis in the political mainstream would only enhance the far right’s prospects in the presidential elections in 2027. Without a fundamental strategic shift in the Elysee, there is no reason to believe that Bayrou’s successor would fare any better, or last any longer, than he did.

Outlining his budget plans during the summer, Bayrou disingenuously invoked a spirit of collective sacrifice in calling for the reduction of France’s public deficit. However, his cost-cutting measures focused on the less well-off, pensioners and those receiving welfare benefits, as he ignored calls to spread the pain upwards rather than downwards. Those political calculations faithfully reflected Macron’s economic priorities, which were encapsulated early on by decisions to abolish a wealth tax and ease the tax burden on big business.

Macron’s fundamental problem is that he no longer has a mandate for this socially divisive agenda. In the snap legislative elections he unwisely called last summer, his centrist bloc finished behind the New Popular Front, a left wing coalition of parties. Refusing to nominate a prime minister from the center-left, Macron has pushed on regardless of parliamentary arithmetic, displaying a characteristic lack of humility and an unwillingness to compromise.

In the twilight of a presidency beset by domestic crises and at times civil unrest, a different approach is beyond overdue. As the markets become increasingly restive over the political stasis in Paris, Macron’s immediate imperative is to find a prime minister who could pass a budget before the end of the year. That would not be possible without reaching some form of understanding with the Socialist Party, whose refusal to back Bayrou this week sealed his fate.

In exchange, Socialist Party leader Oliver Faure would seek concessions on issues such as the reintroduction of a wealth tax and increasing public investment. Macron would be loath to make them, but it is overwhelmingly in France’s interests that he does so.

On entering office, Macron presented himself as the grown up political antidote to the rise of the far right. However, the rancorous chaos at the heart of mainstream French politics is the gift that keeps on giving to Le Pen. Finally, belatedly, Macron should accept the consequences of the snap election and make a deal with the left.

title: For Macron, it is time to compromise with the left


title: Taiwan’s Chen, Huang reach semis in boxing

content_text:
Taiwan’s Olympic medalists Chen Nien-chin and Huang Hsiao-wen on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the World Boxing Championships after winning their quarter-final bouts in Liverpool, England.

The tournament serves as the new international federation World Boxing’s version of the world championships.

Chen defeated Kinga Krowka 4-1 in the women’s 65kg division, avenging her loss to the Polish boxer in the World Boxing Cup semi-finals in Brazil in early April, while Huang beat Mexico’s Ariadna Jeanette Gil by a unanimous decision in the women’s 54kg event.

Taiwan’s Chen Nien-chin celebrates after her win against Kinga Krowka of Poland in the women’s 65kg division at the World Boxing Championships at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England, on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Boxing Association via CNA

The victories ensured that Chen and Huang — Olympic bronze medalists at the Paris and Tokyo Games respectively — would win at least bronze medals regardless of the results of their next bouts.

Huang burst into tears after learning of her victory, as it secured her first medal of the year.

“We’ve both been under great pressure recently because Hsiao-wen had not won a medal this year and I became more solemn as a result,” Huang’s coach Liu Tsung-tai said. “It hasn’t been easy for her these days. She worked really hard for the championships, and now we both feel relieved of a huge burden.”

Taiwan’s Huang Hsiao-wen, left, and coach Liu Tsung-tai pose for a photograph at the World Boxing Championships at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England, on Monday. Photo provided by Liu Tsung-tai via CNA

The two other Taiwanese female boxers in Liverpool — Wu Shih-yi, who took bronze in the women’s 60kg division at the Paris Games, and Guo Yi-xuan — were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 57kg and 51kg categories respectively.

The tournament is the inaugural edition of World Boxing’s elite-level global championships, representing the largest Olympic-style boxing event in England since the 2012 London Olympics, organizers said.

It runs through Sunday at the M&S Bank Arena, with 540 boxers from 66 national federations competing across 20 weight classes in men’s and women’s events.


title: Women and girls struggle for place in sumo in Japan

content_text:
Sumo is more than a sport in Japan. It is a sacred tradition, a 1,500-year-old spectacle steeped in Shinto ritual and ceremony. At its heart lies a long-standing taboo: women are still barred from the traditional ring, known as the dohyo in Japanese.

That legacy is now facing quiet resistance. While professional sumo — the sumo that the world is used to seeing — remains closed to women, a group of more than 600 female wrestlers is making strides at the amateur level in Japan. Their ambitions extend beyond the Sumo World Championships, an international men’s and women’s amateur sumo competition set to take place this weekend in Bangkok.

