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When I first introduced artificial intelligence (AI) tools into my classrooms in Hsinchu and Taitung, I expected curiosity. What surprised me was how quickly students — and teachers — began reshaping the learning process. The faster we produced content, the faster AI produced alternatives, competing for attention.

However, AI has moved beyond novelty. It has become a coteacher, translator, creative partner and sometimes a mirror of what education is becoming. For English learners, AI’s instant translation, feedback and pronunciation support are transformative. Even kindergarten students use AI flashcards that adapt to their level, allowing them to listen, repeat and build confidence.

Back in 1997, I directed a play the slow way: every cue, line and prop handwritten. It was exhausting, but disciplined. Today, with AI, what took weeks can be generated in minutes — dialogue variations, stage prompts, even alternate endings. It does not replace vision or storytelling, but it lightens the load. Where once I dragged a boulder uphill, I now move with the current. Drama taught me meaning is forged through struggle; AI shows it can also emerge through collaboration between human imagination and machine speed.

AI’s baggage is real. Over-reliance can erode resilience, while surveillance fears raise the question: If AI can do it better, why try?

Yet those challenges create opportunities. We can use AI not just to provide answers, but to push learners to question, critique and stretch beyond the surface.

Ethical concerns remain — privacy, bias, the fine line between assistance and replacement. Teachers, once gatekeepers of knowledge, now serve as curators of how knowledge is applied.

For many Grade 7 students, writing a story in English feels impossible. Some freeze at the first line; others brim with ideas, but cannot form the sentences. To break the block, we used three drafts:

Outline in Chinese — students first shaped their ideas.

Translate and expand with AI — they translated the outline, then used AI to generate a short model paragraph.

Rewrite with their own voice — they rewrote the piece in their own words, borrowing only lightly from AI phrasing.

The results were striking. Hesitant writers gained confidence, and even those who struggled to start found they had something to say. AI did not replace their creativity — it gave them a foothold.

Going forward, AI would not just change what students learn, but how — and why. The memorization-heavy model might finally give way to skills that matter: critical thinking, cross-cultural communication and adaptability.

Taiwan, with its focus on bilingualism and cultural heritage, is uniquely positioned to show how AI can preserve identity while embracing innovation. Teachers would not disappear; they would become more vital. Our task is to humanize technology: to model empathy, guide ethical choices and help students interpret a flood of information. AI can draft essays, but it cannot nurture a child’s purpose or sense of belonging. That remains our domain.

I remind my students: “Language is the tool, culture is the canvas, purpose is the paint.”

AI adds brushes, but it is up to us to decide what picture we are painting.

Understanding AI is a marathon, not a sprint. At times, the most honest response is: “No meaning yet, not sure.” For now, I choose to observe and collect — because tomorrow’s classroom has already arrived.

Casper J. H. Keller is an educator with experience in Asia and Africa. He holds a master’s degree in education and an MBA, and is teaching English and drama at Yuemei Elementary School in Taitung County.

title: Tomorrow’s classroom has already arrived


title: EDITORIAL CARTOON

content_text: In the past month, two important developments are poised to equip Taiwan with expanded capabilities to play foreign policy offense in an age where Taiwan’s diplomatic space is seriously constricted by a hegemonic Beijing. Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) led a delegation of Taiwan and US companies to the Philippines to promote trilateral economic cooperation between the three countries. Additionally, in the past two weeks, Taiwan has placed chip export controls on South Africa in an escalating standoff over the placing of its diplomatic mission in Pretoria, causing the South Africans to pause and ask for consultations to resolve


people: 鄭麗君 賴清德

title: South Korea should turn the US ICE raid into trade leverage

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South Korean officials should take advantage of whatever contrition the White House has demonstrated following the crackdown to negotiate more favorable terms

The immigration raid at a South Korean-owned electric battery plant in Georgia last month shocked the world with its overreach. At a time when the administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to reindustrialize the US, why humiliate hundreds of business travelers? As the injured party, Seoul ought to capitalize on the widespread public outcry to strike the best trade deal it can with Washington.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 4 crackdown on the jointly owned Hyundai Motor Co and LG Energy Solution Ltd factory outside Savannah — the biggest-ever US Department of Homeland Security enforcement action at a single location — US officials sought to justify the operation by saying that the 300 South Koreans arrested were working illegally, but that logic now appears to be on shaky ground.

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau expressed “deep regret” about the case during a visit to Seoul following the return of the detainees and last week, an inaugural meeting in Washington between the two sides to thrash out a solution on working visas ended up affirming that South Koreans on short-term permits had every right to be doing the kind of work they were brought in to do. The US agreed that visitors bearing the B-1 visa or arriving with an Electronic System for Travel Authorization visa waiver are permitted to install, service and repair imported equipment related to investment projects.

No immediate progress was made on Seoul’s efforts to establish a more formal visa category for temporary employees, which workers in Australia and Singapore enjoy. That would require Congressional approval. Still, the assurances were enough to enable LG Energy, the primary operator of the facility, to resume sending specialist workers to Georgia after the autumn holiday, which ends later this week.

As I have written before, there is no doubt that South Korean companies are eager to move on from the unpleasantries and return to business as usual in their biggest and most profitable market, where tens of billions of dollars in investment have already been committed, but that does not mean that they should.

It is precisely because of the primacy of the US that Asian economies such as Taiwan, South Korea and Japan should make a stand now and draw a proverbial line in the sand regarding how they engage with Washington on trade.

For example, during Hyundai’s first-ever US investor conference in New York, held just days following the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid, the automaker touted North America as its “powerhouse” of growth. It plans to double US vehicle production from the current 40 percent of domestic sales to 80 percent by 2030 in response to Trump’s tariff policies. However, without a finalized trade agreement, Hyundai and fellow South Korean firms are being hammered by 25 percent import tariffs, compared with 15 percent for their Japanese and European rivals whose governments have already sealed a deal.

South Korean officials should take advantage of whatever contrition the White House has demonstrated following the crackdown to negotiate more favorable terms. Seoul has objected to Washington’s demand that the US$350 billion investment package agreed in principle over the summer, a key part of any final deal, be made primarily in cash. It wants the agreement to be structured mainly as loans or loan guarantees to avoid unnecessary shocks to the economy.

The raid on the Hyundai-LG Energy factory showed that real people can be hurt when nations are pressured to follow the US agenda. It does not serve South Korea to put more than 80 percent of its foreign reserves, as Washington is demanding, into one basket without guarantees such as a currency swap to minimize volatility.

Seoul is not the only Asian capital pushing back. Sanae Takaichi, set to be Japan’s first female prime minister after winning leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party, has said her nation “must stand our ground” if anything unfair comes to light in the process of implementing its own US$550 billion deal. She has since signaled an intention to honor the deal.

Taiwan, too, is drawing red lines. President William Lai (賴清德) in March reassured the public when chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co announced an additional US$100 billion in US investment. Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) last week said that the nation would resist any pressure to move half of its chip manufacturing to the US, an idea floated by US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in an interview.

It is heartening to see governments finally standing up to Washington, in contrast to the deference previously shown to the Trump administration. Perhaps we are in the second phase of global reaction, where bending the knee does not always make business sense. That was the case for Walt Disney Co, when it canceled and then reinstated late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, and should be the strategy for Asian nations now.

Juliana Liu is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion’s Asia team, covering corporate strategy and management in the region. She was previously CNN’s senior business editor for Asia, and a correspondent at BBC News and Reuters. 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 Sept. 24, 20 democratic nations — including Brazil, Chile, Norway and Spain — came together at the UN not just to reaffirm their commitment to democracy, but to develop an agenda which would sustain and enrich it.

The membership of this group, Democracia Siempre (Democracy Always), has increased enormously since it first met a year ago. The group’s growth reflects the recognition that democratic backsliding is gathering pace around the world. This is particularly true in the nation that has often claimed to be the oldest and strongest democracy — the US, where US President Donald Trump has waged a sustained attack on the constitutional order since returning to the White House in January.

Both within nations and internationally, the rule of law is being trampled, leading to rampant corruption, violations of basic human rights and due process, and systematic erosion of institutions. Longstanding safeguards for our liberties and well-being are being dismantled before our eyes, with academic, press and other freedoms under attack.

In these dark times, Democracia Siempre is a ray of hope. Its members remain committed to defending democracy and the rule of law, setting an example for the timorous who have been cowed by Trump’s bullying. They have made it clear that national sovereignty and democracy are not something to be traded away. They refuse to follow the path of Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.

As an economist who has studied why we have far higher living standards and longer lives today than 250 years ago, I understand the importance of Enlightenment values and the role of science in enabling us to understand the world around us. The unprecedented material progress we have achieved in the modern age stems from our commitment to reason and freedom.

Enlightenment thinkers taught us that we can design institutions to coordinate individual actions, facilitate cooperation and make our societies work better. This matters, because humans are social beings. We have always been able to do far more working together than alone, and in our highly urbanized, globally integrated society, we have no choice but to cooperate. Also, among the critical institutions that we inherited from the Enlightenment are those that enable us to ascertain and assess the truth, without which neither our economy nor our democracy can function well.

Democracy and the rule of law are an essential bulwark against abuses of power and are fundamental to the preservation of our human rights. History shows what happens when they are abandoned or dismantled.

The UN itself was created to help ensure peace on our planet after World War II. Since we share one world, peace, stability and common prosperity require a world body, international law and multilateral cooperation.

This summer, as Democracia Siempre’s second global meeting approached, 43 Nobel laureates from a wide variety of disciplines signed a letter of support, both for the initiative and for an agenda to achieve its goals. That agenda includes strengthening institutions, addressing income inequality and tackling online misinformation and disinformation. Critically, the signatories affirmed their commitment to reason. Their worldviews might differ, but all agree that facts cannot, and must not, be falsified. They all know that it was adherence to Enlightenment values that led to their own discoveries.

