title: 台、日 孝道文化締盟簽署姐妹會暨推廣人人行孝道，孝道人人行！場面熱烈又溫馨圓滿成功！

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圖:中華傳統文化弘揚孝道總會總會長張朝國（左）與（日本）一般財團法人國際文教慈善基金會理事長田畑素子（右）簽署締盟姐妹會後，與擔任見證的前副總統呂秀蓮（中）合影留念。

(記者孟倩玉報導 )

「中華傳統文化弘揚孝道總會」與(日本)「一般財團法人國際文教慈善基金會」攜手合作，於2025年9月25日在台北市舉辦隆重的締盟儀式，正式簽署締盟為姐妹會，同心攜手以推動孝道國際化為互動交流!

此舉象徵著孝道精神跨越國界，從亞洲走向世界。在締盟簽署儀式上，應邀參與盛會的貴賓相當踴躍，有政界、企業界、教育界，並有來自多國的青少年與友人齊聲宣告「我響應：人人行孝道，孝道人人行！」這份宣言，不僅回響在會場，更將迴盪於世代之間，激勵全球的子女以孝報恩、以孝行善。

圖:參與簽署締盟姐妹會的貴賓相當踴躍，場面熱烈又溫馨，每個人的內心充滿著喜悅與感恩。

台灣的孝是以「百善孝為先」為核心精神的孝道活動，受到全台各地熱烈響應，已經邁入第13年，且在2013年榮獲金氏世界紀錄(至今仍是紀錄保持者)；其中最具特色的「為父母、長輩、師長(教練)感恩洗腳」儀式，喚醒了人心深處的愛與，感恩，讓社會充滿希望，也讓文化薪火不息，2025年台灣的孝萬人孝親洗腳報天恩暨反毒宣導活動於10月11日下午3點在總統府前廣場舉辦，屆時不但有精彩的演出節目和兒童孝親繪畫展，也將募集孝親四步驟的照片，作為弘揚孝道的素材，歡迎社會各界人士踴躍參加。日本方面，則以作文、書法、演講與朗讀等比賽，讓孝道理念融入教育、深入家庭，讓孝心化作行動，持續發芽，同時在9月27日至9月29日，在台灣大學應用力研究所有諸多相關孝親的活動也歡迎社會各界人士親臨會場。

記者會上「中華傳統文化弘揚孝道總會」張朝國總會長表示，我要在此向大家預約:未來我們每一個人都共同推動各種孝道活動，讓孝道精神在全球流傳，讓我們一起朝著 「孝道文化，全球發孝」 的願景大步前行。

圖:身負重任，主持國際媒體發佈會的資深媒體人黃大米。

(日本)「一般財團法人國際文教慈善基金會」田畑素子理事長則表示，我們基金會在日本、台灣及新加坡各有分會。在日本孝道推廣方面已有十個分部，並定期在全國各地舉辦孝道選拔會。頒發獎學金，將孩子們對父母感恩的優秀作品，出版成書籍，並展示在日本國會圖書館及各大圖書館和各大書店。未來這三個月中我們將在台北、日本福岡及韓國首爾，舉辦國際孝道學術論壇與作品選拔大會。我深信，孝道不只是亞洲文化，它是全世界共通的價值。懂得孝順的人，不僅會對社會與家庭負責，並肯定能培養慈悲心，造福社會大眾。

今天，雙方因實踐:中華傳統文化弘揚孝道的信念而走在一起，為的就是將「孝親報天恩」的精神，傳播到全世界；讓家庭因孝而和樂，讓世界因孝而和平。台日雙方一致表示，本次國際合作不只是文化交流，而是心靈的交會與使命的啟航。未來將共同推動洗腳報天恩、文化論壇與教育計畫，讓孝道在全球盛行，朝著 「孝道文化，全球發孝」 的願景大步前行。

countries: 台灣 日本 韓國 新加坡

taiwan-subdivisions: 成功 和平


countries: 德國 中國 香港

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卡塔爾多哈2025年9月27日 /美通社/ — 哈馬德國際機場（DOH）與深圳寶安國際機場（SZX）正式簽署姊妹機場協議，旨在深化卡塔爾與中國的雙邊關係，並進一步拓展中東與中國之間的客貨運網絡。多哈與深圳均為創新驅動型城市，擁有強大的貿易及科技生態系統。雙方對利用航空業以支持經濟增長、技術交流及文化互動抱有共同願景。

(right to left) Mr. Hamad Al Khater, Chief Operating Officer of Hamad International Airport, and Mr. Chen Fanhua, Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen Airport Group and Board Chairman of Shenzhen Airport Co., Ltd. Signing a Sister Agreement at Routes World 2025 in Hong Kong該協議由卡塔爾機場管理營運公司（MATAR）與深圳機場集團共同簽署，為雙方在市場洞察、航線協同規劃及創新技術應用等領域的合作奠下堅實基礎，以期強化中國與中東乃至全球的客運及貿易聯繫。

合作諒解備忘錄（MoU）簽署儀式於香港舉行的「2025 年世界航線發展大會」上圓滿舉行。備忘錄由深圳機場集團副總經理、深圳市機場股份有限公司董事長陳範華先生，以及哈馬德國際機場首席營運總監 Hamad Al Khater 先生代表簽署。深圳市交通運輸局、深圳航空、卡塔爾航空的代表團及雙方機場高層共同見證了這一重要時刻。

哈馬德國際機場首席營運總監 Hamad Al Khater 表示：「透過連結多哈與深圳這兩個在科技和卓越服務方面擁有共同價值觀的城市，我們不僅為未來的旅客創造更智能、更可持續的旅程，同時亦促進兩國之間更緊密的經濟及文化聯繫。」

深圳機場集團副總經理陳繁華表示：「哈馬德國際機場是中東地區的領先樞紐，這次合作標誌著深圳機場在國際化進程中邁出了重要一步。作為粵港澳大灣區的門戶之一，深圳機場致力擴展其全球網絡並提升樞紐功能。透過這次合作，我們將與哈馬德國際機場攜手，為旅客提供更無縫的出行體驗，為貿易及旅遊開拓新機遇，並為兩地旅客、航空公司夥伴及經濟體創造可持續的價值。」

目前，哈馬德國際機場的航線網絡覆蓋中國九個城市，包括北京、上海、廣州、深圳、重慶、杭州、廈門、成都，以及香港特別行政區。旅客可從這些城市經多哈輕鬆轉機，飛往全球逾 120 個目的地。單計今年 1 月至 8 月，卡塔爾機場已接待逾 110 萬名來自上述中國城市的旅客，當中超過 2% 的客源來自深圳。

在「世界航線發展大會」期間，哈馬德國際機場積極與多家航空公司夥伴接洽，以鞏固卡塔爾的全球航空網絡，並進一步開拓多哈的客源市場，全面展示機場作為頂尖樞紐的卓越表現及持續的旅客增長。

雙方的合作勢頭在近期多個重要發展中得以彰顯。2024年10月，深圳航空開通了每週三班的往返多哈與深圳的航班，此為其首條中東航線，亦是多哈的第九個中國航點。

此外，卡塔爾航空亦宣布擴大與中國南方航空的代碼共享合作。自 2025 年 10 月 16 日起，卡塔爾航空將在南航每週三班的北京大興至多哈直航航班上共享其代碼；南航則會將其「CZ」代碼擴展至卡塔爾航空飛往非洲、歐洲和中東地區 15 個目的地的航班上。

title: 哈馬德國際機場與深圳寶安國際機場締結姊妹機場，深化合作推動卡塔爾與中國創新及互聯互通


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More allies of Taiwan have spoken in support for the nation to join the UN, with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves saying it is “a continuing absurdity” to exclude Taiwan from global mechanisms such as health, climate change, international civil aviation and Interpol.

Gonsalves made the remarks in his address at the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday.

“Saint Vincent and the Grenadines calls urgently for a lasting peace across the Taiwan Straits and the participation of Taiwan in the specialized agencies of the United Nations,” he said.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves speaks at the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday. Photo: Bloomberg

“It is a continuing absurdity that this country of 23 million people, a functioning democracy with a settled yearning for self-determination, a legitimate institutional expression of the Chinese civilization with first world living standards, a land of peace and ingenuity, cannot be properly accommodated in the global bodies concerned with health, climate change, civil aviation, policing and so forth,” he said.

Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno also spoke in support of Taiwan in his address on Friday.

“The UN’s vision of ‘No one should be left behind’ requires everyone’s participation, yet the UN continues to exclude the key player, the people of Taiwan,” he said. “Taiwan is a global leader in economic prosperity, high-tech innovation, semiconductor technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, circular energy and more, all of which are crucial to the security of the global supply chain.”

Taiwan contributes to sustainable development goals and assists in the advancement of technology, he added.

Tuvaluan Prime Minister Feleti Teo in his address expressed regret over the continued exclusion of Taiwan from the UN system.

“As a long-standing and reliable development partner of Tuvalu, Taiwan has consistently demonstrated its commitment to international cooperation, making meaningful contributions across a broad range of development sectors,” he said.

title: More Taiwan allies speak to support UN inclusion


title: Expert urges care over chip moves

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’SEMICONDUCTOR DIPLOMACY’: Putting too much pressure on South Africa risks pushing the African nation deeper into China’s camp, an analyst wrote

Taiwan should impose semiconductor export controls as diplomatic leverage with precision to avoid a backlash, Institute for National Defense and Security Research analyst Lin Chia-yi (林佳宜) wrote in an article published on the institute’s Web site on Thursday.

The nation seems to be embracing “semiconductor diplomacy” as part of its policy tool kit, Lin wrote, after the government on Tuesday unveiled proposed restrictions on chip exports to South Africa over a dispute about its unilateral downgrading of Taiwan’s representative office in Pretoria.

Taiwan suspended implementation of the ban after Pretoria sought talks with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the matter.

Although Taiwan’s military capabilities are limited, its indispensable role in global supply chains for chips could be a deterrent, as semiconductor access is crucial to the economic well-being of many nations, Lin wrote.

South Africa imports chips from Taiwan and China, but Taiwan is the main supplier of advanced chips used in semiconductor manufacturing, data centers and artificial intelligence projects, she said.

Should the government’s efforts to put economic pressure on South Africa prove successful, Taiwan would likely embrace “semiconductor diplomacy” as a routine policy tool, she said.