“I want sumo to become an Olympic sport with no gender distinction,” said 27-year-old Airi Hisano, who pursues sumo alongside her day-job at Tachihi Holdings and has a reputation as the strongest female sumo wrestler in Japan.

Airi Hisano trains at the Tachihi Holdings Women’s sumo club in Tokyo on Aug. 2. Photo: AP

She weighs 115kg and stands 1.72m tall. She is the sole member of the company’s women’s sumo club, but head coach Daiki Toyonoshima is pleased with his lone pupil, particularly when she is sparring with other females.

“Watching them throw each other and fall face-first without using their hands was deeply impressive,” said Toyonoshima, a former professional wrestler. “Women’s sumo is powerful and matches the intensity of male bouts.”

Veteran NHK broadcast commentator and club manager Fujio Kariya said that women’s sumo could have impact in a country where gender roles are rigid.

“It can spark real change — not just in sports, but across Japanese society,” Kariya said.

At another training site, the Keio University Sumo Club, women and men — and boys from the Keio High School team — train side by side.

Leading them is 22-year-old Rio Hasegawa, the middleweight world champion and the first female to join the Keio Club since its founding in 1919. At 1.71m and 72kg, she is taller and heavier than most Japanese women. Her build reflects the power sumo demands.

Unlike males who compete bare-chested in mawashi, the traditional loincloth, women wear it over spandex shirts and bodysuits.

“It’s unavoidable — women have body parts that must be covered,” Hasegawa said. “I’ve never wanted to compete dressed like a man.”

She added that clothing reflects cultural modesty while also signaling body image expectations.

“If I quit sumo, I might think about losing weight,” Hasegawa said.

Male sumo wrestlers often drop weight once they leave the sport, with research showing the large body mass might lead to health problems.

“In Japan, slim is often equated with beautiful, but for performance and health, thin isn’t everything,” said 19-year-old Shiho Suzuki, one of Keio’s four female wrestlers. “A strong, healthy body with some weight on it is attractive, too.”

Suzuki, who is 1.6m and 78kg, said that females in sumo often face teasing — enough to drive some to quit.

Others like Keio University sophomore Nana Nishida call it outright bullying.

As a junior high-school student, she lost 20kg over just three months in an attempt to make it stop.

“Sumo is a sport where you cannot win with technique alone,” Nishida said. “It’s important to make use of your body type.”

Since 2016, girls from across Japan have traveled to Tottori Johoku High School, about 600km west of Tokyo, to attend week-long spring and summer training camps at the nation’s largest girls’ sumo club.

Much about the camp is for getting stronger, improving technique and bulking up — which means not skimping on meals.

A typical meal consists of pork in a tangy sauce, vegetables, white rice and candied sweet potatoes. Also typical is the ritual weight check before and after eating.

“We eat to build muscle and maintain our weight,” said 15-year-old Sora Kusuda from Osaka, who has practiced sumo for seven years and weighs 110kg and stands 1.65m.

Japanese government data show that more than 20 percent of Japanese women in their 20s and 30s are underweight.

Sumo wrestlers are not trying to lose weight

In fact, Kusuda has another clear goal related to weight, practice and technique.

“I want to become a world champion,” she said.


title: SOCCER SHORTS

content_text:
WORLD CUP

Box holders beat FIFA

Holders of boxes at Estadio Banorte in Mexico City won a standoff against FIFA over who gets to control the spaces during next year’s World Cup. The use of the boxes and VIP seating has become an issue in the lead-up to the tournament, as the stadium had signed contracts that spanned 99 years of box access to fund a 1966 renovation, said a spokeswoman at Ollamani SAB, the company that owns the stadium. The boxes include 12,500 individual spaces out of the 90,000 the stadium will have following the renovation. Following prolonged negotiations, an agreement was reached between a unit of Ollamani and FIFA — which rents the stadium during the World Cup — that includes the company taking on “relevant obligations and payment commitments” to FIFA to secure access for boxholders, a statement sent to local regulators said. The spokeswoman declined to comment on the amount of the deal, while representatives for FIFA did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

WORLD CUP

Mamdani seeks discount

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic nomination on a platform of making the city more affordable, is calling on FIFA to make it cheaper for residents to attend the World Cup. In a petition released on Wednesday, Mamdani demanded that FIFA reverse its plan to set ticket prices for next year’s tournament based on demand, likening the practice to “price gouging.” He also called for 15 percent of tickets to be set aside at discounted prices for residents. “As a lifelong football — sorry, I mean soccer, fan — I couldn’t be more excited,” Mamdani said in an accompanying social media video, speaking in a faux-British accent as he juggled a ball in his dress shoes. “But are any working-class New Yorkers actually going to be able to watch any of the matches?”