Our reasoning about the world must be based on facts, and those come from scientific research and objective news gathering. High-quality information and journalism are necessary to inform the public, promote constructive civil engagement and preserve democracy. Freedom of expression is an internationally recognized human right. Like academic freedom, it plays an indispensable role in ensuring government accountability and preventing the kind of agglomeration of power that undermines democracy.

Yet actions by governments in many nations have had a chilling effect on these freedoms. Those in power have used defamation suits and other means to silence journalists, while massive technology companies allow their platforms to amplify misinformation and disinformation, polluting the information ecosystem. Generative artificial intelligence threatens to make matters worse, and those training the models have been stealing information produced by the legacy media and others. As a result, they have little incentive to produce high-quality information themselves. Technologies that could improve how we disseminate and process information are instead likely to degrade our information ecosystem even further (hence Democracia Siempre’s focus on this issue).

An essential feature of democracy is that everyone’s voice counts — one person, one vote — but this cannot be the case when a few multibillionaires control what has become the global town square.

Checks and balances inevitably break down in the face of yawning economic inequality, because political inequality follows, with oligarchic interests using their resources to bend rules in their favor, but addressing inequality is critical for another reason: If democracies are to function well, the body politic must exhibit at least a modicum of solidarity. Yet today’s extreme inequalities, combined with a hyper-polarizing media ecosystem, have eviscerated social cohesion.

For too long, many took democracy and human rights for granted. We now know that was a mistake. Sustaining and improving these institutions takes continual effort. The Democracia Siempre movement provides hope that this still can be done.

Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, is a former chief economist of the World Bank, a former chair of the US Council of Economic Advisers, a professor at Columbia University and the author of The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society.

Copyright: Project Syndicate

title: UN’s Democracia Siempre is a ray of hope for us all


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Gen Z’s rage in Asia is being stoked by staggering jobs crisis

Youth-led protests across Asia in recent months have centered on corruption, elitism and censorship, but behind Gen Z’s anger lies something even more troubling — A staggering jobs crisis.

The generation born at about the turn of the century is facing a bleak economic future. A shrinking pool of jobs and the advance of artificial intelligence (AI) are weighing on their prospects. Left unaddressed, the demographic dividend (which refers to having more people in the workforce than dependents) that leaders like to tout as a guarantee of prosperity can just as easily become a trigger for unrest.

US President Donald Trump’s trade wars and a backlash against globalization are reshaping labor markets. Youth unemployment in parts of Asia is consistently two to three times higher than national averages, Morgan Stanley said in a report titled Asia Faces Rising Youth Unemployment Challenge. The few jobs available are too often precarious, underpaid or vanishing to automation.

The problem is particularly acute in the three most-populous nations, where economic growth is not being translated into enough new jobs to accommodate the millions of people who will be looking for work: China, India and Indonesia have youth unemployment rates of 16.5 percent, 17.6 percent and 17.3 percent respectively. By contrast, the US reports a rate of 10.5 percent.

Underemployment is widespread, too. Informal labor compounds the problem: More than half of Indonesia’s workers still rely on casual jobs. These positions are more likely to be irregular, offering little security and meager wages.

Insecurity over economic prospects was a major factor in the protests in Indonesia in August. Initially sparked by fury over perks for parliamentarians, they morphed into a broader outcry over inequality, highlighting the precarious conditions of millions of gig workers across the archipelago.

These problems are only likely to intensify because of the challenges posed by AI and automation. In India for instance, this could reduce job growth prospects, particularly in the information technology services sector, long a key source of employment for young people.

Textile factories and car plants, traditionally where many young Asians work, are also becoming increasingly automated. Worryingly, this is happening as tens of millions more people are expected to flood labor markets in the coming decade. India alone expects 84 million new entrants, while Indonesia would add 12.7 million, according to the Morgan Stanley report.

China has seen the number of new jobseekers swell, too. This year’s graduating class is the largest in history, the Asia Society said, with a cohort of more than 12 million students. They will be entering an employment market that is being disrupted by the brutal trade war with the US, and AI advances in almost every sector.

Protests are taking place in the world’s second-largest economy as well, despite Chinese Communist Party suppression. Many of these demonstrations are over the slowing economy, the China Dissent Monitor said. In the first half of this year, protests doubled from the same period last year.

For decades, Asia’s leaders have relied on strong growth to deliver stability, but expansion without jobs is not sustainable. Governments have to equip young people with new skills and create avenues to meaningful work. Education curricula need to shift from an overreliance on academics, to focus on entrepreneurship. Vocational training in trades and crafts would also be useful.

Reforms will be critical. China has been trying to shift the economy toward consumption and services for a while now, but has yet to achieve its goals, with exports contributing to almost one-third of growth during the first half of the year. India is one of the fastest-growing economies globally, but this pace is not enough to generate jobs. Growth would need to double, the Morgan Stanley report said, to address the underemployment challenge. Meanwhile, long-term growth in Southeast Asia’s largest economy is expected to miss government target of 8 percent as it faces a dual threat from cheap Chinese goods and US tariffs.

Policymakers in all three nations might ultimately need to turn to redistributive measures to avoid rising social unrest. These could include subsidies and expanding public-sector employment. Cash transfers cannot solve the problem long term, but they buy governments time.

Corruption and nepotism, long-entrenched in many Asian nations, also need to be addressed. Young people repeatedly cite these as sources of their anger. Without tackling these issues, even new jobs risk being seen as unfairly allocated.

Asia’s Gen Z protests are the early signs of a generation that feels hopeless. The test for the region’s governments would be whether they can provide their young people with not just work, but a future worth believing in.

Karishma Vaswani is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia politics with a special focus on China. Previously, she was the BBC’s lead Asia presenter, and worked for the BBC across Asia and South Asia for two decades. 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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‘BATTLE’: The rally from five runs down was the Yankees’ largest-ever comeback in an elimination game and the Toronto Blue Jay’s biggest blown-lead loss of the year

Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm on Tuesday smashed home runs to spark the New York Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 9-6 to stay in contention in the MLB playoffs.

Judge drove in a playoff career-high four runs and matched a post-season best with three hits to spark the Yankees.

“Got to get the job done,” Judge said. “Go out there and have some fun, try to put a good hit on something and see what happens.”

The New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge connects on a three-run home run during Game 3 of their MLB American League Division Series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium in New York on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Denying Toronto a sweep in the best-of-five American League Division Series, the Yankees pulled within 2-1 entering Game 4 in New York.

“It’s going to be a battle,” Judge said, referring to yesterday’s game.

The rally from five runs down was the Yankees’ largest-ever comeback in an elimination game and Toronto’s biggest blown-lead loss of the year.

The Seattle Mariners’ Andres Munoz celebrates after their win in Game 3 of their MLB American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

“There’s no panic in this team,” Judge said. “The boys stayed locked in.”

The Blue Jays remain one win from their first AL Championship Series since 2016, but they have not won a playoff series since beating the Texas Rangers in 2016.

The Seattle Mariners grabbed a 2-1 lead in the other AL division series with an 8-4 victory against the Detroit Tigers. The Mariners can reach their first ALCS since 2001 by winning Game 4, which was to be played in Detroit yesterday.

“It’s pretty cool to be in that position, but we’re a long ways away,” Mariners winning pitcher Logan Gilbert said. “Love the momentum we have, but we’ve got to find a way to take it.”

Neither starting pitcher completed three innings in the Yankee Stadium slugfest, but New York’s batters bashed Toronto’s relief pitchers, while the Yankee’s bullpen dominated.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s two-run homer in the first inning put Toronto ahead, but New York answered in the first when Judge singled, advanced when Ben Rice reached base on an error and scored on Giancarlo Stanton’s single.

The Blue Jays seized a 6-1 lead in the third inning starting when Davis Schneider doubled and scored on a Daulton Varsho single.

Ernie Clement, who went four-for-four at the plate, followed with a run-scoring single, while Anthony Santander added a two-run single.

However, the Yankees escaped the five-run hole. Trent Grisham doubled and scored on a Judge double in the third inning and Stanton added a run-scoring sacrifice fly.

When Judge smashed a three-run homer off the left-field pole in the fourth inning, the Yankees equalized at 6-6.

“Thankfully the ghosts took that over and kept it fair for us,” Judge said. “That was a nice one.”

Chisholm blasted a solo homer in the fifth as the Yankees seized their first lead of the series, and Amed Rosario doubled and scored on an Austin Wells single to give them an 8-6 advantage.

In the sixth inning, Judge intentionally walked, advanced on Cody Bellinger’s double and scored on Rice’s sacrifice fly to create the final margin.

In Detroit, Michigan, the Mariners got homers from Cal Raleigh, Eugenio Suarez and J.P. Crawford to overpower the Tigers.

Gilbert struck out seven batters and allowed only four hits over six innings with no walks.

“I was trying to be aggressive,” Gilbert said. “I didn’t get a ton of first-pitch strikes, but the slider was feeling pretty good. Just trying to make them put it in play and good things happened.”

title: Yankees deny Blue Jays sweep


content_text:
Jesper Boqvist on Tuesday scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight NHL Stanley Cup banner, opened the defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2.

Mackie Samoskevich — getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career — chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left.

A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, who got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

The Chicago Blackhawks’ Ryan Donato, left, controls the puck as Jesper Boqvist of the Florida Panthers defends during their NHL game at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Tuesday. Photo: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images

Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Chicago. Former Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight made 34 saves for the Blackhawks.

For the Panthers, it was the sort of grind-it-out win that might be necessary with star forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk out with injuries.

“That’s what the year is,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s the building of that identity and the finding of it.”