However, Taipei should be careful in wielding chip export restrictions, as it could backfire by shocking global supply chains or the Taiwanese economy, she said.

Putting too much pressure on South Africa risks pushing it deeper into China’s camp to find an alternative source of semiconductors, Lin said.

Taiwan should limit bans on advanced semiconductor exports, as the administration of former US president Joe Biden did with China, she said.

Taiwan’s technology embargo on South Africa could be a game changer in the region’s geopolitics, as African nations seeking to build infrastructure and digitize their economy need semiconductors, she said.

African governments wanting access to Taiwanese chips would need to weigh the costs of their compliance with Beijing’s “one China” principle, she added.


title: Former top envoy Chen Chien-jen dies at age of 86

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Chen Chien-jen (程建人), who served as minister of foreign affairs from 1999 to 2000, has died, a source said yesterday.

Chen was 86.

The source, who requested anonymity, said that Chen passed away at 10pm on Friday.

Former minister of foreign affairs Chen Chien-jen is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times

No further details were provided.

The diplomat was born in Shanghai in 1939. He moved to Taiwan as a child and graduated from National Chengchi University’s Department of Diplomacy in 1960. He later pursued advanced studies at the University of Cambridge.

In 1967, Chen joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held diplomatic posts throughout his career, including serving as first secretary in the political section of Taiwan’s embassy in Washington.

During former US president Jimmy Carter’s administration, when the US severed official diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan), Chen frequently accompanied then-vice minister of foreign affairs Yang Hsi-kun (楊西崑) to negotiations at the US Department of State.

Chen later recalled that it was the “coldest winter” he had ever experienced during his years in Washington.

After his time in the diplomatic service, Chen was a lawmaker from 1993 to 1996. In the following years, he served as minister of the now-defunct Government Information Office and as representative to the US from 2000 to 2004.

Even after retiring, Chen frequently gave media interviews, reflecting on Taiwan-US ties and offering commentary on the country’s foreign policy decisions.


people: 蔡英文 張俊雄 卓榮泰 賴清德 黃昭輝 陳水扁

title: Former premier Chang Chun-hsiung dies aged 87

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By Chen Cheng-yu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), who was also a former presidential adviser, died yesterday.

He was 87.

President William Lai (賴清德) offered condolences to the family, saying that Chang had led an exemplary life by making great contributions to democracy and human rights in Taiwan, and giving voice to disenfranchised people.

Chang had been a defense lawyer for people prosecuted during the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident, showing a stout heart in the defense of freedom and human rights, Lai said.

He was a faithful servant of the public, having served as a lawmaker for multiple terms, Presidential Office secretary-general and chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, Lai said, adding that Chang played a role in cultivating Taiwan’s ties with the international community.

Chang was deeply involved in charitable causes and issues affecting the public even after retiring from politics, Lai said.

Taiwanese should remember Chang’s achievements in facilitating the development of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and public governance, he said.

Government offices have been ordered to provide for Chang’s funeral arrangements if necessary.

Former presidents Chen Sui-bian (陳水扁) and Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), as well as Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) also offered their condolences yesterday.

Born in Chiayi County in 1938, Chang graduated from National Taiwan University's law school before beginning his legal career in Kaohsiung.

A core member who co-founded the DPP in 1986, Chang served six terms as a legislator and also held posts such as DPP secretary-general, Presidential Office secretary-general, and twice as premier -- from Oct. 2000 to Feb. 2002 and from May 2007 to May 2008 -- both under Chen.

Following his one-year stint as premier for a second time from 2007 to 2008, Chang stepped back from politics and devoted himself to charitable work, mainly volunteering in prisons to support inmate rehabilitation.

Chang was appointed a senior adviser to the president when the DPP returned to power in 2016 under Tsai, a role he continued in under Lai.

While neither the Presidential Office nor the DPP disclosed the cause of death, former legislator Huang Chao- hui (黃昭輝) of the DPP said Chang passed away peacefully at home on Saturday afternoon, attributing it to natural causes associated with aging.

Additional reporting by CNA


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ASSESSMENT AWAITED:  The decision whether to remove the red warning must be made through meetings with experts, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih said

The red warning for a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in Hualien County would not be revoked until experts conclude their evaluation, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said yesterday.

Chen made the remarks in Taipei in response to media queries about the progress in disaster relief following the barrier lake breach on Tuesday that hit the Guangfu Township (光復).

The ministry is monitoring the lake’s condition and the government mobilized helicopters to aid disaster relief, Chen said.

A rescue team stands in front of a house covered in mud in Hualien County’s Guangfu Township yesterday. Photo coutesy of New Taipei City Fire Department via CNA

The lake’s water level reaches 113m and the water decreased to about 7 million tonnes after the barrier lake partially collapsed on Tuesday, he said.

As surrounding soil and rocks continued to crumble, it would not be safe for workers to reinstall water gauges at this moment, Chen said.

Water gauges would be installed as soon as the conditions allow, he added.

“The most important thing is to provide a safe living environment for midstream and downstream residents,” he added.

Asked why the central and county governments set up separate command posts in the disaster area, Chen said the Executive Yuan established a local command post to step up the delivery of relief supplies and the removal of silt.

“The primary task of the command post is to restore all the county’s disaster areas as soon as possible, and the county government is also part of it,” he said, adding that the central and local governments would cooperate to meet people’s needs.

As the lake’s status has yet to be fully examined, the red warning would remain, Chen said.

The decision must be made through meetings with experts, he added.

Asked about the differences between “overflow” and “collapse” of the barrier lake, Chen said the two terms describe two different things — the lake water and the natural dam respectively.

“The Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation is responsible for anticipating when the lake water would flow over the top of the dam based on water levels,” he said

“Since such overflows would affect midstream and downstream areas, the agency in previous reports focused on when the water would flow out of the dam,” Chen said.

Overflowing water could proceed to erode surrounding soil due to various causes, he said, adding that the collapse was a result of the overflow.

“However, the severity of the collapse varies and could not be predicted prior to the overflow,” Chen said, adding that was why the ministry had chosen to use the term “overflow” when describing possible scenarios previously.

“What matters is that we estimated the timing of the overflow and issued the warning to midstream and downstream residents ahead of time,” he said.

Meanwhile, search-and-rescue personnel yesterday recovered the body of an 87-year-old woman.

The woman, surnamed Huang (黃), was found inside her home on Fozu Street in Guangfu, said the Kaohsiung Fire Department, which participated in the operation.

Rescuers had narrowed down Huang’s location based on information from her family, but accessing the house was difficult, it said, adding that it was buried under about 2m of mud and surrounded by waist-deep floodwaters.

A team of 15 rescuers and 12 military personnel reached the site on foot, opened the roof of the house, and found Huang’s body beneath a religious altar at 2:35pm, the bureau said.

Huang’s family, including her younger brother and two of her daughters, expressed gratitude to the rescuers for making it possible for them to hold a funeral.

With the recovery of Huang’s body, Hualien County’s emergency response center updated the flood toll to 17 confirmed dead, seven missing and 83 injured.

Additional reporting by CNA

title: Mataian warning to remain: minister


title: CDC warns people to take preventive measures

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Volunteers assisting in disaster recovery in Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復) should put on protective gear, and pay attention to food safety and environmental disinfection to prevent infectious diseases, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.

Heavy rainfall brought by Super Typhoon Ragasa caused a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) to burst on Tuesday, bringing floodwaters sweeping through Guangfu and leaving the town covered in mud and debris.

Several civic groups and people from across the nation have brought shovels and equipment to the town to help with cleanup this weekend.

Residents and volunteers clear debris in Hualien County’s Guangfu Township yesterday after a barrier lake burst and flooded the town on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation via CNA

CDC Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) yesterday thanked the volunteers, and said that the agency wanted to remind them to first head to the task assignment station in front of the Guangfu train station.

After arriving at the designated disaster recovery task area, volunteers should comply with the local task coordination mechanism for recovery work to proceed smoothly, he said, adding that they should also mind their own safety and take precautions against infectious diseases.

“There is still a lot of mud and floodwater in the area, so if you only bring a shovel to clean up, but don’t have any protective gear, you could easily be infected by bacteria in the flood water,” Lo said.

The CDC recommends three protective items — a facial mask, waterproof gloves and tall waterproof rain boots — to prevent people from inhaling pathogenic bacteria and protect possible open wounds on their hands or feet from direct contact with contaminated floodwater, he said.

“People should also pay attention to food hygiene to prevent gastroenteritis,” he added.

If water storage tanks have been contaminated with floodwater, people should thoroughly wash and disinfect them before storing water again, the CDC said.

Food and water must be thoroughly cooked before consumption, and food soaked in floodwater should not be consumed, it added.

Medical stations are also offering free bleach to people who need to disinfect their living environment, while the volunteer task assignment station is offering free masks, Lo said.

People should use diluted bleach to clean both indoor and outdoor areas, and put utensils in boiling water or rinse them in diluted bleach water for 30 minutes before washing them thoroughly with clean water, he said.

People should frequently wash their hands thoroughly or use a 75 percent alcohol-based hand sanitizer if they cannot access clean water, he added.

The local health department would also coordinate with volunteers to give out bleach to all households in the coming days, Lo added.

The CDC said there are more than 7,000 bottles of disinfectant in Hualien and Taitung counties ready to be distributed, and there are still more than 163,000 bottles of bleach and phenol disinfectant stored nationwide.

The shelters have not shown any signs of infection outbreak, the CDC said.

The CDC said that it would continue to work with the local health department to monitor the spread of disease in the area.

Hospitals are encouraged to ask people if they have had direct contact with floodwater or mud, and report suspected cases of infectious diseases, it said.


title: FEATURE: Experts rethink how to manage stray dog population

content_text:
ISSUE:  ‘There’s no one single solution, and multiple strategies must be applied to manage stray dogs,’ National Tsing Hua University academic Yen Shih-ching said

A reflection on the euthanasia-free policy of Taiwan suggests that a systemic approach focused on source control could be the way forward amid a growing number of incidents involving free-roaming dogs and wild animals.

The biennial Asia for Animals Conference, the largest gathering of animal rights advocates in Asia, took place in Taiwan for the first time late last month, with more than 790 speakers from more than 25 countries sharing their experience in promoting animal welfare.

One of the most pressing topics at the conference was the management of stray dogs, which was brought up by several Taiwanese speakers in their keynote speeches.