LA LIGA

Oviedo supporter arrested

A Real Oviedo supporter has been arrested for directing racist gestures at Real Madrid players when the sides met last month, Spain’s National Police said on Wednesday. “A fan has been arrested for mimicking racist gestures and sounds during a match between Real Oviedo and Real Madrid,” the National Police said on X. “LaLiga reported the incidents after the match held in Oviedo.” The National Police linked to a story in Spanish newspaper Marca, which said the arrest was related to an incident in the 37th minute of the game on Aug. 24, when Real Madrid players were celebrating Kylian Mbappe’s opening goal in a 3-0 win.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Watford unveil John shirts

English second-tier club Watford are to wear a special Elton John-inspired kit for tomorrow’s home game against Blackburn Rovers to mark the approaching 50th anniversary of the global pop icon becoming chairman. The blue strip, that is to be worn just once, is inspired by his Diamonds album artwork and features a star design sublimation, while embossed on the reverse of the shirt are the lyrics “How wonderful life is while you’re in the world” from his 1970 hit Your Song.


title: Left foot in

content_text: Taiwan’s players huddle up ahead of their Super Round game against South Korea at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup at Nishizaki Stadium in Itoman, Japan, yesterday. South Korea won 8-1, while Puerto Rico beat Panama 3-1 and Japan downed the US 6-2 in the other Super Round fixtures. In the Placement Round, China downed South Africa 11-3, Italy triumphed over Germany 4-2 and Cuba beat Australia 2-1.


title: Poland PM vows to modernize military

content_text:
NOT AFRAID:  Poland ‘doesn’t get scared by Russian drones,’ the Polish president said, telling personnel at an air base that Moscow was testing the nation’s abilities

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk yesterday pledged to push ahead with a “great modernization program” for his country’s military, a day after Russian drones crossed into Poland and amplified international tensions around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and what the Kremlin’s future territorial ambitions might be.

European officials described Wednesday’s incursion, which occurred during a wave of unrelenting Russian strikes on Ukraine, as a deliberate provocation, forcing the NATO alliance to confront a potential threat in its airspace for the first time.

It deepened longstanding fears that the three-year war between Poland’s neighbors could precipitate a wider conflict. US-led efforts to steer Moscow and Kyiv toward a peace settlement have so far failed to get traction.

Polish Deputy Minister of National Defense Cezary Tomczyk, center, walks with Deputy Commander General of the Polish Armed Forces Major General Cezary Wisniewski, second right, at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Lask, Poland, yesterday. Photo: EPA

The UN Security Council yesterday was to hold an emergency meeting at Poland request to discuss the matter, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The Polish Air Navigation Agency yesterday morning announced that Poland’s was introducing air traffic restrictions in the eastern part of the country.

It said the step was taken at the request of the Polish army for national security reasons, but did not elaborate.

Poland said that some of the drones that entered its airspace on Wednesday came from Belarus, where Russian and local troops have begun gathering for war games scheduled to start today. Poland was to close its border with Belarus at midnight last night, a planned move also associated with the military exercises.

Tusk addressed Polish troops at an air base in the central city of Lask, praising their quick action and that of NATO allied forces from the Netherlands that responded to the multiple Russian drone incursions.

The response also brought questions about the wisdom of using advanced fighter jets to shoot down relatively cheap drones.

Poland expects to receive its first F-35 jets from the US next year, he said.

It would be the first delivery of some of the 32 aircraft expected by 2030 as part of a support package finalized five years ago, Tusk said.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki also visited a military air base yesterday, striking a defiant tone in a statement that said Poland “doesn’t get scared by Russian drones.”

Nawrocki described the incursion as “an attempt to test our abilities, the ability to react.”

He was visiting a base in Poznan-Krzesiny, in western Poland.

The European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank, also concluded that Putin is testing Europe’s resolve as it endeavors to address the threat from Moscow, while the US demands it shoulder more of the financial burden.