It was the official debut for new Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill, who coached the Detroit Red Wings for seven seasons from 2015 to 2022 and was hired by Chicago in May. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2015 and have not made it past the first-round of the playoffs since.

“This is what we love to do and life goes by fast,” Blashill said. “Let’s make sure we’re enjoying it.”

Chicago scored first midway through the opening period on a breakaway from Nazar, but the Panthers — who outshot the Blackhawks 17-3 in the first 20 minutes — went into the first intermission up 2-1 after goals three minutes apart from Greer and Verhaeghe.

Teravainen scored early in the second to tie the game at 2-2 and it stayed that way until Boqvist delivered.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, it was:

‧ Kings 1, Avalanche 4

‧ Rangers 0, Penguins 3

title: Boqvist scores as Panthers beat the Blackhawks


title: Taiwan’s Chen wins weightlifting bronze

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Taiwanese weightlifter Chen Wen-huei on Tuesday won bronze in the clean and jerk in the women’s 69kg division at the International Weightlifting Federation World Championship in Forde, Norway.

Chen lifted 132kg in the clean and jerk, and finished with a total of 232kg, placing fifth overall.

She successfully lifted 100kg in her opening snatch attempt, but failed at 104kg and 105kg. In the clean and jerk, she completed lifts of 127kg and 132kg before missing her final attempt at 136kg.

Taiwan’s Chen Wen-huei lifts during the women’s 69kg event at the International Weightlifting Federation World Championship in Forde, Norway, on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Chen’s coach Huang Da-te

North Korea’s Song Kuk-hyang claimed gold in both disciplines, lifting 120kg in the snatch and 150kg in the clean and jerk for a combined weight of 270kg.

The event runs through Saturday.

Chen’s coach, Huang Da-te, told reporters that Chen was satisfied with her performance, as she is still adapting to her new weight category.

Her lower back injury has not fully healed, Huang added.

Chen would now focus on the National Games as she seeks a spot at next year’s Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, he said.

New weight categories for the 2028 Olympics might be announced soon, which could lead to further adjustments, he said.

Chen competed in the 63kg category at the 2018 World University Championships and won three gold medals in the 64kg category at the 2021 Asian Games.

She made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021, where she won bronze in the 64kg category.

At the Paris Olympics last year, she competed in the 71kg division and finished sixth.


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Novak Djokovic threw up, Alexander Zverev poured sweat out of his shoe and Emma Raducanu quit her match with dizziness — and the bad news for the world’s top tennis players is that more baking weather is forecast in China this week.

Denmark’s Holger Rune called the temperatures of more than 30°C and humidity soaring past 80 percent at the Shanghai Masters “brutal.”

“Do you want a player to die on court?” Rune was heard to ask this week in the fierce conditions.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic lies on the court during his men’s singles match against Jaume Munar of Spain at the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Twenty-four-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic on Tuesday labeled it “very challenging physically” as he battled the heat and an ankle injury scare to reach the quarter-finals.

The ailing 38-year-old crouched over frequently in between rallies against Spain’s Jaume Munar and vomited on court.

After one unforced error, Djokovic dropped to the court and remained splayed out as a medic rushed over, before regathering himself to win in three battling sets.

Britain’s Emma Raducanu serves to Ann Li of the US during their women’s singles match at the Wuhan Open in China on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

The draw has opened up for the Serb after world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz withdrew before the tournament to rest and defending champion Jannik Sinner retired from his match on Sunday with cramp.

World No. 3 Zverev was beaten on Monday, having had to pause during his defeat to change his shoes because sweat was pouring out of them.

Spectators at the center court wafted fans and wore cool packs on their foreheads to counter the humidity.

The main court in Shanghai has a roof, but it remains open and would only be closed if it rains — there is no forecast of that for the remainder of the tournament.

Rune on Tuesday called for the ATP, the governing body for men’s tennis, to introduce a heat rule at events such as the Shanghai Masters.

The ATP said in a statement that player safety was its top priority and it is considering such a policy.

Currently, decisions affecting play to do with weather conditions, including heat, “lie with the on-site ATP supervisor, in coordination with on-site medical teams and local authorities”, it said.

Conditions felt marginally less oppressive yesterday in Shanghai, but forecasts were still for highs of 29°C.

Temperatures are set to rise again in the coming days and peak on Sunday, the day of the final, at an estimated 32°C to 33°C.

France’s Arthur Rinderknech, who yesterday reached the quarter-finals, said it was not only the players that were suffering.

“It was as hard for the ball boys, for the umpire, for the fans, everybody was always like this — blowing air to the face because it was really hot,” he said following his 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) win over the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka.

In the other early round-of-16 match yesterday, Alex de Minaur of Australia defeated Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-5, 6-2.

The conditions are equally punishing a the WTA Wuhan Open, where the top women’s players are competing.

Temperatures are above average for this time of year in both cities.

The difference between Wuhan and Shanghai is that the WTA has a heat policy.

On Tuesday, former Grand Slam champions Emma Raducanu and Jelena Ostapenko both retired from their matches.

Raducanu had her blood pressure and other vitals checked before retiring with dizziness from her first-round match.

World No. 2 Iga Swiatek called on organizers to take player safety into account when scheduling matches on the outside courts, where there is no roof.

“On center court I think it’s a little bit cooler with the air conditioning and everything, but I hope the other matches will be scheduled at a time where girls can compete, rather than just die on the court,” she said.

Temperatures above 30°C forced organizers to put the WTA’s heat rule into effect on Monday, with play suspended on the outside courts.

The heat rule was also in effect for part of Tuesday.

The policy allows players to take a 10-minute break between the second and third sets, and means that the tournament can partially or fully close the roof over center court to protect players.

In the women’s doubles in Wuhan yesterday, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Jiang Xinyu of China advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Russia’s Alexandra Panova and Guo Hanyu of China.

Additional reporting by staff writer

title: Stars wilt in ‘brutal’ heat at tennis events in China


title: Malaysia disputes FIFA’s sanctions over rule breaches

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The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) on Tuesday said that it would appeal FIFA sanctions after being accused by soccer’s governing body of cheating.

FIFA last month suspended for 12 months seven overseas-born players who all featured for Malaysia in June’s 4-0 win over Vietnam in a 2027 Asian Cup qualifier and fined FAM US$438,000, citing falsified or doctored documentation.

In its full report released on Monday, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee said that “the original birth certificates indicated a sharp contrast to the documentation provided,” referring to papers from FAM claiming that the players all had a grandparent born in Malaysia, making them eligible to represent the country under FIFA rules.

Malaysia’s players pose before their AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam at the National Stadium Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur on June 10. Photo: AP

The committee reported that the original certificates showed that the family members had actually been born in the same countries as the players: Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands and Spain.

“Presenting fraudulent documentation with the purpose of gaining eligibility to play for a national team constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating, which cannot in any way be condoned,” FIFA said in the report. “Such conduct erodes trust in the fairness of competitions and jeopardizes the very essence of football as an activity founded on honesty and transparency.”

FAM disputed FIFA’s findings in a Facebook post.

“Claims that players ‘acquired or were aware of fake documents’ are baseless, as no solid evidence has been presented so far,” it said. “FAM would like to assert that the heritage players involved are legitimate Malaysian citizens.”

There had been an administrative error when submitting documents, it said, adding that it is preparing to appeal the ruling using original documents that have been certified by the Malaysian government.

“FAM will be presenting an official appeal regarding this conclusion, and remain[s] committed to defending the integrity of national football based on facts and authentic documents,” it said.

The FIFA report said that FAM reported it “was contacted by external agencies regarding the players’ heritage and yet failed to independently verify the authenticity of the documentation.”

FIFA added that it was “able to obtain the relevant original documents without hindrance,” which highlighted “a lack of proper diligence” by FAM.

The Asian Football Confederation, which runs the Asian Cup, would refer the eventual results of the case to its own disciplinary committee, which could mean further punishments for Malaysia.

They face Laos today.

The revelations have provoked anger in Malaysia.

“Although FAM has issued a statement saying it was a technical error, a mistake by their staff, all of that needs improvement because the 19-page statement contains very serious remarks by FIFA, which tarnish the country’s image.” Malaysian Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh said. “Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed.”


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PROGRESS: A Hamas official said that ‘a spirit of optimism’ was prevailing in talks to end the war in Gaza, with the group submitting a list of prisoners it wants released

The Israeli military yesterday intercepted a nine-boat flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea trying to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and detained scores of activists on board, the flotilla organizers and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The interception came ahead of talks in Egypt of a planned ceasefire and after nearly 450 activists, including European lawmakers and climate activist Greta Thunberg, last week were intercepted on more than 40 boats trying to reach Gaza with a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid.

That incident drew widespread condemnation and sparked protests in several major cities and a one-day strike across Italy.

A screenshot from a live stream of a ship attempting to deliver aid to Gaza shows an Israeli soldier attempting to reach a camera on board the vessel. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition via AP

The ministry yesterday said the 145 activists in the latest interception were in good health, being brought to Israel for processing and were expected to be deported soon.

The organizers of the nine-vessel group — made up of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and the Thousand Madleens to Gaza — said yesterday’s detentions were “arbitrary and unlawful.”

The activists on board included doctors, politicians and three Turkish lawmakers. The flotilla was carrying some food and medical aid destined for Gaza hospitals.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the Israeli military’s actions “an act of privacy.”

Organizers said the boats were intercepted about 120 nautical miles (222.24km) off the coast of Gaza. In footage of the interceptions released by the organizers, the flotilla boats were approached by fast-moving ships and then boarded by Israeli troops. No injuries were reported.

The flotillas to Gaza came amid surging criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, where its offensive in the war against Hamas has laid waste to wide swaths of territory and killed tens of thousands of people.