Panelists participate in the Asia for Animals Conference in Taipei in an undated photograph. Photo: Esme Yeh, Taipei Times

Faith for Animals chief executive director and veterinarian Kuo Hsuan (郭璇), who engaged in stray dog sterilization initiatives while in college, said her organization began to sterilize stray dogs in Taipei in 2014, with the dogs microchipped and vaccinated against rabies before being released.

The approach, known as trap-neuter-return (TNR), has already been used on more than 27,000 stray dogs across five administrative areas, including Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Keelung and Hsinchu County, she said.

The number of puppies received by shelters across Taipei fell by 91 percent from 2015 to last year, while complaints about stray dogs dropped by 87 percent over the same period, she said, adding that the four other administrative regions recorded similar outcomes as well.

Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan deputy executive director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏), who has dealt with animal welfare advocacy for 30 years, said holding owners responsible would help cut off a major source of stray dogs at the root.

“I don’t agree with using the TNR approach in Taiwan, because I don’t find it suitable for the local environment,” Chen said.

Animal protection initiatives in Taiwan are a contentious issue between dog rights and wildlife protection groups, as well as among dog welfare advocates themselves, she said.

The “no-kill” policy was implemented in 2017, as many argued that putting dogs to death was inhumane, but animal shelters soon became overcrowded with captured stray dogs as a result, she said.

“Many dogs at shelters could not receive euthanasia due to the public perception, even though these dogs were already critically ill or handicapped, and had to live in pain,” she said.

Given poor living conditions at shelters, the TNR approach was introduced to gradually reduce the stray dog population while allowing them to return to human communities, she said.

However, over the past few years, more conflicts have been recorded between proliferating free-roaming dogs and wild animals, or even people, she said, citing the death of a 76-year-old man who was mauled by three stray dogs while swimming near Kaohsiung.

About 63 percent of the animal protection budget, or NT$862.68 million (US$28.24 million), was allocated to bolster the “no kill” policy from 2020 to 2023, but the TNR approach is unrealistic unless owners are held responsible for abandoning dogs, she said.

Speaking from the ecological perspective, National Tsing Hua University ecology associate professor Yen Shih-ching (顏士清) said that ending outdoor feeding is as important as holding owners responsible.

Natural enemies and food resources are the two elements that determine the environmental carrying capacity for a species, he said.

Dogs are one of the biggest carnivorous predators in the environment of lower-elevation hills in Taiwan, following only Formosan black bears and clouded leopards, he said.

Data from the Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute’s Wildlife Rescue and Research Center showed there were few incidents of pangolins entering the center for rescue due to dog attacks from 2001 to 2015, he said.

However, such incidents surged in 2018 and continued to increase over the following years, mainly because stray dogs proliferated after the “no kill” policy was implemented in 2017, Yen said.

Similar findings showed that the Reeves’ muntjac population in Kaohsiung’s Shoushan National Natural Park had decreased by more than 90 percent from 2017 to 2021, particularly as a high-intensity TNR program executed around the park in 2018 had 85 percent of female stray dogs spayed, he said.

“In ideal scenarios, free-roaming dogs can be reduced to few or none 10 years later if the sterilization rate of female dogs reaches 75 percent to 87 percent,” he said, citing a population viability analysis.

However, in the real world, the continued arrival of new dogs would offset the effect of sterilization three to four years later, Yen said, citing the analysis.

Free-roaming dog populations must be controlled by blocking new arrivals and removing existing dogs, he said.

“There’s no one single solution, and multiple strategies must be applied to manage stray dogs,” he said. “I highly agree with the sterilization approach, but other methods must also be incorporated.”


content_text:
Taiwanese actress and filmmaker Shu Qi (舒淇) on Friday received the Best Director Award for her directorial debut, Girl (女孩), at the 30th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea.

At the award ceremony, Shu thanked the film’s cast and crew, especially renowned Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), for his support.

“I would like to thank director Hou the most,” she said. “Without him, there would not have been this film or this award.”

Filmmaker Shu Qi gives a speech as she receives the Best Director Award at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea on Friday. Photo courtesy of Applause Entertainment

She also expressed gratitude to the film’s investors, saying that they supported the project wholeheartedly despite knowing it was an art film.

Shu expressed hope that “all girls who have been hurt can step into a bright future of their own.”

Girl is a coming-of-age drama that follows an introverted young woman trying to overcome a painful past growing up in a family where she and her mother were victims of domestic violence by her father. Her life begins to change when she meets another girl around her age, whose lively and carefree spirit inspires her.

The film’s producer, Yeh Ju-feng (葉如芬), said the recognition at an international film festival demonstrates how Shu has channeled her years of acting experience into a powerful force through her debut as a director.

Yeh added that she felt honored to be part of Shu’s debut, thanking the festival jury and saying that the film’s entire cast and crew were thrilled by the recognition.

Girl is to be released in Taiwan on Oct. 31.

title: Shu Qi’s directorial debut wins award in S Korea


title: Ultramarathon runner acquitted of copyright trolling

content_text:
By Huang Ching-hsuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The High Court on Friday in a final ruling acquitted ultramarathon runner Kevin Lin (林義傑) and five others in a case in which they were accused of profiteering through a copyright trolling operation.

Lin, the founder of Truth Intellectual Property Consultation Co, was accused in 2022 of contravening the Attorney Regulation Act (律師法) and Article 157 of the Criminal Code, as well as profiteering from settlements reached in litigations against Internet users who downloaded pirated versions of films and videos.

The indictment by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that the company allegedly collaborated with three lawyers to obtain authorization to pursue legal action for intellectual property (IP) theft and infringement, sued infringers, and settled out of court for an unspecified sum.

Taiwanese ultramarathon runner Kevin Lin is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Liang Wei-ming, Taipei Times

The company allegedly approached Vie Vision Pictures Co and Applause Entertainment, offering its services to identify and address IP theft and infringement cases, and was successful in securing both companies as clients, the indictment said.

According to the contracts, Truth Consultation would cover all expenses incurred during the investigation, and 20 percent of the out-of-court settlement fees would be allocated to Vie Vision or Applause Entertainment, while Truth Consultation would retain 80 percent.

The prosecutors said that company employees surnamed Hsu (許) and Chiu (邱) used Bittorrent to obtain the films and posed as “seeders” to track downloaders, whose Internet protocol addresses were recorded.

They sent notices to the addresses of offenders informing them of legal infringement and subsequently settling out of court.

During the trial, Lin denied guilt and cited legal precedents where similar defendants had been ruled not guilty, questioning the factual basis of the prosecutors’ indictment.

The first court of appeal had ruled Lin guilty, sentencing him to 10 months of prison, which could be commuted to a fine of NT$300,000.

The High Court said that Vie Vision and Applause Entertainment had signed an exclusive legal contract with Truth Consultation, and that these actions were not acts of collusion.

Truth Consultation has acted in accordance with Paragraph 4, Article 37 of the Copyright Act (著作權法), and all litigation raised by the company was in its own name, per the exclusive legal contracts, and they were not litigating on behalf of others, it said.

Lin is the owner of the company, but all the legal actions were drafted and conducted by Cheng Yuan-hsiang (鄭遠翔), who holds a valid lawyer permit, and therefore, neither Lin nor Cheng contravened the Attorney Regulation Act, it said in the ruling.


content_text: From left, Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Chih-chiang, KMT politician Tsai Chih-hung, former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin and former legislator Cheng Li-wen gesture at a debate among KMT chairperson candidates hosted by CTi News in Taipei yesterday. Another candidate, former Changhua County commissioner, Cho Po-yuan protested at not being invited to take part in the debate. The election is scheduled for Oct. 18.

title: Five of six


title: Sunny day

content_text: People stand among flowers at Da Jia Riverside Park in Taipei’s Zhongshan District yesterday. Due to the effects of a strong Pacific high-pressure system, temperatures in Taiwan surpassed 36°C yesterday, said the Central Weather Administration, which has issued a heat alert in several administrative regions.


content_text:
French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to make Ali Akbar a knight in the national order of merit in recognition of his ‘dedicated service to France’

Ali Akbar knows everyone, and everyone knows him: The last newspaper hawker in Paris, he zigzags each day from cafe to cafe, shouting humorous headlines in the heart of the French capital.

“France is getting better,” he says to people passing by, just one of the headlines he invents to sell his wares around the upmarket streets of Saint-German-des-Pres.

“[Eric] Zemmour has converted to Islam,” he shouts, referring to the former French presidential candidate and right-wing commentator.

Pakistani-born 73-year-old newspaper hawker Ali Akbar sells newspapers in the street of the Latin Quarter in Paris, France, on Sept. 16. Photo: AFP

Locals and tourists on the Left Bank, the intellectual and cultural heart of Paris, look on amused.

“Even the walls could talk about Ali,” smiled Amina Qissi, a waitress at a restaurant opposite the Marche Saint-Germain, who has known Akbar for more than 20 years.

Now 73, Akbar, a slim, fine-featured “character” with newspapers tucked under his arm, is an inseparable part of the neighborhood, she added.

“Even regular tourists ask where he is if they don’t see him,” she said.

HARD LIFE

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to soon make Akbar a knight in the national order of merit in recognition of his “dedicated service to France.”

“At first, I didn’t believe it. Friends must have asked him [Macron], or maybe he decided on his own. We often crossed paths when he was a student,” Akbar said.

“I believe it’s related to my courage, because I’ve worked hard,” he added.

Akbar, who wears round spectacles, a blue work jacket and a Gavroche cap, mainly sells copies of the French daily Le Monde.

When he arrived in France at the age of 20, hoping to escape poverty and send back money to his family in Pakistan, he worked as a sailor, then a dishwasher in a restaurant in the northern city of Rouen.

Then in Paris, he bumped into Georges Bernier, the humorist also known as Professeur Choron, who gave him the chance to sell his satirical newspapers Hara-Kiri, a French satirical magazine, first launched in 1960, and Charlie Hebdo.

Akbar has been homeless, attacked and experienced extreme poverty, but despite the hardships, he said he has never given up.

“Emmanuel Macron is going to put a bit of antiseptic on my wounds,” he told his son Shahab, who at 30 is the youngest of his five children.

Shahab, who describes himself as “very proud” of his father, enjoys cataloguing the numerous profiles dedicated to his father in the foreign press.

When he started out as a hawker in the 1970s, Akbar focused on the sixth arrondissement of Paris on the left bank of the river Seine, which was a university area “where you could eat cheaply,” he said.