“Inconsistency between words and deeds seem to have eroded Europe’s credibility in Russia’s eyes,” it said in an analysis published on Friday last week.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered an ambiguous initial response to Russia’s drone incursion.

“What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!” he wrote on social media.

Trump last week told Nawrocki at the White House that the US would maintain a robust military presence.

Several European leaders said they believed the incursion amounted to an intentional expansion of Russia’s assault against Ukraine.

“Russia’s war is escalating, not ending,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday.

“What [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wants to do is to test us. What happened in Poland is a game changer,” she said, adding that it should result in stronger sanctions.

In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed “serious concern” over the incident, calling on all parties to exercise restraint and avoid any actions that undermine regional peace and stability.

The European security situation is closely linked to the security of the Indo-Pacific region, it said, urging democratic partners to unite in maintaining the rules-based international order, as well as to oppose any unilateral actions that change the “status quo” by force or coercion.

Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar, with Reuters


content_text:
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad

South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor.

The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader.

The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae] secured sufficient ‘revolutionary narrative’ needed to strengthen her position as a likely successor,” following her China trip, South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after being briefed by the agency.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, and his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, chat at the launch ceremony of a warship that had been damaged upon its first attempt to launch in Rajin, North Korea, on June 12. Photo: Korean Central News Agency via Reuters

“It was suggested that Kim Ju-ae’s status was solidified as a likely successor by showing her occasionally, while enabling her to build overseas experience, but not to appear at public events,” said Park Sun-won, another lawmaker on the parliament’s intelligence committee.

Her status was evident in state media photographs and a special documentary showing her accompanying Kim Jong-un in China, the agency said.

North Korean state media released a photo of her inside the country’s bulletproof train alongside her father and other officials as they returned from Beijing.

North Korean officials were spotted during the China trip wiping out traces to prevent the biological information of the leader and his daughter from being exposed.

That included staying together at the North Korean embassy in China, where items and even waste were “transported by special aircraft,” the NIS said.

“Strict protection of their leader’s biometric information has long been part of North Korea’s security protocol,” said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies. “The fact that Ju-ae received the same level of protection as Kim Jong-un once again demonstrates that she is a highly likely successor.”

Kim Ju-ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022, when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch. North Korean state media have since referred to her as “the beloved child,” and a “great person of guidance” — “hyangdo” in Korean — a term typically reserved for top leaders and their successors.

Before 2022, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former US National Basketball Association star Dennis Rodman, who visited North Korea in 2013.

Seoul had initially indicated that Kim Jong-un and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, had their first child, a boy, in 2010, and that Kim Ju-ae was their second child.

In 2023, the then-South Korean minister of unification said that the government was “unable to confirm” the existence of Kim Jong-un’s son.

Lee said that rumors that Kim Jong-un has another child, including one with a disability or studying abroad, are “not considered credible.”

“In particular, in the case of studying abroad, the NIS noted that no matter how much one tries to conceal such a fact, it would inevitably become known, and thus the possibility is considered very low,” he added.

Additional reporting by Reuters

title: N Korea’s Kim Ju-ae likely to succeed father: S Korea


title: LGBTQ rights setback takes toll in Hong Kong

content_text:
At a tiny, cluttered apartment in Hong Kong, four people sat around a large rainbow flag and quietly started to embroider.

Just hours before, the territory’s Legislative Council overwhelmingly vetoed a government bill that would have granted limited rights to same-sex couples — a stinging defeat for an LGBTQ community that has already spent years on the back foot.

Some community members said the outcome of Wednesday’s vote was “expected,” but that did little to cushion the emotional blow and assuage doubts about the future of advocating equality.

Gay rights activist Jimmy Sham leaves Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on Wednesday, following a debate on a bill recognizing same-sex partnerships. Photo: AP

“I want to use a relatively calm activity to contain and process these grievances, and to preserve our energy to act,” said performance artist Holok Chen (陳可樂), who organized the embroidery event.

Rather than listening to politicians’ speeches, it was more important to offer emotional support to peers, especially young people in anguish, Chen said.

Chen passed a handful of flags to other LGBTQ groups to embroider, and plans to display them all together at a street exhibition later this month.

Embroidery “is something communal, a gentle, but powerful form of resistance,” they said.

After the vote, rights activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰) said that Hong Kong’s ongoing unequal treatment of same-sex couples would become an “unhealed wound.”