Israel and Hamas are currently in the third day of indirect negotiations in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Hamas yesterday said that “optimism” was prevailing in the talks that aimed to thrash out a plan to implement a 20-point peace proposal US President Donald Trump put forward last month.

The plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages, Hamas’ disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Turkish National Intelligence Organization Director Ibrahim Kalin, Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were all due in Sharm el-Sheikh.

“The mediators are making great efforts to remove any obstacles to the implementation of the ceasefire, and a spirit of optimism prevails among all parties,” senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said.

The Palestinian militant group submitted a list of prisoners it wants to be released in the first phase of the truce “in accordance with the agreed-upon criteria and numbers”, Nunu added.

In exchange, Hamas is set to release 47 hostages, both alive and dead, who were seized in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Additional reporting by AFP

title: Israel intercepts more Gaza-bound ships


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Grotesque makeup, menacing props and intimidating costumes are just one part of a Michigan haunted house’s 25-year-old formula to terrify guests.

It starts by educating the actors looking to provide the most horrifying experience to its visitors. At Scare School, they learn all the tricks of the trade.

Lessons begin weeks before the four-level walk-through scream factory opens to visitors, introducing fresh talent to the get-ups, face paint and unnatural body movements proven to petrify thousands of customers since the turn of the century.

Rosey Washington screams while being grabbed during her performance at the Erebus Haunted House in Pontiac, Michigan, on Thursday last week. Photo: AP

The actors’ report card of sorts is the “Wimp Out Score Board” in Erebus Haunted Attraction’s ground-level lobby, tallying the numbers of visitors who flee before making it through all four levels or who join the “wetters, pukers and fainters” total.

The one-time abandoned parking structure in Pontiac consistently lands on lists of the scariest haunted houses in the US.

Operations managers and brothers Zac and Brad Terebus said the coaching and training performers receive is not just about what they wear or how loud they can shout.

Leonard Noe, who had both legs amputated after an infection, poses in makeup at the Erebus Haunted House in Pontiac, Michigan, on Thursday last week. Photo: AP

“Scare School really comes down to the psychology of fear,” Zac Terebus said. “Fear is not an accident. Fear is an art.”

In the weeks before Erebus opened for the Sept. 19 to Nov. 2 Halloween season, managers auditioned and hired dozens of scare actors, then coached them to be as frightening as humanly — or rather, supernaturally — possible.

In an upstairs room early last month, Erebus veterans schooled the newbies on the finer points of zombie shuffling and demon shrieking, walking on stilts and wielding a spiked (plastic) club. The new hires also learned about makeup application, costuming, and how to get into their roles and personas, as well as rules about interacting with the guests.

title: US haunted house teaches tricks of terror trade


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Australia police foil ‘kill team’ gang hit near daycare center

Australian police foiled an alleged organized crime hit by a so-called kill team near a Sydney daycare facility, authorities said yesterday.

New South Wales police on Tuesday swooped in on two cars after learning three men were preparing to carry out the alleged killing in Revesby, a suburb in the city’s southwest.

Police stopped the cars and arrested the men, finding two firearms, balaclavas, body cameras and jerricans containing fuel during a search.

New South Wales Police make an arrest after foiling an alleged organized crime hit near a daycare facility in Sydney on Tuesday. Photo: New South Wales Police via AFP

A third firearm was located during subsequent searches of vehicles and premises allegedly linked to the men.

Footage from Tuesday showed the cars wedged between police vehicles as authorities moved in on the alleged offenders brandishing firearms.

The cars’ windshields were pocked with bullet holes.

One witness, who did not wish to be named, told Australia’s Channel Nine he heard the gunshots and went to investigate.

“I started walking out of my house and I heard some more gunshots and then cars were swerving,” he said.

New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook said authorities had been investigating a transnational crime network “believed to be involved in multiple conspiracies to murder” for several weeks.

Police said the victim was targeted due to a breakdown in relationships within the syndicate, he said.

The trio of men reportedly did not know the victim.

They came “pretty close” to carrying out the hit, Cook said.

He expressed shock that the group was “prepared to kill” in an area where there was such a high risk of collateral damage.

“These individuals were being watched, and we moved at the right moment,” he said, adding that there was no chance the trio would have been “allowed to make it to a center.”

The men have been charged with a string of offenses, including conspiracy to commit murder and participating in a criminal group. The trio were refused bail and were to appear in court yesterday.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a Vietnamese criminal syndicate hired the three men and paid for a hit on the victim who was previously linked to the network.


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TECH COMPETITION: Sales to Chinese firms from top equipment suppliers did not break the law, but could have profound implications for human rights, a report said

US lawmakers are calling for broader bans on chipmaking equipment to China after a bipartisan investigation found that Chinese chipmakers had purchased US$38 billion of sophisticated gear last year, including from European giant ASML.

The US House of Representatives’ Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party found that China accounts for 39 percent of total revenue for the five leading “toolmakers” — the specialized, highly complex machines needed to produce computer chips.

The report mentioned US companies Applied Materials, KLA Corp and Lam Research, but said that the Netherlands’ ASML and Japan’s Tokyo Electron had substantially increased sales to restricted Chinese entities as Washington imposed stricter controls on US companies’ exports.

The committee called for broader bans by the US and its allies on chipmaking tool sales to China, rather than narrower bans on sales to specific Chinese chipmakers.

The US$38 billion was purchased from five top chip manufacturing equipment suppliers, without breaking the law, a 66 percent increase from 2022, when many of the tool export restrictions were introduced.

“These are the sales that made China increasingly competitive in the manufacture of a wide range of semiconductors, with profound implications for human rights and democratic values around the world,” the report said.

The investigation revealed that five Chinese companies restricted by Washington for their military ties were among the top 30 customers of all five equipment manufacturers from 2022 to last year.

They included Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, China’s largest chipmaker, and Yangtze Memory Technologies.

“The Toolmakers are selling the forges of future weapons and surveillance tools to the very companies that seek to build [China’s] semiconductor industry into a dominant force,” the report said.

The supply from the companies is crucial to China’s efforts to ramp up its chip industry to beat restrictions imposed by Washington as Beijing looks to keep up in the race toward state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

The report said ASML sold 70 percent of its advanced deep ultraviolet immersion lithography systems to China last year, up from 26 percent in 2022.

The machines are critical for producing sophisticated semiconductors used in AI and military applications.

“China is attempting to rewrite the entire supply chain,” Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow Craig Singleton said.

“What used to be niche tool segments are now battlegrounds,” he said.

title: US lawmakers call for broader ban on chip tools


title: Ecuador president’s motorcade attacked

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Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Tuesday escaped injury after his car was attacked by a crowd throwing rocks, in what a top minister said was an assassination attempt that had left signs of bullet damage on the vehicle.

Ecuadoran Minister of Environment and Energy Ines Manzano, who filed a formal report of an assassination attempt on the president, said five people were detained after Noboa’s motorcade was surrounded by about 500 protesters throwing stones.

Noboa’s office said those arrested would be processed under charges of terrorism and attempted assassination. Reuters could not independently verify whether a bullet was fired at the president’s car during the protest, which was over the president’s removal of fuel subsidies last month.

Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa, right, stands next to a vehicle he had been traveling in when it was attacked by protesters in Canar, Ecuador, on Tuesday. Photo: Ecuadoran Presidency via AFP

Speaking afterward at a student event in Cuenca, Noboa said his government would not tolerate such actions.

“Do not follow the bad example of those who wanted to stop us from attending this event with you and who tried to attack us,” he said. “Such attacks will not be accepted in the new Ecuador and the law applies to everyone.”

“Shooting at the president’s car, throwing stones, damaging state property — that’s just criminal,” Manzano said. “We will not allow this.”

However, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) said that orchestrated violence had broken out against people who mobilized for Noboa’s arrival, saying elderly women were among those attacked in a “brutal police and military action.”

“At least five of us have been arbitrarily detained,” it wrote on X, alongside a video of a woman in traditional clothing being marched off by four police officers in body armor, their faces covered by black bandanas.

CONAIE launched strike action 16 days ago, organizing marches and blockading some roads, in a protest against the government ending diesel subsidies. Critics say further dialogue is needed and that the measure will increase the cost of living particularly for small-scale farmers and indigenous communities.

Noboa signed the executive decree eliminating subsidies in the middle of last month, and his government declared emergency measures in several provinces to maintain order.

The government has defended ending the subsidy, which it said will free up US$1.1 billion a year that it has already begun to redistribute in compensation payments to small-scale farmers and people working in the transport sector.


title: UK officials to face questions over collapsed spy case

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Top UK security officials are to face questions over an aborted China spying case brought by its chief prosecutor, which collapsed at the same time that the UK is seeking to rebuild economic ties with the country.

A government spokesperson denied a report in the Sunday Times that it was the interference of senior British government officials, including British National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, that torpedoed the case.

British prosecutors in a letter released on Tuesday said they did “everything possible” to bring to trial Christopher Cash, 30, a former director of the China Research Group think tank, and Christopher Berry, 33, who were charged last year under the Official Secrets Act over allegations they passed politically sensitive information to a Chinese intelligence agent between 2021 and 2023, but the case fell through when the government declined to label Beijing “an enemy.”

Christopher Cash arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on April 26 last year. Photo: Reuters

Powell in June agreed to give evidence to the parliament’s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy. Although the committee’s inquiry is about the wider strategy, he is expected to be asked about the collapsed trial, a person familiar with the matter said.

A date has yet to be decided, but Powell could appear before the committee within weeks, they said, adding that a report is unlikely to be published until next year.

Senior officers from MI5 are also expected to give evidence to the parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee about their involvement in the case, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named when discussing closed-door proceedings.