On the rue Saint-Guillaume in front of the prestigious Sciences Po university, he recalled learning French from interactions with students like former prime minister Edouard Philippe and “many others who became ministers or lawmakers.”

‘A GOOD MOOD’

Paris used to have about 40 newspaper hawkers — street vendors without a fixed newsstand — who were posted at strategic locations such as the entrances to subway stations.

Akbar stood out by choosing to walk around, selecting the Latin Quarter. In the 1980s, he started inventing sensational headlines.

“I want people to live happily. I do it to create a good mood, that’s all,” he said.

However, he said he is finding it increasingly difficult to come up with good jokes.

“Everything is such a mess,” he added.

‘KEEP GOING’

Akbar, who receives a pension of 1,000 euros (US$1,170) a month, still works from 3pm until 10pm each day.

However, recently, customers have been few and far between. On average, he sells about 30 newspapers every day, compared with between 150 and 200 when he started.

“As long as I’ve got the energy, I’ll keep going. I’ll work until I die,” he joked.

On the terrace of one cafe, Amel Ghali, 36, said Akbar was “inspiring.”

“It’s good to see it in the digital age,” he said. “Unfortunately, our children won’t experience the pleasure of reading a newspaper with a coffee.”

title: Meet Ali Akbar, the last newspaper hawker in Paris


content_text:
By Taimaz Szirniks and Alice Ritchie / AFP, MILAN, Italy

The first Milan Fashion Week without Giorgio Armani marks the end of an era in Italian luxury, at a time when houses across the sector are already in transition.

After defending his independence throughout his life, the legendary designer, who died this month aged 91, has entrusted his heirs with the task of selling his group. He cited French companies L’Oreal and LVMH as potential buyers of his multimillion-euro empire, which spans from hotels to haute couture, as well as Franco-Italian eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica. Failing that, his will states the company should be listed on the stock market.

This year also saw the departure of Donatella Versace from the house she ran for three decades, shortly before it was acquired by Prada.

Models clap at the end of the show by Italian fashion label Emporio Armani during the Spring/Summer 2026 Women’s Collection at Milan Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, on Thursday.

“These are the last years of the first generation of Italian designers. We’re in the middle of a major reshuffle,” the manager of a major Milanese house said this week on the margins of fashion week.

Roberto Cavalli, the king of sexy dresses and animal prints since the 1970s, also died last year.

However, his company had since 2019 belonged to an Emirati conglomerate — reflecting a wider trend.

In 2012, 76.8 percent of Italian fashion companies with annual revenues exceeding 50 million euros (US$58.5 million) were still managed by the founding family.

This fell to 57 percent in 2022, according to a survey by the Aub Observatory published last year.

FRENCH GIANTS

Over the past 30 years, many of Italy’s top fashion names have been snapped up by foreign groups, notably French giants Kering, which owns Gucci and Bottega Veneta, and LVMH, which counts Fendi and Loro Piana among its brands.

Shoe company Sergio Rossi is owned by China’s Lanvin Group, and Golden Goose by a London-based private equity fund.

Iconic names such as Dolce & Gabbana and Missoni remain independent, as does Brunello Cucinelli, but their size is limited.

The largest of them, Prada — with 76-year-old Miuccia Prada still at the helm — is eyeing combined revenues of about 6 billion euros after its deal with Versace.

This is far from the 84.7 billion euros in revenue expected by LVMH last year or the 17.2 billion euros of Kering.

Luca Solca, an expert in luxury at Bernstein, said that, despite a few attempts in the past, “Italy didn’t have an inspired businessman that could potentially aggregate a conglomerate.”

Armani was better than many at building a major brand, but in the end, he appeared to have decided there was nobody after him to run it, Solca said.

However, the luxury market is changing, and not just because of the hit from a slowdown in Chinese consumer spending.

Some see this as an opportunity for smaller Italian brands.

Bernardo Bertoldi, an economics professor at the University of Turin, said that LVMH and Kering capitalized on the rise of new, rich consumers in Asia and the Middle East, providing an accessible place for luxury goods.

“With a more evolved, more sophisticated consumer, they will stop shopping at the luxury supermarket and go looking for the best high-heeled shoe artisan,” he said.

Italian brands make much of their artisanal offerings, with Tod’s bringing in a dozen craftsmen and women for their catwalk show on Friday to show guests how handmade handbags and shoes are made.

In this world, Bertoldi says price is no issue.

SARTORIAL CODES

Amid an increasingly competitive market, many big brands have installed new creative leads who are debuting this season, from Gucci, Versace and Bottega Veneta, Chanel and Dior.

However, Ian Griffiths, lead designer at Max Mara, who has been with the family-owned Italian brand since 1987, questioned what this meant for a brand’s heritage — a key selling point.

“I really feel for those designers who get thrown into a house and have to prove themselves within a season or two, produce instant results,” the Briton said backstage after his Milan show, “because, you know, what happens to the heritage? I had 20 years to learn the Max Mara sartorial codes before I was let loose on any kind of decisionmaking.”

Milan Fashion Week wraps up tomorrow.

title: Italian fashion houses are in flux after Armani


content_text:
In China’s “Furniture Kingdom” of Lecong, home to a strip of cavernous malls, vendors shrugged off the latest round of tariffs from Washington, saying they have long given up on the US market.

As part of his latest tariff onslaught, US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a 50 percent levy on imported kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, as well as a 30 percent tariff on upholstered furniture, to take effect on Wednesday.

However, in one of dozens of malls along the strip in southern China, Feng Junyuan, a sales manager at Hansen Outdoor Furniture, which makes upholstered chairs, said her company had already reduced its reliance on the once lucrative US market.

Sofas and tables are displayed inside a furniture mall in Lecong town, Foshan, Guangdong Province, China, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

“We haven’t really bothered with the US market since last November, when it was clear the tariffs were coming in. No one visits us from there, and we don’t try to sell. It’s just too expensive,” she said.

Lecong, like other factory towns in China’s “workshop of the world” in the Pearl River Delta with large manufacturing clusters, features more than 180 furniture malls crammed with retailers, wholesalers and distributors selling products from plywood tables to plush leather sofas.

The Web site of the Lecong Chamber of Commerce says the town became the earliest furniture market in China more than 30 years ago, when it catered to international customers, including those in the more lucrative and higher margin European and North American markets.

However, in recent years, geopolitical tensions, tariffs and rising labor and production costs have hurt Chinese manufacturers who have had to adapt to survive.

Meanwhile, the domestic Chinese market has also been hurt by weak consumption amid an economic downturn and property market slump.

Feng has downsized her workforce to 10 to 20 workers, about one-quarter of its peak. She now sells about 60 percent of her products domestically and 40 percent abroad, mostly to India and Africa.

Jin Yun, owner of Hanfei Furniture, a mid to high-end sofa maker in a mall featuring slogans such as “your one-stop home furniture partner,” said business this year had been average, with most of his customers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

“Last year’s tariff increase had a big impact. We still had two American customers at that time, but they ended up cancelling an order when the tariffs came and there was no sale,” he said.

“There are a lot of problems for manufacturers in every industry, not just furniture. The market is smaller and there’s a lot of competition, but we’ll survive,” he added.

The latest tariffs come after Trump last month promised to help “bring the furniture business back” to North Carolina, South Carolina and Michigan.

Furniture and wood products manufacturing employment in the US has halved since 2000 to about 340,000 today, according to US government data.

Trump has made tariffs a core policy of his second term, with sweeping duties levied on dozens of trading partners, including China and Vietnam — two major furniture makers — that have then been sometimes adjusted amid a flurry of negotiations.

“It’s not that we don’t sell to America, we’d be happy to,” said Ling, a sales manager who was sitting in her nearly deserted showroom scrolling on her phone.

“It’s just I haven’t seen an American customer here since the [COVID-19] pandemic,” Ling said.

title: China’s ‘Furniture Kingdom’ has moved on from US tariffs


title: EDITORIAL: Combating cognitive warfare

content_text:
China’s cognitive warfare efforts targeting Taiwan have sought to exploit economic anxieties and fears of war, the Taipei-based Information Operations Research Group said in a report released on Tuesday.

The campaigns have centered on constructing a narrative of “Taiwan defeatism” — the idea that resistance to Beijing’s ambitions is futile and that unification with China is inevitable, group codirector Yu Chih-hao (游知澔) told a news conference.

People who identify as both Taiwanese and Chinese are particularly vulnerable, as they often hold positive views of China’s economy while viewing the Democratic Progressive Party negatively, Yu said. Likewise, TikTok users are more likely to express approval of China and pessimism about Taiwan’s economy, reflecting the role of social media in amplifying Beijing’s messaging, he said.

The executive branch should bolster information governance, regulate the quality of open-source media and emphasize critical reading skills. The public should cultivate the habit of verifying information before engaging in public discussion, he said.

The challenge in addressing cognitive warfare is that democratic governments must balance freedom of speech and access to information with the need to guard against destabilizing disinformation. A democracy thrives on open exchange, yet openness can be exploited to erode confidence in its institutions.

Moreover, media literacy is not evenly distributed. Older generations tend to cling to established views, while young people often consume and share content without assessing its accuracy. Adding to the difficulty, not all harmful content is factually false. Increasingly, malicious actors deploy artificial intelligence to craft emotionally manipulative material that skirts outright falsehoods. For example, videos showcasing China’s Xinjiang area mask the grim realities of mass surveillance, internment camps and forced labor. The content seduces the senses while obscuring human rights abuses.

Media literacy initiatives must adapt to the evolving battlefield. Schools should integrate digital literacy into curricula from an early age, training students to recognize manipulative content even when it appears to be accurate.

China often seeks to appeal to Taiwanese by invoking a shared cultural heritage, a message that resonates in households with deep ties to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

The government should emphasize that while cultural similarities exist, the Taiwan Strait is divided by irreconcilable political systems. Taiwan upholds individual freedoms and personal expression; China does not.

Evidence of Beijing’s authoritarianism is not abstract. The Mainland Affairs Council last week reported that about nine Taiwanese go “missing” in China each month, either detained and interrogated or otherwise deprived of freedom of movement.

The world has also witnessed China’s ruthless suppression of Hong Kong’s democracy movement in 2019, when protesters disappeared into prisons or fled into exile. Beijing’s “one country, two systems” promise collapsed the moment it threatened the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) monopoly on power.