Sham was behind the legal bid that in 2023 led the territory’s top court to order the creation of an “alternate framework” to recognize same-sex couples’ rights — prompting the government proposal.

The court’s demand still stands and authorities should “learn from the experience of this bill” and try again, he told reporters after the vote.

Sham was previously jailed under Hong Kong’s National Security Law as part of a case targeting 47 pro-democracy figures. He completed his sentence in May.

While many former prisoners have kept a low profile, Sham remains outspoken and has sat in the public gallery for every legislative session regarding the same-sex partnerships bill.

“There are parts of me that feel angry, but I hope everyone will join me in not feeling discouraged, and to do what we can for Hong Kong,” he said outside the legislature.

He added that he and his legal team would study options.

For arts administrator Kevin Wong, the discarded bill — which included a provision allowing a person to handle after-death arrangements of a partner — hit close to home.

Wong in July wrote a letter urging lawmakers to support the bill, citing his experience dealing with the aftermath of his partner’s suicide in 2021.

“Same-sex couples could be denied the right to say final goodbyes in a hospital, to make medical directions or even be blocked from attending funerals,” he wrote.


title: Speckled Martian rocks ‘clearest sign’ yet of ancient life

content_text:
Colorful, speckled rocks found on the surface of Mars have offered among the most encouraging evidence yet of ancient life on the planet, NASA scientists announced on Wednesday.

The Perseverance Mars rover collected the “Sapphire Canyon” rock samples in July last year from what is thought to be an ancient lakebed, and its poppy seed and leopard-esque spots pointed to potential chemical reactions that piqued the interest of researchers.

If the features resulted from microbial activity that created minerals in the way they do on Earth — well, that might point to life on Mars.

An image taken by NASA’s Perseverance rover shows “leopard spots” on a reddish rock in Mars’ Jerezo Crater in July last year. Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Malin Space Science Systems / AFP

It is far too soon for scientists to say that definitively, but the findings, which were detailed in research published in the journal Nature, are alluring.

“We put it out to our scientific friends to pressure test it, to analyze it, and go: ‘Did we get this right? Do we think this is signs of ancient life on Mars?’” NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy told a news conference.

“They said: ‘Listen, we can’t find another explanation.’ So this very well could be the clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars,” he said.

“It’s kind of the equivalent of seeing like leftover fossils, leftovers from a meal, and maybe that meal has been excreted by a microbe,” NASA Science Mission Directorate Administrator Nicky Fox told journalists.

When those kinds of mineral and textured features form in sediment on Earth, it is frequently the product of reactions from mud and organic matter, a potential “biosignature,” or sign of life, the study’s lead author, Joel Hurowitz, said.

Specifically, Perserverance’s instruments identified the minerals vivianite and greigite. On Earth, vivianite is often found in sediments, peat bogs and around decaying organic matter. Some forms of microbial life on Earth can produce greigite.

“But there are nonbiological ways to make these features that we cannot completely rule out on the basis of the data that we collected,” Hurowitz said.

Still, the findings are “exciting,” he told journalists, adding that researchers would need to analyze the sample in person to better understand if microbial activity had created the “fantastic textures,” and colors including blue and green.


title: World News Quick Take

content_text:
NEPAL

Army, protesters to hold talks

The army yesterday was set to resume talks with “Gen Z” protesters to pick an interim leader for the Himalayan nation, an army spokesperson said, after angry demonstrations that killed 30 people and forced the prime minister to resign. Soldiers were patrolling the quiet streets of Kathmandu following the capital’s worst protests in decades, triggered by a social media ban that authorities rolled back after 19 deaths as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to control crowds. Former chief justice Sushila Karki, who was the country’s first woman appointed to the job in 2016, is the front-runner to be interim leader, with her name suggested by many of those leading the protest. “We see Sushila Karki for who she truly is — honest, fearless and unshaken,” said Sujit Kumar Jha, a 34-year-old supporter of the agitation. “She’s the right choice. When truth speaks, it sounds like Karki.”

UNITED KINGDOM

Starmer fires Mandelson

British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson was sacked yesterday after his long-term association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became a further distraction for under-pressure Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Mandelson, dubbed the “Prince of Darkness” for his behind-the-scenes maneuvering during the previous Labour government, was forced from the most sought-after diplomatic post after his letters and e-mails to Epstein were published this week. The 71-year-old had come under scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein after a birthday book was released including a letter purportedly from the now ambassador describing Epstein as “my best pal.”