The Sunday Times report said the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service was made after officials decided that evidence in the trial would operate in line with the government’s national security strategy, which characterizes China as a “geostrategic challenge” rather than a “threat” or an “enemy” — effectively nullifying the case.

The Conservatives, who were in government until last year, and other opposition political parties have accused British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party government of deliberately collapsing the trial to avoid upsetting China.

Speaking to journalists en route to India, Starmer said he had briefly read the letter and would not give a view on it one way or another, but said again that the designation of China at the time of the alleged offense in 2023 was what mattered.

“You have to prosecute people on the basis on what was the state of affairs at the time of the offense,” said Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions himself. “Nothing changes that fundamental, whoever is in government.”


title: World News Quick Take

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SPAIN

Bodies recovered in collapse

Emergency services have recovered the bodies of four people from beneath the rubble of a six-story building that collapsed in central Madrid while being refurbished into a hotel, local authorities said yesterday. The victims have been identified as three men aged 30 to 50 from Ecuador, Mali and Guinea-Conakry, and employed at the site as construction workers, as well as a 30-year-old woman, the renovation project’s architect. Their remains were found early yesterday, nearly 15 hours after the collapse of the building’s interior structure that left its facade intact. Three other construction workers were injured.

SINGAPORE

Drug trafficker executed

The government yesterday hanged a Malaysian drug trafficker, marking the second execution in two weeks and raising the number of executions in the city-state to 12 this year despite pressure to abolish the death penalty. Anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han (韓俐穎) confirmed that 38-year-old Pannir Selvam Pranthaman was executed at Changi Prison. Han, who is accompanying his family, said they have collected Pannir’s belongings from the prison. Pannir was arrested in 2014 for possession of 52g of heroin and sentenced to death in 2017.

CHINA

Everest hikers rescued

About 900 hikers, guides and other staff who were stranded by a weekend snowstorm on the Chinese side of Mount Everest have reached safety, state media said late on Tuesday. A severe storm struck the area on Saturday night, cutting off access to where the hikers were staying in tents at an altitude of more than 4,900m. In all, 580 hikers and more than 300 guides, yak herders and other workers were stranded. About 350 hikers were able to descend by noon on Monday and the rest had arrived by Tuesday, state media said.

JAPAN

Bear injures two in market

An agitated bear on Tuesday night roamed the aisles of a supermarket in Numata, injuring two men and frightening shoppers; separately a man was found dead in a suspected mauling, officials and reports said yesterday. The man was found dead on a mountain yesterday in northern Iwate Prefecture, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing police. The 1.4m adult bear that entered the supermarket lightly injured a man in his 70s and another in his 60s, regional police and fire officials said. The store is close to mountainous areas, but has never had bears come near before, said Hiroshi Horikawa, a management planning official at the grocery store chain.

AUSTRALIA

Study links DNA to depression

Women are genetically at higher risk of clinical depression than men, researchers found in a study published yesterday. Billed as one of the largest-ever studies of its kind, scientists poured through the DNA of almost 200,000 people with depression to pinpoint shared genetic “flags.” Women had almost twice as many of the genetic markers linked to depression than men, according to the project led by the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. “The genetic component to depression is larger in females compared to males,” researcher Jodi Thomas said. “Unpacking the shared and unique genetic factors in males and females gives us a clearer picture of what causes depression — and opens the door to more personalized treatments.” About 13,000 genetic markers were linked with depression in women, compared with 7,000 markers in men, the researchers found.


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Artificial intelligence, the technology upending nearly every corner of society, is creeping into religion, serving up virtual Jesus and automated sermons — a change drawing mixed reviews from the faithful.

Religious chatbots and other faith-based digital tools are growing in number, offering counsel, comfort and spiritual guidance during an age of rapidly transforming socialization and engagement.

One app, which is called Text with Jesus, has thousands of paying subscribers. It lets people ostensibly ask questions of Mary, Joseph, Jesus and nearly all 12 apostles.

The “Text With Jesus” chatbot app displayed on an iPhone on Oct. 2 in Washington, DC. Photo: AFP

The idea is to educate, said Stephane Peter, CEO of Catloaf Software, which created the app. “This is a new way to address religious issues in an interactive way,” he said.

Although the app makes clear it uses AI, virtual Moses and Jesus don’t recognize that as such when asked the specific question. Peter said that ChatGPT’s latest version, GPT-5, on which Text With Jesus is based, follows instructions better than previous iterations. It is also better at staying in whatever character it is supposed to be and can deny more forcefully that it’s a bot.

He said many people consider the app blasphemous but it still has received a good rating in the App Store — 4.7 out of 5.

Online ministry Catholic Answers said it got a taste of how sensitive all this can be when it launched the animated AI character “Father Justin” last year.

“A lot of people were offended that it was using a priest character,” said Christopher Costello, the ministry’s director of information technology.

Days later, Catholic Answers stripped the avatar of its title to make it simply Justin.

Young churchgoers on Sunday carry their Bibles on their way home as they cross a hand-built wooden bridge over flooded rice fields in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Artificial intelligence is creeping into religion, serving up virtual Jesus and automated sermons. Photo: AFP

“We don’t want to replace humans. We just want to help,” Costello said.

‘NO HEART, NO SPIRIT’

Other major religions have similar apps, such as Deen Buddy for Islam, Vedas AI for Hinduism, and AI Buddha. Most bill themselves as interfaces with scripture, not incarnations of actual holiness.

Nica, a 28-year-old Filipina who belongs to the Anglican Church, said she uses ChatGPT almost daily to study scripture — even though her pastor wants her to stop.

“I’d say it’s an added layer,” said Nica, who declined to give her last name.

“I am in a Christian community and my husband and I have spiritual mentors. It’s just that sometimes I have random thoughts about the Bible and I want answers immediately.”

Not many will acknowledge using AI assistants in matters of religion, even though some of these apps have been downloaded millions of times.

“People who want to believe in God maybe shouldn’t ask a chatbot. They should talk to people that believe, too,” said a woman named Emanuela as she left St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

Rabbi Gilah Langner said the halakhah — the collective body of religious laws derived from the Torah, the Jewish holy book — has many interpretations. Jews need other Jews, with their insights and perspective, to connect them to the tradition of their faith, she said.

“I don’t think you really get that from AI. It’s possible it would be very nuanced, but the emotional connection is missing,” Langner said.

AI can make people feel “isolated and not in an organic connection to a living tradition,” she added.

For their part, Christian communities do not reject AI outright.

Peter said he had spoken to clergy members and they agreed that AI could be a tool to educate people.

Last year Pope Francis named Demis Hassabis, a co-founder of AI research lab Google DeepMind, to serve in the Vatican’s scientific academy.

And as much of society experiments with artificial intelligence, so does the clergy.

In November 2023, pastor Jay Cooper of the Violet Crown City Church in Austin, Texas, had an AI assistant deliver an entire sermon. He warned parishioners in advance.

“Some people freaked out, said we are now an AI church,” said Cooper. But, he added, the service lured some people who did not usually attend church, especially video-game buffs.

Cooper said he has considered other ways of integrating AI into his church but has not repeated the AI sermon.

“I’m glad we did it,” he said, “but it missed the heart and spirit of what we usually do.”

title: Virtual Jesus?


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Notes from Central Taiwan: The US makes an offer Taiwan can’t refuseThe current birth rate is going to doom the ability of the nation to maintain a semiconductor industry structure — better to offshore production now while the government has a range of choices

In recent weeks the Trump Administration has been demanding that Taiwan transfer half of its chip manufacturing to the US. In an interview with NewsNation, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that the US would need 50 percent of domestic chip production to protect Taiwan. He stated, discussing Taiwan’s chip production: “My argument to them was, well, if you have 95 percent, how am I gonna get it to protect you? You’re going to put it on a plane? You’re going to put it on a boat?”

The stench of the Trump Administration’s mafia-style notions of “protection” was strong in Lutnick’s words, and Taiwan was quick to reject the idea. Speaking to the media, vice premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) was reported by the Central News Agency (CNA) as saying that the proposal for a “50-50” split in semiconductor production was not even discussed in trade negotiations with the US. The pro-China parties — the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) — always eager to drive a wedge between the US and Taiwan, sharply criticized Lutnick’s proposal as “plunder” of Taiwan’s tech industry.

People often forget that while the government is the largest single shareholder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), it is majority-owned by foreigners. Despite the near-universal local wave of revulsion at moving a large chunk of Taiwan’s economy abroad, it might not be a bad idea to move 30-40 percent of chip production to the US, where a great many of its shareholders reside.

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick last month speaks at a business reception at Lancaster House in central London. Lutnick suggested in a hit on NewsNation that Taiwan should shift half of its chip production to the US. Photo: AP

There are several reasons for this. The first is suppressing the growth of competitors in the US. The Trump Administration, with its inept tariff regime and enthusiastic racism, is probably not competent or open enough to craft competition policies that will threaten TSMC’s current dominance, but the next administration is unlikely to be as stupidly destructive of American scientific and economic prowess. If TSMC is already a powerful presence in the US, that will help stifle the need for a US home-grown alternative. Taiwanese fabs in the US will also attract skilled labor that might otherwise go to competing firms. Recall too that as large Taiwanese firms moved to China, they stifled the growth of competitors at home. That may occur if Taiwan establishes a semiconductor ecology in the US.

Then there is the urgent need for labor. The semiconductor industry, according to a March Global Taiwan Institute piece, is struggling for skilled workers. Focus Taiwan in July reported that the semiconductor industry was short 34,000 people, against 13,000 open positions in 2021 (to put that in perspective, Taiwan will probably see less than 100,000 births this year).