This is the reality that Taiwan must recognize: The CCP cannot tolerate any challenges to its authority, not even symbolic ones. The government must impress upon young people that while China has beauty, vibrancy and heritage, it also harbors injustices incompatible with Taiwan’s democratic values.

Taiwan’s freedoms — of speech, movement and thought — are fragile treasures worth defending. Military strength and international alliances matter, but the most powerful defense is clarity about what is at stake.

Taiwan must resist cognitive warfare with fact-checks and counter-propaganda, as well as confidence in the value of its democratic way of life.


content_text:
The Central State Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan was scheduled to host “Shifting Grounds: Dissonance, Memory and Landscape as a Site of Becoming,” a Taiwanese contemporary art exhibition curated by artist Wang Chun-chi (王俊琪) and supported by the Ministry of Culture.

The exhibition — set for Sept. 12 to Wednesday next week — promised to be groundbreaking: Eight Taiwanese artists were invited to explore ways to decode Taiwan’s history, reconstruct the narrative, and picture the future in the shifting terrain of geopolitics and social conditions.

The museum embraced the curatorial vision enthusiastically and the exhibition was hailed as Kazakhstan’s first-ever Taiwan art showcase — a milestone moment that drew attention from local media and art communities.

Then, just before the opening, the museum abruptly pulled the plug. The official excuse was “venue maintenance.”

The exhibition had been formally presented as a Taiwanese contemporary art exhibition, yet while citing repairs, the museum continued to host other events.

Local insiders discreetly confirmed what many suspected: The cancelation was the result of pressure from China.

The blow was devastating for the artists and curators’ team, who suddenly found their months of work erased by political maneuvering.

It shows that the comforting slogan “politics is politics, art is art” is, under the shadow of China’s interference, a fiction. Beijing treats art as politics by other means — and it would silence Taiwan whenever it can.

The incident shows that neither the participating artists and curators from Taiwan nor the local partners in Kazakhstan had anticipated what would unfold.

How should Taiwan respond? For too long, the nation’s cultural diplomacy has focused on safe and familiar partners. Taiwanese rarely ask how to manage risk, anticipate sabotage or script responses to pressure campaigns. This cancelation lays bare the need to change that. Rather than shrinking back, Taiwan must push harder, reach farther and take its art to places Beijing would prefer it to be invisible.

Yes, this was a setback — but a valuable one. By bringing Taiwan’s art into Kazakhstan’s public imagination, even briefly, Taiwan sparked curiosity in a region that has had little contact with it. The exhibition’s absence left a hole, but also an opening: people would now wonder what they were not allowed to see. Unfulfilled anticipation is powerful and cannot be erased.

The experience should compel Taiwan to rethink its cultural diplomacy strategy. The shift in Taiwan’s economic and geopolitical standing gives the nation that chance. In the early 1970s, the Chinese Communist Party cracked open its path into the international community through the unlikely medium of table tennis. Could Taiwan carve out a unique form of “Ping-Pong diplomacy” through art?

If so, this is about more than recognition. It is about claiming the right to tell Taiwan’s own stories — its art, culture and history — on the world stage. That is a struggle worth pursuing, even if sometimes the road begins with what looks like failure.

China can cancel a show. It can pressure museums, whisper threats and wave contracts away, but what it cannot cancel is Taiwan’s determination to tell its own story — and to fight for the right to be seen, heard and recognized on the world stage.

Sheng Bo-chen is an independent curator and art critic.

Translated by Lin Lee-kai

title: Positivity from Kazakhstan fiasco


taiwan-subdivisions: 梅山 光復 古坑

title: Mataian barrier lake time bomb

content_text:
Video footage of torrents of floodwater and black silt from the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) that washed cars down the streets of Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復), destroyed a bridge, and cut power and water supplies was shocking. Fifteen lives had been lost in the disaster as of yesterday.

The Central Emergency Operations Center said that a natural barrier lake was formed in July and the Ministry of Agriculture had conducted an immediate evaluation.

With precautions taken two months ago, including riverbank reinforcements, and a significant evacuation effort, why did the situation turn so deadly?

A major factor is the lack of understanding surrounding barrier lakes, which form when debris buildup, a landslide or other material creates a temporary dam along a river.

When disrupted, barrier lakes can release large volumes of water.

After the 921 Earthquake in 1999 led to the formation of a barrier lake in the Caoling (草嶺) area of Yunlin County’s Gukeng Township (古坑), some officials suggested developing the new feature for tourism, forgetting that the sudden failure of a similar natural dam in the area in 1951 led to 74 deaths.

The Caoling Lake Officers and Soldiers Martyrs Monument at Meishan Park (梅山公園) in Chiayi County commemorates engineering corps personnel who lost their lives on May 18, 1951, while working downstream of the barrier lake when it breached on in what was the armed forces’ deadliest peacetime incident.

Barrier lakes form under specific topographical and geological conditions. They are often in largely inaccessible mountainous zones. Although many are small or dissipate without major flooding, the Mataian lake held more than 91 million cubic meters of water.

The Forest and Nature Conservation Agency consulted experts in an advisory meeting and, as an engineering evaluation was deemed not feasible, close monitoring and evacuation planning was all that could be done.

The phrase “barrier lake overflow” is neutral and practical, but it might lead people to underestimate the seriousness of the consequences. Torrential rain causing an artificial reservoir to overflow is a common occurrence, but barrier lakes are different, as overflow often leads to the collapse of the unconsolidated material that has blocked the river.

In an article published yesterday in the Taipei Times (“Mitigating harm from barrier lakes,” Sept. 27, page 8), New Taipei City Engineering Geologists’ Association president Yu Wei-yao (游威耀) suggested a combined strategy of spillways, and dam strengthening and monitoring as a response to barrier lake formation.

However, even a strengthened natural dam poses a threat.

Moreover, how far should a strengthening project be taken? Should it be reinforced until the dam is as reliable and resilient as an artificial dam?

Media coverage reported that there were two pulses of flooding from the Mataian barrier lake, likely representing two localized breaches of the natural dam amid the rise in the water level following heavy rain brought by Super Typhoon Ragasa.

An Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation official on Wednesday said that the volume of water held by the barrier lake had already dropped to 23 million tonnes, making another breach less likely, but still possible. Even if top-down excavation or a siphon system are not options, there must be some recourse beyond monitoring alone.

The situation is a ticking time bomb — perhaps precision targeting and controlled strikes by the armed forces, or the use of remote suicide drones could be used to address the situation.

Chang Yen-ming is a former director of the Water Resources Agency’s Taichung office.

Translated by Gilda Knox Streader


content_text:
On the eve of Teachers’ Day, I received a message from a student that said: “Happy Teachers’ Day.” The message filled me with gratitude.

Having taught for many years, I have always insisted on the principle of teaching what should be taught, disciplining students when necessary and never lowering expectations. I am fortunate in that all of my students can accept my fundamental expectations — arrive to class on time, do not use your phone or eat during lessons, submit assignments on time, and show respect for your teachers and fellow classmates. Through these positive interactions, we have built genuine teacher-student bonds.

I hope that as they bravely pursue their futures, they do so with integrity, never losing their childlike spirit and holding onto their pure and honest hearts.

However, the unfortunate reality is that not all teachers are so lucky. Many face defiant students who constantly push boundaries and unreasonable complaints from so-called “dinosaur parents,” and are left feeling helpless and disheartened.

Rather than offering support, the Ministry of Education only added to the burden by mandating school affairs meetings — turning schools into courtrooms and teachers into suspects.

The measure is not only demoralizing, but it also extinguishes the passion educators have for their profession. Furthermore, countless education experiments advocating diversity, innovation and transformation are constantly being introduced into classrooms, further exhausting frontline teachers. Administrative duties that show no sign of lightening up only add to their burden.

It is increasingly common for teachers to refuse to take on administrative roles, leaving some principals with no choice but to draw lots to assign tasks. This has shifted the discomfort onto principals, triggering a wave of early retirements and withdrawals from the profession.

Many elementary and junior high-school principals retire prematurely not because they lack passion for education, but because fickle policies and excessive interference have left them bearing much of the responsibility while lacking authority. Unable to please anyone, they are left with no choice but to step down.

The goal of education is to cultivate an outstanding next generation of talent. However, the very foundation of education — traditional ethical culture and civic morality — are being abandoned. Even the cultivation of character and inner qualities such as propriety, integrity, honor and a sense of shame — along with the spirit of respecting teachers and valuing learning — have all but disappeared. If teachers, who are supposed to uphold the sacred mission of “imparting moral principles, teaching knowledge and resolving doubts,” are at a loss, how can education fulfill its intended purpose?

Teachers’ Day is a day meant to honor the hard work and dedication of educators, but it is clear that many educators are not feeling happy or appreciated. They love education and they love their students, willingly giving their best effort to help them succeed. Why, then, are so many ultimately left feeling disheartened and weary? This is a question worthy of earnest reflection.

Shiao Fu-song is a lecturer at National Taitung University.

Translated by Kyra Gustavsen

title: Teachers’ Day and the education situation


title: EDITORIAL CARTOON

content_text:
A 50-year-old on Wednesday last week died while under anesthesia at a Taipei cosmetic clinic shortly after undergoing a penis enlargement procedure. The surgeon was arrested for suspected medical malpractice, again bringing to the surface shortcomings in the regulation of cosmetic medicine. Media reports said the clinic owner and surgeon, surnamed Ting (丁), was previously convicted of negligent homicide for a postsurgical death and had been charged with coercion and aggravated assault after allegedly stopping a patient from calling for an ambulance. He had also been fined for failing inspections and had allegedly permitted people without medical licenses to assist

It was most annoying last week to read Chairman Xi Jinping’s (習近平) fulsome encomium to the People’s Liberation Army during the Eightieth Anniversary celebrations of victory over Japan in World War II. Comrade Xi’s soaring rhetoric was stuffed with “martyrs, sacrifice, solemnity and unwavering resolve” in praise of the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.” His aspirations overflowed with “world peace” and love of the United Nations, of which China is a founding member.The Liberation Army Daily said that every word from General Secretary Xi Jinping “resounded in his powerful voice, illuminating the

Before the break of dawn, the streets are full of countless teens rushing to class with backpacks in hand — a scene that has long been part of Taiwan’s educational landscape. Recently, a citizen-initiated petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for delaying junior-high and high-school class starting times to 10am and ending at 4pm has once again drawn society’s attention to students’ health and daily routines, triggering debate over topics from sleep and biological clocks to the pressures of the academic system.Supporters and opponents of the petition have their own perspectives, but what is truly worth reflecting on

By Chang Ruay-shiung 張瑞雄


title: Why the most oil-rich country can not keep the lights on

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Blackouts plague Kuwait’s aging power grid due to its reliance on fossil fuels and political deadlock

If you want an image of where the internal contradictions of the fossil fuel economy are headed as disruptive clean energy and a warming planet transform the 21st century, consider Kuwait.