UNITED STATES

NASA blocks Chinese workers

NASA has begun barring Chinese nationals with valid visas from joining its programs, underscoring the intensifying space race between the rival powers. The policy shift was first reported by Bloomberg News and confirmed by the US government agency. “NASA has taken internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals, including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials and network to ensure the security of our work,” NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said on Wednesday. Bloomberg reported that Chinese nationals had previously been allowed to work as contractors or students contributing to research, although not as staff, but on Friday last week, several people told the outlet they were suddenly locked out of computer systems and barred from in-person meetings. NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy told reporters that the US was in a “second space race” with China.

AUSTRALIA

Croc wrestler probed

Authorities are investigating an American influencer who filmed himself wrestling wild crocodiles in Queensland, condemning the “extremely dangerous and illegal” activity. In a series of videos on his Instagram, bare-chested Mike Holston, who goes by therealtarzann online, tussles with saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. In one post, he dives into the water, emerging holding the crocodile by its throat with blood streaming from his elbow. “He got a hold of me, but I got a hold of him,” Holston says. Holston has said the videos, which have amassed millions of views, were for “educational purposes,” but the videos prompted outrage in Australia, where the maximum penalty for interfering with a saltwater crocodile is A$37,500 (US$24,755). The state of Queensland said it was “actively investigating” the videos.


content_text: Displaced people flee northern Gaza carrying their belongings along the coastal road heading toward the territory’s south on Wednesday, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders from Gaza City.

title: Another evacuation


title: Taiwan’s first Dirty Boxing bout on mixed-format card

content_text:
Local promotion introduces experimental combat format alongside traditional MMA bouts at the Taipei Gymnasium

Enter the Dragon 13 will bring Taiwan’s first taste of Dirty Boxing Sunday at Taipei Gymnasium, one highlight of a mixed-rules card blending new formats with traditional MMA.

The undercard starts at 10:30am, with the main card beginning at 4pm. Tickets are NT$1,200.

Dirty Boxing is a US-born ruleset popularized by fighters Mike Perry and Jon Jones as an alternative to boxing. The format has gained traction overseas, with its inaugural championship streamed free to millions on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Fighters compete in a past WOTD event at Taipei Gymnasium. Sunday’s Enter the Dragon 13 card features multiple combat formats including MMA, Cage Striking and Taiwan’s first Dirty Boxing bout. Photo courtesy of Combat Sports Arts

Taiwan’s version allows punches and elbows with clinch striking, but bans kicks, knees and takedowns. The rules are stricter than the American version, where standing ground strikes are also legal.

Event matchmaker Kemp Cheng (鄭宇哲) said the decision to stage Dirty Boxing was part of a broader plan to diversify the offerings of Way of the Dragon (WOTD), a promoter sanctioned by the Chinese Taipei Mixed Martial Arts Association. He previously considered working with another promotion but disagreed with its use of boxing gloves.

Cheng said Dirty Boxing is suited to athletes with backgrounds in Sanda and traditional Chinese martial arts. Fans may see techniques drawn from boxing, Muay Thai and other striking disciplines.

He organized the bout himself with MMA gloves and hand wraps. This, he said, “keeps the intensity of combat while ensuring safety.”

Cheng added that the Enter the Dragon series remains WOTD’s flagship event, giving local and regional fighters large-venue opportunities. Dirty Boxing, he said, is intended as a long-term project rather than a one-off spectacle.

The main event will be held under professional MMA rules, contrasting with the Dirty Boxing debut.

The ETD 13 card will also feature Beta MMA, which serves as the amateur format. Matches consist of three, three-minute rounds with no elbows, limited knees and the use of six-ounce gloves. Another format, Cage Striking, stages kickboxing inside a cage with three rounds of two and a half minutes each. Fighters are allowed to use punches, kicks and knees, with one clinch knee permitted, but elbows and takedowns remain prohibited.

In 2018, ETD 2 featured Jun Yong Park against Glenn Sparv. Park went on to compete as a UFC middleweight, underscoring the promotion’s ability to host fighters who later reach international stages.

Cheng confirmed the card’s headliner: Kevin Yu (尤凱文) vs Chiang Chieh-yu (蔣捷宇), a matchup he described as a “dream fight” between two of Taiwan’s toughest fighters.

“Nobody expected this fight to actually happen, so anticipation is enormous,” he said. “Everyone wants to know who will be crowned the strongest man in Taiwan.”