The semiconductor labor shortage problem, already chronic, will only worsen. Other industries are now more attractive to young tech talent, especially with the AI bubble taking potential workers. Moreover, Taiwan is producing fewer STEM graduates. A 2023 Legislative Yuan report said that the number of STEM students fell 17.15 percent from 2012 to 2021, while the number of graduates declined 21.31 percent from 2011 to 2020. In 2022-23 there were 380,000 STEM students at all levels, but that represents an accumulation of many years of births. In 2005 just 206,000 people were born.

Demography is destiny. Taiwan’s current birth rate is going to doom the ability of the nation to maintain a large semiconductor industry structure. Nor are its government and people willing to contemplate a robust and imaginative immigration and population strategy to rescue its firms. Better to offshore production now while the government has a range of choices.

Locating a significant proportion of TSMC production in the US will give the company access to a much larger pool of labor that can be trained and acculturated to Taiwan-style semiconductor production. Additionally, shuttling those workers between Taiwan and the US will enable Taiwan to work its magic on new arrivals, building another cohort of Taiwan supporters in the nation’s most valuable foreign ally.

In 1920, Taiwanese students in Tokyo launched Taiwan Youth (the first of three magazines with that name) and declared that “Taiwan is the Taiwan of the Taiwanese” (台灣是台灣人的台灣). The magazine had an avowed anti-colonial stance, creating a Taiwanese voice for autonomy and democracy in Japan’s imperial capital.

During the heyday of the White Terror and martial law, Taiwanese in the US founded non-profits and promoted Taiwanese democracy. Their voices were instrumental in getting US officials and legislators to put pressure on the KMT to let Taiwan be Taiwan.

We may need voices like that again.

At some point the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is going to attack Taiwan. Commentators are generally obsessed with the invasion scenario. Few consider the postwar reality for the Taiwanese, especially outside of occupied Taiwan. Yet, planning for war means planning for its aftermath. If Taiwan is PRC-controlled, resistance will have to be supported by Taiwanese communities abroad. TSMC fabs in the US, with their large population of educated Taiwanese, could serve as the nuclei of future resistance, as reminders of the Taiwanese spirit and Taiwanese culture, just as the Tibetan spirit is kept alive by the exile communities in India and abroad.

The other alternative is that Taiwan “wins” in the sense that the invasion is defeated. The nation, however, will probably be wrecked — its power grids down, its power plants destroyed, its roads and bridges and ports and railways reduced to ruins, its water systems filled with the detritus of war. TSMC’s fabs in Taiwan will likely become useless after a week or two of combat. Even if the PRC doesn’t hit them, once those complicated etching machines go offline for any long period of time they will have to be cleaned and refurbished, skills Taiwan likely lacks, according to experts I have spoken to.

TSMC plants in the US would then have two roles. First, the US fabs would keep the company going and at least some of its orders filled, a critical need for the world economy. Second, TSMC — partly owned by the government — would produce a flow of revenues that could be used directly to fund reconstruction and defense in Taiwan (there will be more than one war, hegemonic wars between mighty powers are seldom one-offs) and indirectly, as a revenue stream to enable the government to obtain development loans and grants. Moreover, the pool of skilled workers in a TSMC fab ecology in the US could be made available to support reconstruction in Taiwan.

I am not arguing for a massive offshoring of Taiwan’s production capabilities to a foreign power, even a friendly one. But there are good reasons to at least soberly consider what advantages might accrue to Taiwan if a smaller proportion than half could be located in the US.

Or we just follow our usual industrial policy of “more of the same.” It’s been a success, so far.

Notes from Central Taiwan is a column written by long-term resident Michael Turton, who provides incisive commentary informed by three decades of living in and writing about his adoptive country. The views expressed here are his own.


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Do OpenAI’s multibillion-dollar deals point to an AI bubble?Some market watchers are concerned by the circular nature of deals with chip makers Nvidia and AMD

There are always points in financial booms when market commentators ask if exuberance has got out of hand.

OpenAI’s multibillion-dollar deals with chip makers Nvidia and AMD are the latest reason for pause about the sustainability of vast investments in artificial intelligence.

Here we answer some questions about what these deals say about the AI stock market frenzy.

This combination of pictures shows OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, in Tokyo on Feb. 3 and Lisa Su, chairwoman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), in Taiwan’s premier tech expo, in Taipei on June 3 last year. Photo: AFP

Why are the Nvidia and AMD deals concerning market watchers?

Some commentators are concerned by the circular nature of the deals. Under the terms of the Nvidia transaction, OpenAI will pay Nvidia in cash for chips, and Nvidia will invest in OpenAI for non-controlling shares.

Leading British tech investor James Anderson said he was concerned by parallels with vendor financing, where a company provides financial support to a customer buying its products – a precarious scenario if those customers have overly optimistic business projections. Vendor financing was one of the hallmarks of the turn-of-the-millennium dotcom bubble.

“It’s not quite like what many of the telecom suppliers were up to in 1999-2000, but it has certain rhymes to it. I don’t think it makes me feel entirely comfortable from that point of view,” said Anderson.

The AMD deal also enmeshes OpenAI with another chip maker alongside Nvidia. Under the deal, OpenAI will use hundreds of thousands of AMD chips in its datacentres — the central nervous systems of AI tools such as ChatGPT — and will have an opportunity to buy 10 percent of AMD. All of this is being driven by the thirst of OpenAI and its peers for as much computing power as possible to drive their models to ever greater performance breakthroughs — as well as to meet demand.

Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo, an investment bank, said transactions such as Nvidia and OpenAI’s all pointed to a situation that “looks, smells and talks like a bubble.”

What are the other signs of a bubble?

Anderson flagged soaring valuations at leading AI companies as another source of concern. OpenAI is now worth US$500 billion, compared with US$157 billion last October, while Anthropic almost trebled its valuation recently, going from US$60 billion in March to US$170 billion last month. Anderson said the scale of the value increases “did bother me.” OpenAI reportedly posted revenue of US$4.3 billion in the first half of this year, with an operating loss of US$7.8 billion, according to tech news site The Information.

Recent share price swings have also jolted seasoned market watchers. For instance, AMD briefly gained US$80 billion in valuation during stock market trading on Monday after the OpenAI announcement, while Oracle — a beneficiary of demand for AI infrastructure such as datacentres — gained about US$250 billion in one day in September after announcing better than expected results.

There is also a huge capital expenditure boom, which refers to spending on non-staff costs such as buildings and equipment. The big four AI “hyperscalers” — Facebook parent Meta, Google owner Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon — are expected to spend US$325 billion on capex this year, roughly the GDP of Portugal.

Is AI adoption justifying investor excitement?

Faith in the AI boom was rattled in August when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published research showing that 95 percent of organisations are getting zero return from their investments in generative AI. The study said the issue was not the quality of the models but how they were used. It said this was a clear manifestation of the “genAI divide,” with startups led by 19 or 20-year-olds reporting a jump in revenues from deploying AI tools.

The report coincided with a heavy fall in AI infrastructure stocks such as Nvidia and Oracle. It came two months after McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm, said eight out of 10 companies report using genAI, but the same proportion report no significant impact on their bottom line. McKinsey said this is because AI tools are being used for broad purposes such as producing meeting minutes and not specific purposes such as highlighting risky suppliers or generating ideas.

All of this unnerves investors because a key promise from AI companies such as Google, OpenAI and Microsoft is that if you buy their tools, they will improve productivity — a measure of economic efficiency — by helping a single employee produce much more economically valuable work in an average working day.

However, there are other clear indications of a widespread embrace of AI. This week, OpenAI said ChatGPT is now used by 800 million people a week, up from the figure of 500 million cited by OpenAI in March. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, firmly believes that demand for paid-for access to AI is going to continue to “steeply increase”.

What does the bigger picture show?

Adrian Cox, a thematic strategist at the Deutsche Bank Research Institute, says the current situation feels like “we are at a crossroads where the lights are flashing different colours.”

The red lights, he says, are enormous capital expenditure where “the current generation of chips could be outdated before the investment pays off” and the soaring valuations of private companies such as OpenAI.

The amber signals are a more than doubling of the share prices of the “magnificent seven” US tech stocks. This is offset by their price to earnings ratios — a measure of whether a stock is under or overvalued — which are below historical levels seen by other tech firms in the dotcom bubble of 2000. Cox also advises keeping an eye on the “complicated investment structures” seen in recent supplier/customer deals.

Cox adds that, on the green light side, a lot of the AI investment is from well-established, well-capitalised companies such as Alphabet, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft, mostly funding expenditure from their own free cashflow.

He adds: “We are only scratching the surface in terms of the technology’s capabilities and there is much more road ahead in terms of companies adopting AI.”


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Director Werner Herzog’s provocative seventh book takes in toupees, AI and a pig in a sewer. Should we take him seriously?

At 83, Werner Herzog is a living legend who can and does do precisely what he wants. Like the strange, enchanting films for which he is best known, Herzog’s seventh book defies the usual conventions of structure, narrative arc and the delineation of fact from fiction, even as it addresses the very subject of truth.

This slim volume sets out Herzog’s views on truth in a world where technologically enhanced falsehoods proliferate. These appear to be an elaboration of Herzog’s Minnesota Declaration, the 12 statements he made in 1999 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Much like the declaration, The Future of Truth contains strong, gnomic opinions which include despising cinema verite because it obscures more than it illuminates, as well as a plethora of surprising sentences such as “rather die than wear a toupee.”

Two principles are central to Herzog’s idea of truth. First is the notion that seeking truth is a greater goal than finding it. As he puts it, “the quest itself, bringing us nearer to the unrevealed truth, allows us to participate in something inherently unattainable, which is truth.” The second is that bare facts can provide little more than a boring “accountant’s truth” that is less useful than what he calls “ecstatic truth” in helping people understand what’s really going on in life.