The first real boomtown of the 1960s Arab oil rush, its people have a richer endowment of crude than any other nation on earth. The 101.5 billion barrels of reserves are equivalent to about 23,000 barrels for every resident — more than double the next-placed country. At current prices, this geological inheritance works out at about US$4.3 million per citizen. About two-thirds of Kuwait’s 4.4 million residents are non-citizen workers.

Yet Kuwait is struggling to keep the lights on. In what was for decades one of the richest countries on the planet, rolling power outages have become a fact of life over the past two summers.

Electricity was cut to 30 regions in April as temperatures soared and households cranked up the air-conditioning. At the peak, about 7.3 percent of demand went unmet, and the fire service warned locals not to use elevators in case they got stuck in apartment blocks that lost power for hours at a time. Factories were ordered to halt all operations between 11am and 5pm, a situation that lasted for five months until the bans were finally lifted last week.

Blackouts were still happening through May, with outages in 40 residential, and 10 agricultural and industrial areas. By June, with temperatures hitting 51°C, the government was begging residents to turn down air-conditioners, install efficient light bulbs, and switch off appliances. Ministers even sent out drones to spot illicit cryptocurrency mining operations.

The simplistic explanation for this would be to tell the story that defenders of fossil fuels trot out to blame any network disruption on renewables. That is not going to work in a country where 99.6 percent of power generation is fueled by oil or gas. Every honest grid manager knows that such problems are never the fault of a single technology, but rather the result of years of miscalculations and under-investment.

In Kuwait, the biggest factors have been political gridlock, combined with a refusal to look the reality of the energy transition and a changing climate in the eye.

Unusually for the Gulf, Kuwait had a parliament with a measure of influence until the emir suspended democracy last year, but infighting has been endemic. With 15 different ministers of electricity, water and renewable energy over the past decade alone, decisions on necessary upgrades to creaking infrastructure were deferred until it was too late.

Added to that is the wasteful way the country consumes power. Subsidies of US$3,200 per person mean electricity bills cover just 5 percent of grid costs. In Kuwait, 60 percent of energy is used by air-conditioners, but the sorts of narrow, shady streets that Middle Eastern people have been building for millennia to protect themselves from the heat are effectively illegal due to outdated building codes for the suburban sprawl of villas where citizens live.

There has also been a dismal failure to take advantage of all that sunlight by installing photovoltaic panels. Imports last year came to about US$1.5 million, less than struggling states such as Liberia and South Sudan. Neighboring Saudi Arabia could be on track to shift 50 percent of its power generation to renewables by 2030, but even a more modest target of 15 percent in Kuwait “could be out of reach,” Rystad Energy AS analyst Nishant Kumar wrote last week.

Kuwait could afford to be far more ambitious. It is a small country, but about 90 percent is desert. Roughly 50 gigawatts of solar power generation would be sufficient to meet all existing electricity demand, equivalent to what China installed in April alone. That would cover just 5 percent of the country, or 900km2 — not a vast area, compared with the 116km2 recently set aside for a new port northeast of the capital. It would also be cheaper than fossil power, and free up more oil and gas for export.

Such a move would also leave the country less at the mercy of foreign governments. About two-thirds of domestic gas production comes out of the same wells as its crude, so when OPEC cuts its oil output quota the emirate must pump less methane, too, forcing it to import from Qatar instead to fuel its generators.

The result is a bizarre situation where a petrostate is also one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas importers, bringing in about the same amount last year as the UK, which has 14 times as many people.

Cooler fall temperatures should give Kuwaitis some respite over the months ahead, but in a best-case scenario it might be years before the backlog of decaying infrastructure is fixed. While other Gulf states have diversified their economies for a post-petroleum era, Kuwait is still wedded to the dreams of the 1960s oil boom. The economy shrank in three out of the past five years.

In 2007, Kuwait was, by some measures, the richest nation in the world after Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Right now, it is barely ahead of Poland and Estonia. At a time when US President Donald Trump is waging war on clean energy and even the EU might be wavering, it is a cautionary tale of where fossil fuel addiction can lead.

David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change and energy. Previously, he worked for Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.


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On Wednesday, Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is to begin her second year in office. While not necessarily coming through with flying colors, Sheinbaum has persevered in the face of complex domestic and foreign challenges — a victory in itself. Her accomplishments are nothing to sneer at: She has maintained a high approval rating, received glowing praise from the global press, overseen an apparent drop in homicides and remained on relatively good terms with the ever-capricious US President Donald Trump.

However, like her predecessor and mentor, former Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Sheinbaum has so far proved unable to make headway on the most important challenges facing Mexico — even though her party, Morena, has been in power for seven years.

For starters, there is the problem of Mexico’s chronically anemic economic growth. From the early 1990s, when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed, until 2018, when Lopez Obrador became president, average annual GDP growth was about 2.5 percent. The outlook has deteriorated sharply: Most forecasts put the growth rate for this year at barely above zero, and next year does not look much better. Low public and private investment, and only somewhat higher levels of foreign direct investment, augur that Sheinbaum’s six-year term would resemble Lopez Obrador’s, implying negative GDP growth from 2018 to 2030.

Despite reductions in poverty and inequality, this economic trajectory does not bode well for Mexico, which cannot fix any of its major problems without growth. Many factors — including a poorly conceived judicial reform, Trump’s tariffs, and a possible renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the successor to NAFTA — suggest that pessimism is in order. To forge a different growth path, Sheinbaum would need to change course radically — an impossible task given Lopez Obrador’s continuing influence.

On law and order, Sheinbaum’s record seems better at first glance. Compared with Lopez Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” approach to Mexico’s criminal cartels, she has been much more proactive. Homicides have decreased, arrests have increased, and, crucially, US officials are happier. Hardly a day goes by without a well-publicized seizure of fentanyl or other drugs at the border with the US.

The numbers tell a different story. Despite homicides being down, disappearances are up: About 12,000 people were declared missing from October last year to July, compared with 9,500 to10,000 the year before. This has cast doubt on the Mexican government’s claims of a falling murder rate. Similarly, more than 30,000 people accused of “high-impact crimes” have been arrested under Sheinbaum, but the number of prisoners has risen by only 10,000, because many of the detained are quickly freed.

Moreover, Sheinbaum inherited what amounts to a civil war in the state of Sinaloa, caused by the arrest of the eponymous cartel’s longtime leader, Ismael Zambada Garcia, and detention in the US in July last year. Despite sending thousands of troops to Culiacan, Sinaloa’s capital, she has been unable to quell the infighting. From September last year to August, more than 1,800 people were killed, and more went missing. The conflict recently prompted Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya, widely suspected of having cartel ties, to cancel Independence Day celebrations for the second consecutive year.

To be sure, organized crime is a complex problem that requires a multifaceted approach, and allowing US boots on the ground — a Trump administration demand that, so far, Sheinbaum has rejected — would probably not help, as demonstrated by the failure of the US’ “Plan Colombia” to curb drug production in that country. Even so, a growing share of Mexico’s population — up to one-third, according to some polls — is in favor of US military action against the cartels.

One of the main factors fueling the drug trade is corruption. Despite promising an anti-graft push, Lopez Obrador’s administration is increasingly being viewed as one of Mexico’s most corrupt, owing to the growing array of scandals within the armed forces, which took over about 70 civilian functions during Lopez Obrador’s presidency. In addition to overseeing drug enforcement, the military was tasked with building huge infrastructure projects, distributing medicine, and, most importantly, managing customs operations.

Corruption is deeply ingrained in Mexico’s armed forces. Following the Mexican Revolution, they maintained a tacit agreement with the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled unchallenged for seven decades, to stay out of politics and receive minimal support in exchange for being able to manage their own affairs with minimal transparency. Partly as a result of this agreement, Mexico has not suffered a coup or a coup attempt since 1938.

However, the military’s new responsibilities under Lopez Obrador’s government created significantly more opportunities for enrichment. It was recently revealed that the Mexican Navy was involved in a fuel-smuggling scheme, whereby tankers full of diesel were marked as carrying additives and thus entered Mexico duty-free. A vice admiral has been indicted, and a rear admiral was murdered, allegedly for reporting the deception to then-Mexican secretary of the navy Rafael Ojeda Duran, who has also come under scrutiny. Given the huge amount of unpaid taxes, this ruse dwarfs previous corruption scandals.

Sheinbaum has made some progress against this age-old scourge by attempting to go after mid-level officers in the armed forces. Ultimately, though, her close ties with Lopez Obrador prevent her from prosecuting the upper echelons.

Governing Mexico is no easy feat: Few have done it successfully over the past century. In her first year, Sheinbaum confronted a fraught geopolitical environment and complicated challenges inherited from the previous administration, making the lack of progress on larger issues somewhat understandable. Sheinbaum must begin to address these problems, which would require her to complete her most perilous challenge: moving out of Lopez Obrador’s shadow.

Jorge G. Castaneda, a former Mexican secretary of foreign affairs, is a professor at New York University and the author of America Through Foreign Eyes.

Copyright: Project Syndicate

title: Sheinbaum’s uneven first year


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‘ChatGPT, what stocks should I buy?’ AI drives robo-advisingThe robo-advisory market is projected to grow 600 percent by 2029 as chatbots play a larger role in guiding investors, but risks are growing, too

As ChatGPT nears its third birthday, at least one in 10 retail investors is using a chatbot to pick stocks, fueling a boom in the robo-advisory market, but even fans say it is a high-risk strategy that cannot replace traditional advisers just yet.

Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), anyone can select stocks, monitor them and obtain investment analysis that was once only available to big banks or institutional investors.

The robo-advisory market — which includes all companies providing automated, algorithm-driven financial advice such as fintech, banks and wealth managers — is forecast to grow to US$470.91 billion in revenues in 2029 from US$61.75 billion last year, marking a roughly 600 percent increase, data analysis firm Research and Markets said.