It’s like listening to a fireside monologue from an entertaining uncle. The weirdest and most compelling tale, among some stiff competition, is the story of the Palermo pig. Once upon a time, according to Herzog, a pig got stuck down a straight-sided sewage pipe in Palermo, Sicily. It remained wedged in there for years, surviving on scraps of food thrown down to it. Eventually the pig took on the shape of its container. It became a kind of translucent block, “ghostly pale … wobbly as a great hunk of Jello,” taking in nourishment from above, ejecting waste below.

Herzog uses this story as an allegory, linking the Palermo pig to the perils of long-distance space exploration. Should humankind embark on a voyage to our nearest habitable planet, it would take centuries. During this time Herzog envisages the intrepid travelers would be forced to inbreed, becoming “mutants” with no comprehension of the purpose of their mission. Eventually the astronauts would morph into pale, maggot-like beings rather like the Palermo pig, capable of little more than eating and shitting.

This morbidly fascinating and unintentionally hilarious handbrake turn from Sicilian sewers to space mutants offers a lesson in Herzog’s concept of ecstatic truth. Because, as I discovered to my dismay after spending quite some time trying to track down any record of this intriguing and biologically implausible cuboid swine, the Palermo pig appears to be apocryphal. I had been pursuing the miserly “accountant’s truth,” a reality grounded in mere facts. What did it matter whether an incarcerated Sicilian farm animal actually turned into a quivering square jelly? The real point of Herzog’s story suddenly hit home: penning animals into small spaces for long periods is unwise and creates monsters.

If anyone else had written The Future of Truth, I suspect they would come under critical fire for odd choices in structure, rambling, contradictory statements, and, to put it bluntly, taking the piss out of the reader. After all, Herzog devotes five whole pages to the histrionic plot of an opera just to demonstrate that when art forms contain concentrated, intense emotion, we “invest this preposterous kernel with the full array of our own feeling, so that it seems mysteriously genuine.”

However, because this book is a collection of uniquely Herzogian mindfarts, it resists a panning. Michael Hofmann’s sparkling and inventive translation from the original German — a crypto-zoologist is described as “a ham sandwich short of a picnic” — somehow makes Herzog more Herzog in tone.

While much of the The Future of Truth will be familiar from his previous books, films and interviews, one relatively new element is his meditation on deepfakes. Herzog refers more than once to an AI-generated perpetual conversation between fake audio versions of himself and Slavoj Zizek online. Since his own methods of getting at ecstatic truth have included inventing quotes by famous figures and casting actors in his documentaries, there is a risk of hypocrisy. The distinction, he argues, is that an intelligent mind would be reasonably able to discern lies in older forms of media, while AI is so new and so powerful that our ability to identify them is seriously impaired.

“We have grown up with radio and photography. We need to do the same thing now with the Internet,” he said

Conveniently, Herzog rejects the notion that this is either a self-help book or a serious philosophical engagement with the concept of truth. Even so, he does offer advice: cultivate your critical faculties, walk around more and read lots of books. The book concludes with a two-sentence chapter that feels like either a prank or a Zen koan. As with the whole enterprise, I can’t quite decide if it is absurd, profound or an ecstatically truthful mix of the two.

title: BOOK REVIEW: Profound thoughts, or just a prank?


content_text:
SPEAK UP: Taylor Swift’s album, Billboard Live Taipei hit the market (1/2) 泰勒絲新出輯、告示牌新開幕（上）

A: US singer Taylor Swift finally released her 12th album, titled “The Life of a Showgirl,” on Oct. 3.

B: The pop diva’s dominating the Billboard charts once again.

A: Earlier this year, she also successfully bought back the master recordings to her first six albums.

B: And the good news keeps coming, as she and NFL superstar Travis Kelce announced their engagement not long ago.

A: Wow! It must be her lucky year.

A: 美國歌手泰勒絲10月3日終於推出第12張專輯︰《The Life of a Showgirl》。

B: 流行天后又再次稱霸《告示牌》排行榜。

A: 今年稍早時，她還成功買回了她自己前6張專輯的錄音母帶。

B: 而喜事連連，她和美式足球巨星凱爾西近日宣布他們訂婚了。

A: 哇今年真是她的幸運年！

（By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）

taiwan-subdivisions: 和美 成功


title: Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold 使用心得：摺得更順、更久、更聰明的日常夥伴

content_text:
在捷運上滑手機、回家展開當平板看劇、睡前再折起放在床頭充電，這樣的使用節奏，對摺疊手機來說已經不再是未來想像，Google 新推出的 Pixel 10 Pro Fold 延續上一代的設計風格與實用性，升級更順暢的轉軸手感、更明亮的螢幕，以及更強大的 AI 應用體驗，它仍是一台能在「手機」與「平板」之間自由轉換的裝置，但這一次，Google 讓摺疊的過程更安靜、更耐用，整體體驗也更聰明。

外觀設計：俐落中帶著細節的進化Pixel 10 Pro Fold 延續了前一代簡約俐落的外型線條，整體尺寸變化不大，但細節上更顯成熟，機身背蓋改採航太級鋁合金材質，金屬邊框的質感提升不少，拿在手上滑順且不易沾指紋，機身顏色僅有月岩灰色一色，霧面質感帶著一點金屬反光，低調卻耐看。

轉軸部分是這次最大的硬體升級之一，Pixel 10 Pro Fold 採用了全新的「無齒輪轉軸」設計，摺疊時阻尼感均勻且穩定，官方表示耐用度比上一代提升兩倍，預估能夠承受長達十年以上的日常摺疊使用，實際使用中，即使頻繁開闔，也能感受到轉軸結構的紮實與順暢，閉合時螢幕幾乎沒有縫隙，開啟後的摺痕對比上一代變得更輕微。

機身厚度與重量控制雖然比不上三星 Galaxy Z Fold 7 或是 vivo X Fold 5 那般超薄水準，但展開後僅約 5.2mm 厚，闔起後則接近一般旗艦手機的厚度，不過重量達到 258 克這點需要一點時間習慣，比較加分的是 Pixel 10 Pro Fold 是目前全球首款具備 IP68 防水防塵等級的摺疊手機，有了與一般旗艦機相同的最高防護力，遇到潑水或灰塵都能更加安心。

▲ 頂部有喇叭和 SIM 卡槽，USB-C 設計在底部。

▲ 官方有推出同色系的保護套。

螢幕升級：亮度、比例與沉浸感Pixel 10 Pro Fold 的外螢幕由 6.3 吋升級為 6.4 吋，比例維持接近 20:9，單手操作依舊順手，這樣的尺寸設定，讓它在摺疊狀態下幾乎就像一支一般的 Pixel 手機，可以直接回訊息、滑社群或拍照，不需要展開也能完成多數操作。

展開後，內螢幕是 8 吋 Super Actua Flex Display，可視範圍更寬，畫面比例接近正方形，可惜邊框還是稍微偏寬，如果能做到更窄邊框會更好看，螢幕峰值亮度最大提升至 3000 尼特，對比上一代的 2700 尼特，戶外使用時的可視性更好，螢幕採用超薄玻璃與雙層抗衝擊薄膜結構，增加耐用性。

不論是追劇還是編輯文件，這塊螢幕表現都還不錯，特別在看 Netflix 或 Disney+ 時，畫面亮度與對比度表現相當均衡，展開後更能感受到摺疊裝置在影音體驗上的優勢。Google 也與多個 Android 開發者合作，優化了摺疊機的排版，例如 Netflix、Disney+、Google Meet 都能在展開螢幕時自動調整 UI。

AI 與 Tensor G5Pixel 10 Pro Fold 採用全新的 Tensor G5 自研晶片，與 Pixel 10 系列相同，主打更快的 AI 運算效能與能效表現，透過跑分軟體測試，CPU 速度有所升級，不過 GPU 表現較普通，測試出來的成績和先前測 Pixel 10 Pro XL 時差不多，實際使用上，系統反應和上一代差不多順暢，日常使用（如果不玩大型遊戲的話）幾乎不太會遇到延遲，散熱控制也更穩定。

AI 功能依舊是 Pixel 系列的亮點，從 Gemini Live，再到拍攝時的完美合照與拍照指導，整體操作流暢，生成速度更快，特別是 Gemini Live，在 Fold 的大螢幕上使用時，可以同時顯示對話與建議內容，視覺體驗比一般手機更直觀。此外，Pixel 10 Pro Fold 也支援即時語音翻譯與雙螢幕即時轉錄（Live Transcribe），可將收音結果同步顯示於對側螢幕，非常適合會議記錄或聽障者使用。

Pixel 10 Pro Fold 配備 5,015mAh 大電池，續航表現還算不錯，若以中度使用（收發訊息、拍照、看影片、導航等）為主，一天結束後仍可保留約 35% 電量，充電除了有線充電之外，支援新的 Pixelsnap 磁吸技術，讓摺疊手機在使用 Qi2 無線充電時更穩固。

相機表現：摺疊機也能拍得專業Pixel 10 Pro Fold 延續三鏡頭配置，但升級感光元件，主鏡頭為 4800 萬畫素廣角鏡，搭配 1200 萬畫素超廣角與 1080 萬畫素五倍望遠鏡頭，支援 20 倍的高解析變焦與微距對焦，整體成像細節比上一代更乾淨，夜拍時噪點控制也更出色。

摺疊結構讓拍照方式更有彈性，利用外螢幕的「即時查看」功能，可以在使用主鏡頭自拍時看到預覽畫面，構圖更準確，把手機摺成約 90 度，則可啟用「自由拍攝模式」，放在桌上即可進行團體自拍或縮時拍攝。

Google 在拍攝功能中也導入更多 AI 元素，如「看過來」功能可在外螢幕顯示動畫吸引孩童注意、「魔術修圖」能快速清除背景干擾，整體相機體驗依舊維持 Pixel 一貫的自然色調與高動態範圍。