Jeremy Leung, who spent almost two decades analyzing companies for UBS, has been using ChatGPT to chase stocks for his multi-asset portfolio since he left the Swiss bank late last year.

“I no longer have the luxury of a Bloomberg [terminal], or those kinds of market-data services which are very, very expensive,” Leung said.

“Even the simple ChatGPT tool can do a lot and replicate a lot of the workflows that I used to do,” he said, cautioning that such a tool might miss some crucial analyses, as it can’t access data behind a paywall.

Leung is not alone. The industry is growing exponentially.

About half of retail investors say they would use AI tools such as ChatGPT, whose launch in November 2022 ignited the AI boom on the markets, or Google’s Gemini, to pick or alter investments in their portfolio. According to a survey from broker eToro, which polled 11,000 retail investors across the world, 13 percent of them already use these tools.

In the UK, 40 percent of the respondents to a survey by comparative company Finder said they have used chatbots and AI for personal finance advice. ChatGPT itself warns it should not be relied on for professional financial advice.

“AI models can be brilliant,” said Dan Moczulski, UK managing director at eToro, which boasts 30 million users worldwide. “The risk comes when people treat generic models like ChatGPT or Gemini as crystal balls.”

Moczulski said it is best to use AI-generated platforms specifically trained to analyze markets as “general AI models can misquote figures and dates, lean too hard on a pre-established narrative and overly rely on past price action to attempt to predict the future.”

Finder asked ChatGPT in March 2023 to select a basket of stocks from high-quality businesses, with criteria such as levels of debt, sustained growth and assets that generate an advantage over competitors.

The selection of 38 stocks, which includes AI poster child Nvidia and online retailer Amazon alongside consumer staples such as Procter & Gamble and Walmart, has surged about 55 percent so far, almost 19 percentage points more than the average of the UK’s 10 most popular funds, including those managed by Vanguard, Fidelity, HSBC and Fundsmith.

US stocks are around record highs and right now, seem invulnerable to erratic US policies and patchy economic data. However, stock picking using ChatGPT requires some financial knowledge and its adopters say there is a high risk of getting it wrong before getting it right.

Leung creates prompts like “assume you’re a short analyst, what is the short thesis for this stock?” or “use only credible sources, such as SEC [US Securities and Exchange Commission] filings.”

“The more context you provide, the better the responses,” Leung said.

The risks are big. The exuberance for the AI tool, which has democratized access to investment, means it is also impossible to tell if retail investors are using risk management tools to properly mitigate potential losses when the markets turn.

The pan-European STOXX 600 is up almost 10 percent this year, the S&P 500 has added 13 percent after surging 23 percent last year.

“If people get comfortable investing using AI and they’re making money, they may not be able to manage in a crisis or downturn,” Leung said.


title: Europe march into 3-1 lead over US

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DOMINANCE: The Americans need 14.5 points to win the Ryder Cup trophy, while Europe, winners in 10 of the past 14 meetings, need only 14 of 28 points to retain it

Europe delivered a stunning early domination of the US to quiet a raucous New York crowd and seize a 3-1 lead as US President Donald Trump arrived for Friday’s opening matches of the 45th Ryder Cup.

Trump was faced with US carnage at Bethpage Black as Europe started 3-0 for the first time on US soil.

“Very proud. They have come out very strong,” Europe captain Luke Donald said. “They have really thrived in this tough environment.”

Team USA’s Bryson DeChambeau hits his tee shot on the first hole during the foursomes of the Ryder Cup at the Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, New York, yesterday. Photo: Reuters

In morning foursomes [alternate shot] matches, US stars won only four holes from the first three matches.

Trump told reporters as he boarded a plane for New York that the US team wasn’t doing well, and “I said, let’s get on the plane. We have to fly and help them.”

Could Trump make the US great again?

Europe team members Rory McIlroy, second left, Shane Lowry, center, and captain Luke Donald react after McIlroy missed a putt on the 18th green during afternoon fourball matches of the Ryder Cup at the Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, New York, on Friday. Photo: EPA

“We just had the president fly over in Air Force One, so I’ve got a feeling things are going to turn here,” US captain Keegan Bradley said. “It’s not exactly what we wanted... but I’ve got a lot of faith in our boys.”

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood won four of the first six holes to cruise past Americans Collin Morikawa and Harris English 5&4. The “Fleetwood Mc” Cup pairing improved to 3-0.

“It has been amazing,” McIlroy said.

McIlroy, who won the Masters in April to complete a career Grand Slam, won four holes on birdie putts from eight feet or less and blasted from the rough to inches from the sixth hole to set up a Fleetwood birdie.

“One step at a time,” Fleetwood said. “We’ll go all together and see where we get.”

Europe’s Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Aberg also won four of the first six holes and never trailed in shocking top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and third-ranked Russell Henley 5&3.

“We hit a lot of nice shots and made it hard for them,” Aberg said.

Taking down the two highest-ranked US players was big for Europe.

“Russ and I did some good things. We just didn’t hole enough putts early,” Scheffler said. “We had some chances. The putts just didn’t fall.”

Spain’s Jon Rahm and England’s Tyrrell Hatton outfought Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas 4&3, the Americans winning only the first hole as the European duo improved to 5-0 in Cup foursomes.

“We were aware it was going to be a tough day,” Rahm said. “We battled. We stayed in it. We started hitting putts and found our rhythm and were able to get it done again.”

“We dug in,” Hatton said. “The atmosphere was pretty intense, but good fun.”

Americans Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay never trailed in beating Europe’s Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland 2-up, taking the last two holes after a European rally.

“It was a tough match,” Cantlay said. “Nice to get the point on the board and the fans going.”

Trophy holders Europe seek the first road triumph by either side since their 2012 “Miracle at Medinah,” while the Americans try to win back the Cup after losing two years ago in Rome.

Enhanced security was in place as Trump was set to attend afternoon four-ball [best ball] matches.

When the main gates opened under pitch black skies at 5am, hundreds of fans stampeded along a floodlight-illuminated path, racing to the grandstand for a coveted spot at the opening spectacle.

The high-pressure crucible at the first tee featured 5,000 fans watching from the largest grandstand in Ryder Cup history.

“An electric atmosphere like all first tees,” Donald said. “It’s intense and pure energy.”

The format featured four morning foursomes matches and four afternoon four-ball matches on Friday and yesterday, with 12 concluding singles matches today.

The Americans need 14.5 points to win the Cup. Europe, winners in 10 of the past 14 meetings, need only 14 of 28 points to retain the trophy.


title: NFL takes center stage in Dublin

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From locals kicking field goals in the grand surroundings of Dublin Castle to traveling fans taking over some of the city’s best-known pubs, it was hard to escape the latest stop in the NFL’s overseas push in the Irish capital on Friday.

The second of a record seven international NFL games this season would be contested in Dublin today, with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings facing off in the first-ever regular-season showdown held in Ireland.

More than 80,000 curious locals, US visitors and diehard Irish NFL fans are expected in the Gaelic sports home of Croke Park for today’s game, with organizers hoping three days of fan events around the city can help grow its European fanbase.

Croke Park in Dublin is pictured ahead of the NFL Dublin Game between the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday. Photo: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / USA Today

“This being the first NFL game in Ireland, I’m not too surprised by it [the excitement],” said Jeff Olsen, as he drank beers with fellow Vikings fans in a sea of purple shirts at J.R. Mahon’s pub by the River Liffey, which bisects the city.

“The people we just met at this table over here, they flew in from Germany last night to watch this game. It’s great, it’s worldwide,” said Olsen, who previously travelled from Minnesota to London for one of the NFL’s now regular UK stops.

London is to host three more games this season, with fixtures in Berlin and Madrid — also a first for Spain — scheduled to follow the NFL’s return to Sao Paulo for the second successive year earlier this month.

American football Vikings fans cheer outside a pub in Temple Bar ahead of the NFL’s first-ever Irish regular-season game in Dublin, Ireland, yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Nearby, the pop-up NFL store beside the main shopping thoroughfare of Grafton Street was doing a brisk trade in hats and t-shirts sales, while a giant replica American football helmet outside Dublin City Hall provided a handy meeting point.

A large Steelers logo overlooked a bronze statue of playwright Oscar Wilde in another part of the city.

While interest in the NFL has grown in Ireland with games available on pay-TV and analyzed on dedicated podcasts, American football is still a niche competitive sport in a country where soccer, rugby and the Gaelic sports of football and hurling dominate.

“American football is very complicated and I think other countries don’t want to get into it,” said travelling Steelers fan Valerie Riley, 52, from Gainesville, Florida. “Football is America’s passion. I don’t know if it’s the world’s.”

With Ireland’s economy hugely reliant on US multi-nationals for jobs and investment, the government held a reception on Friday evening at Dublin Castle, the former seat of British rule in Ireland, where the cobbled thirteenth-century courtyard has been turned into an artificial football field.

The event was also big business for Ireland’s tourism sector. Dublin Airport expects tens of thousands of US visitors, with many like Vikings fan Jason Zwieg making a holiday of it and travelling across the country.

Dublin has previously hosted US college football, with the direct economic impact from the two most recent games estimated at between 130 million euros and 180 million euros (US$152.13 million and US$210.65 million), according to data compiled by accountancy firm Grant Thornton.

“I’m keeping a detailed list of every pub and bar and drink that I’ve had. It is extensive,” Zwieg said.


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Two young Taiwanese darts players on Friday bagged gold at this year’s World Darts Federation (WDF) World Cup in Seoul, which ran from Monday to yesterday.

Taiwan’s Tsai Yung-en and Yang Yi-ching clinched the Girls’ Best Champions title, defeating under-18 rivals from countries including Finland, Mongolia and Turkey.

The pair went undefeated from their opening match on Tuesday, sweeping aside every opponent before sealing the title on Friday.

Taiwanese darts players Tsai Yung-en, second left, and Yang Yi-ching, second right, hold a Taiwan flag after winning the under-18 Girls’ Best Champions title at the World Darts Federation in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday. Photo: CNA

In the final, they became the first team to win four legs in a Darts 501 contest played on traditional bristle dartboards.

In the 501 format, players start with 501 points and aim to reduce the score to exactly zero, throwing three darts per turn.

Team manager Chen Chien-lin said that Taiwanese players are less accustomed to bristle dartboards than many of their international counterparts, making Tsai and Yang’s victory all the more meaningful.

Chen also said that this year is Taiwan’s debut at the WDF World Cup, an international competition held every two years since 1977.

Given that context, he said Tsai and Yang’s performance on the global stage was “extremely solid.”

Chinese Taipei Darts Federation chairman Tony Kuo praised the pair, saying their victory demonstrated that Taiwan was beginning to reap the rewards of two decades of effort to grow the sport.

“They are both so young and have bright futures ahead of them,” Kuo said of Tsai and Yang.

Taiwan’s success was not limited to the under-18 girls’ event.

On Wednesday, Tseng Chi-jui secured a place on the podium in the men’s Open Singles, defeating Finland’s Jonas Masalin 5-2 to guarantee at least a bronze medal.

Tseng was to compete in the semi-finals after press time last night, with a chance to advance to the final and contend for gold on the same day.

For its inaugural appearance at the WDF World Cup, Taiwan fielded a delegation of 12 athletes — eight adults and four under-18 players — alongside four staff members.

title: Taiwan duo claim WDF World Cup gold


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West Ham sacked Graham Potter yesterday after only nine months in charge, with former Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo tipped to take over the troubled English Premier League club.

Potter’s exit was widely expected after the Hammers slumped to second bottom of the table ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Everton.

Nuno is expected to replace Potter in time for the clash with Everton after reports that the Portuguese coach has had positive talks with the West Ham board.

Former West Ham head coach Graham Potter sits on the bench prior to their English Premier League match against Crystal Palace at the London Stadium in London, England, on Saturday last week. Photo: AP

Potter managed just three points from West Ham’s five league matches this season, while they also crashed out of the English League Cup against Wolves.

The former Chelsea and Brighton manager only took the reins at the London Stadium in January, with last season’s disappointing 14th-place finish putting pressure on him to hit the ground running this season.

Last weekend’s home defeat against Crystal Palace proved the final straw.

Potter, who lost five of West Ham’s six games this season, was relieved of his duties less than 24 hours after holding his usual pre-match news conference on Friday.

“Results and performances over the course of the second half of last season and the start of the 2025/26 season have not matched expectations,” West Ham said in a statement.

“The board of directors believe that a change is necessary in order to help improve the team’s position in the Premier League as soon as possible,” it said.

Former Tottenham and Wolves coach Nuno was sacked by Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis three weeks ago after the pair fell out over the club’s transfer policy.

Nuno earned praise for lifting Forest into European competition for the first time in 30 years last season via a seventh-place finish in the Premier League.

He also impressed at Wolves, helping establish them in the top-flight before leaving for a turbulent 17-match spell at Tottenham that ended in the sack.

Potter won only six of his 25 West Ham matches after replacing Julen Lopetegui, who lasted just 22 matches after taking over from David Moyes, who is now in charge of Everton.

Despite Potter’s substantial spending on eight new signings in the summer transfer window, West Ham made a woeful start to the season.

A 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest last month provided some respite, but West Ham went down by the same score to Tottenham after the international break, before the Palace loss heralded the end of his dismal spell in charge

Potter, who lasted less than seven months before being axed as Chelsea boss in 2023, admitted the Palace loss was a “tough moment” as he and his team were booed off at the final whistle.

The 50-year-old’s struggles made him a viral trend on social media, with people using artificial intelligence technology to swap his face onto other celebrities, including Barbie, US President Donald Trump and the Chuckle Brothers.

Speaking on Friday, Potter said he had not been taking it too seriously.

“It made my 15-year-old son laugh a lot, so you have to accept what comes with it,” he said.

“At times it’s ridicule, but that is just the environment we are in. It is what it is,” he added.

title: Irons sack Graham Potter


title: SPORTS BRIEFS

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AUSTRALIAN RULES

Lions claim championship

The Brisbane Lions retained their Australian Football League crown yesterday with a stunning 47-point upset of the Geelong Cats in front of 100,000 fans in the grand final at Melbourne Cricket Ground. After being whipped into a frenzy by American rapper Snoop Dogg, the bumper crowd watched the hard-running Lions romp to an emphatic 18.14 (122) to 11.9 (75) victory. Charlie Cameron and Hugh McCluggage kicked four goals apiece as the Lions produced a similar rousing underdog effort, much like last year’s triumph over the Sydney Swans. Based in rugby heartland, Brisbane cemented their status as the competition’s powerhouse after appearing in their third straight grand final, a feat not achieved by any other team in the past decade. “I’m so proud of this group,” said Lions cocaptain Lachie Neale, who overcame a calf injury, having missed the Lions’ previous two matches. “Pretty speechless. That performance... when we’re on, we’re on,” he said. A dynamic game similar to Ireland’s Gaelic football, Australian rules is the country’s most popular spectator sport, with the two games at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground last weekend attracting an average of 98,000 fans.

Hugh McCluggage of the Brisbane Lions celebrates scoring a goal during their AFL Grand Final against the Geelong Cats at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. Photo: AP

SOCCER

FA to conduct pitch review

The English FA would review the safety of walls and boundaries around pitches in the National League system after former Arsenal academy player Billy Vigar died following a significant brain injury while playing for seventh-tier side Chichester City. Local media reports said the 21-year-old hit his head on a concrete barrier beside the pitch in the Isthmian League Premier Division game on Saturday last week. He died in hospital on Thursday. “We will now conduct an immediate review, working with leagues, clubs and relevant stakeholders across the game, that will focus on the safety of perimeter walls and boundaries around pitches in the National League system,” the English governing body said in a statement on Friday. “This will include looking at ways we can assist National League system clubs to identify and implement additional measures at their stadiums that they determine will help to mitigate any potential safety risks,” it said. Tributes would be paid to Vigar in FA Cup and National matches this weekend, it added. The National League system sits below the Football League, with the Isthmian League at levels seven and eight of England’s soccer pyramid.

SOOCER

Ngumoha signs pro deal

Liverpool’s 17-year-old forward Rio Ngumoha has signed his first professional contract, the English Premier League club said on Thursday. Details of the deal were not disclosed, but British media reported Ngumoha signed a contract until 2028, as three years is the maximum contract term for players younger than 18 under English FA rules. Ngumoha came off the bench and scored a 100th-minute winner on his Premier League debut at Newcastle United last month, becoming the club’s youngest goalscorer. The England youth international was handed his senior debut in an FA Cup tie with Accrington Stanley in January. He joined Liverpool’s academy from Chelsea last year and has since made five senior appearances.


title: US revokes Colombian president’s visa

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REBUKE: Gustavo Petro strongly criticized US strikes on boats in the Caribbean, while Colombia’s foreign minister said Netanyahu’s visa should have been revoked

The US Department of State on Friday it would revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro for his “incendiary actions” during a pro-Palestinian street protest in New York.

“Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” the State Department wrote on social media.

“We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions,” it said.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro addresses pro-Palestinian demonstrators through a translator at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza outside the UN headquarters in New York on Friday. Photo: Reuters

On his social media account, Petro shared video of himself speaking Spanish to a large crowd through a megaphone on Friday, with his translator then relaying his comments calling on “nations of the world” to contribute soldiers for an army “larger than that of the United States.”

“That is why, from here in New York, I ask all soldiers in the United States Army not to point their rifles at humanity. Disobey [US President Donald] Trump’s order! Obey the order of humanity!” Petro said.

A source from the president’s office confirmed to AFP that Petro was traveling to Bogota on Friday night.

Petro has said he has Italian citizenship and would not need a visa to enter the US.

Petro was in New York for the UN General Assembly, where he in his Tuesday address rebuked the Trump administration fiercely and called for a criminal inquiry into recent US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean.

Petro said unarmed “poor young people” died in the strikes — more than a dozen in total — but Washington contends the actions are part of a US anti-drug operation off the coast of Venezuela, whose president Washington accuses of running a cartel.

Trump has dispatched eight warships and a submarine to the southern Caribbean, and the biggest US deployment in years has raised fears in Venezuela of an invasion.

Petro has said he suspects some of those killed in the US boat strikes were Colombian.

Last week, the Trump administration decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs, but stopped short of economic sanctions.

The countries are historical allies, but ties have soured under Petro — Colombia’s first-ever leftist leader.

Colombian Minister of the Interior Armando Benedetti wrote on social media that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been revoked rather than Petro’s.

“But since the empire protects him, it’s taking it out on the only president who was capable enough to tell him the truth to his face,” he wrote.


title: Bangladesh urges action for Rohingya facing ‘catastrophe’

content_text:
Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus told the UN General Assembly on Friday that the Rohingya refugee crisis is on the brink of collapse as international aid dries up, urging immediate global action to prevent “a catastrophic situation.”

Bangladesh is sheltering about 1.3 million Rohingya, most of whom fled a brutal 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar that UN investigators described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

In the southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar, near the border with Myanmar, the refugees live in overcrowded bamboo shelters, facing shrinking aid, closed schools, and little prospect of returning home.

Bangladeshi Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus speaks at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York City on Friday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

‘CATASTROPHE’

“The ongoing conflict in our neighboring country, Myanmar, threatens not only regional stability, but also the prospects for the safe return of the forcibly displaced Rohingya sheltered in Bangladesh,” said Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who took power in August last year after mass protests toppled former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

He warned that ration cuts could soon slash food support to “a paltry US$6 per person,” deepening hunger and insecurity in the camps.

“I call upon existing donors to come forward with enhanced contribution and potential donors to make announcements of generous contribution to prevent this catastrophic situation,” he said.

INACTION

Eight years into the crisis, Yunus said persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine State continues unchecked.

“Reversal of the process of marginalization of the Rohingya cannot wait any further,” he told the UN General Assembly, stressing the need for a political settlement that secures equal rights and citizenship for the minority.

Describing Bangladesh as “the second victim after the persecuted Rohingya,” Yunus insisted that the issue is not bilateral.

He urged neighboring countries and the wider international community to assume responsibility, and press Myanmar’s military and ethnic armed groups for change.

Yunus said Dhaka expects Tuesday’s high-level conference on the issue to “galvanize global resolve” by mobilizing new funding and agreeing on a time-bound roadmap toward permanent solutions.

The pressure has intensified over the past year as another 150,000 people have fled Rakhine State, where fighting has escalated between junta forces and the Arakan Army, an ethnic militia drawn largely from the Buddhist majority.