主鏡頭實拍

長焦鏡頭實拍 ▲ 5x 變焦拍攝。

▲ 5x 變焦拍攝。

▲ 20 倍變焦拍攝

▲ 10x 變焦拍攝。

▲ 20 倍變焦拍攝

小結整體來說，Pixel 10 Pro Fold 在外型設計維持了一貫的質感風格，透過全新的無齒輪轉軸和 IP68 防水防塵等級，減少使用者對於摺疊機耐用性的擔憂。

硬體方面，雖然 Tensor G5 晶片的表現還有進步空間，不過完整且流暢的 AI 操作仍然在 Pixel 10 Pro Fold 上可以體驗到，而電池續航力的提升和支援 Qi2 磁吸無線快充的加入，也讓日常使用的便利性加分。

對於想體驗 Google 生態系與原生 AI 整合的用戶來說，Pixel 10 Pro Fold 是目前最完整的選擇之一。


content_text:
男星顏正國罹患肺腺癌病逝，靈堂遭不肖份子偷拍。（資料照，記者王文麟攝）

〔記者馮亦寧／台北報導〕童星出道的男星顏正國7日驚傳因肺腺癌病逝，享年50歲。摯友「鋼鐵爸」阮橋本代表親屬出面證實噩耗，並表示會代為操辦後事，昨（8）日已陸續有親友至靈堂致意，與顏正國親如兄弟的鋼鐵爸深夜怒發文，斥責有心人士竟跑到靈堂偷拍照片，還上傳至臉書蹭流量，行為令人不恥，鋼鐵爸更憤怒表示：我真的不懂，阿國人都走了，為何還要蹭阿國的流量。

鋼鐵爸深夜發文，表示「我真的不懂，阿國人都走了，為何還要蹭阿國的流量，甚至跑來阿國的靈堂偷拍阿國靈堂照Po到自己的臉書來蹭流量」。他怒斥顏正國的家人都還沉浸在悲傷之中，尚未準備好公布靈堂照，怒問偷拍者這種做法對嗎？更撂下重話說：「你這種心態真是要不得」。

顏正國情同兄弟的摯友鋼鐵爸出面嚴斥偷拍者蹭流量。（翻攝自臉書）

與顏正國相識十餘年且感情深厚的鋼鐵爸嚴肅道：「阿國跟你很熟嘛（嗎）？就算很熟，你也不應該用偷拍靈堂方式來蹭流量，你這種行為真是令人髮質（指）！非常要不得的行為啊！我鄙視你這種人」。

鋼鐵爸在憤怒之餘，也不忘喊話「做人剛好就好」，他認為顏正國的家人已經很傷心了，有心人竟然還在玩流量，他沉重表示「我鄭重再告訴喜歡蹭流量的人，阿國的家人沒同意，你再把阿國的靈堂Po到自己的臉書蹭流量，我一定公布你的臉書」。

title: 顏正國靈堂遭偷拍 摯友鋼鐵爸氣炸發文怒轟


countries: 美國 阿富汗

title: 金價創新高　分析：投資人對美國信任減弱

content_text:
〔中央社〕黃金通常在動盪時期被視為避險資產的，但金價現卻在美股屢創新高之際暴漲。這種罕見現象令部分市場人士感到不安。

Axios新聞網報導，分析人士指黃金的漲勢反映投資人試圖分散風險、遠離以美元計價的資產，因對美國的信任正在逐漸削弱。

黃金期貨價格7日首次飆破每盎司4000美元創史上新高，有望創下自1979年以來的最佳年度表現。1979年當時經歷兩位數通膨、中東石油危機和蘇聯入侵阿富汗。

截至目前，今年金價已上漲51%。

前債券基金公司PIMCO執行長、現任劍橋大學皇后學院（Queen's College,Cambridge）主席艾伊里安（Mohamed El-Erian）告訴Axios：「投資人仍願意做多美國企業，但同時也想在這團亂局做空。」

關注貴金屬的投資管理公司Sprott，資深管理合夥人麥金泰爾（Ryan McIntrye）指「人們開始對制度失去信任」，金價上漲正反映出人們正「重新評估他們眼中何為安全」。

當前的黃金價格漲勢，時值美國總統川普的貿易戰，以及目前美國聯邦政府關門、兩黨不見妥協之際。

艾伊里安說：「對他國而言，我們正在把經濟政策的工具武器化。」還說令人擔憂的是隨時間推進，黃金的持續上漲可能逐漸顯示人們對「美國例外論」的動搖。

而在金價與美股齊漲之際，美元今年以來相對其他主要貨幣的匯率已下跌超過9%。

Axios認為，這表明投資人既想藉美國企業的韌性獲利，卻又不願承擔對冲基金Citadel執行長葛里芬（Ken Griffin）所稱的「主權風險」。葛里芬認為人們正在尋找有效去美元化的方法，或降低投資組合中對於美國主權的相對風險。

葛里芬表示，投資人為了「去美元化」而轉向黃金的現象令人擔憂，因為這反映出市場對全球主要儲備貨幣美元的信心正在動搖。（編譯：陳亦偉）1141009

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免費訂閱《自由體育》電子報熱門賽事、球星動態不漏接


title: 金價創新高　分析：投資人對美國信任減弱


title: 顏正國靈堂遭偷拍 摯友鋼鐵爸氣炸發文怒轟


content_text:
大陸乘聯會秘書長崔東樹7日表示，2025年中國汽車經銷商面臨前所未有的壓力，新車銷售出現大幅度虧損，流動資金緊張，並呈現「賣得愈多虧得愈多」的困境，亟需相關部門推出階段性金融紓困措施以穩定市場。

崔東樹7日在微信公眾號發出題為「2025年中國汽車經銷商急需政策支持」的文章指，當前大陸汽車經銷商的新車銷售出現大幅度虧損，普遍存在現金流赤字經營和資金鏈斷裂風險加劇的情況，已難擺脫生存的困境。

崔東樹指，現階段面臨的兩大主要問題：一是消費不振和廠商批發量的雙重壓力，使得經銷商庫存維持高位，為降低資金壓力和融資成本，經銷商被迫低價拋售求生；二是「價格戰」使得進銷倒掛嚴重，經銷商賣得愈多虧得愈多，同時又面臨融資到期履約困難壓力，經銷商面臨經營回款斷流，資金鏈斷裂風險陡增。目前經銷商現有流動資金維持時間已壓縮至極限。

崔東樹提到，大陸經銷商銷售毛利偏低，市場競爭激烈，二手車獲利尚未有效提升，行業生存狀態亟待改善。傳統燃油車市場持續萎縮，而新能源汽車滲透率已突破55%，行業生態正經歷重構，新能源轉型已成為經銷商能否盈利的關鍵。

他說，今年新能源品牌經銷商盈利占比為42.9%，而傳統燃油車經銷商虧損比率高達58.6%。2019年以來，中國經銷商淨利潤率由2%降至-2%，去年降至零水準，多家主要經銷商如永達、美東、正通今年出現虧損。

針對經銷商困境，崔東樹呼籲相關部門盡快推出階段性金融紓困政策，包括開展汽車經銷領域金融環境專項調研，梳理百強經銷商集團及中小經銷商的金融需求，引導金融機構在風險可控前提下加大支持力度；同時，對現有貸款進行靈活展期與延續，逐步增加授信額度並拓寬貸款使用範圍；鼓勵政策性銀行設立專項授信政策，支持消費者購車充分使用貸款貼息政策，以穩定市場、改善經銷商現金流狀況。

崔東樹強調，中國汽車經銷商正面臨結構性震盪，毛利下降壓力明顯，二手車盈利尚未有效提升。金融支持和政策引導將成為維持市場穩定及行業健康發展的關鍵，相關措施若能及時落實，將有助緩解經銷商的資金壓力，並推動市場平穩運行。

title: 陸車企愈賣愈虧 專家：急需政策支持


title: 陸猛推470政策救房市 外資不樂觀

content_text:
大陸調研機構中指研究院監測，2025年前三季大陸全國有約200個省市（縣）推出政策超470條，第3季推出政策超120條，目前多數城市已全面放開限制性政策。近期地方政策優化方向主要圍繞激活需求、優化供給兩方面。陸連假期間，包括湖北、廣州與深圳等地皆現銷量升溫、看房訪客增多訊息。但此前大摩認為，預計大陸第4季銷售將續疲弱，主因民眾情緒惡化、庫存增加及政策力度有限。

大陸中央政府針對房市立下「止跌回穩」主基調，而房市調控持續以因城施策為主，9月底至10月初，武漢、重慶、合肥等地接連發布樓市新政。比如重慶1日以「房票安置+需求分層」為核心推出系列舉措；武漢則在節前發布「漢八條」，聚焦商辦激活與金融支持；合肥也推出十項政策，側重供給優化與長效發展。上海易居房地產研究院副院長嚴躍進表示，這些創新舉措從不同層面改善市場供需關係。

中指研究院相關負責人表示，整體來看，第3季政策方向更加聚焦，通過公積金與補貼政策精細化刺激需求，同時通過創新手段加速存量出清。疊加後續政策支持預期，房地產市場有望繼續保持止跌回穩態勢。

克而瑞數據顯示，2025年9月，百強房企單月實現操盤口徑銷售金額人民幣2528億元，年增0.4%，月增22.2%；中指研究院統計，前九個月，百強房企銷售總額為人民幣2.6兆元，年減12.2%，降幅較1至8月收窄1.1個百分點。

然而，外資機構對於大陸房市展望仍偏保守。摩根史丹利（大摩）9月發布報告指出，從高頻房地產銷售數據顯示，近期年比年降幅擴大，而二級市場的掛牌價格降低及高掛牌量，表明大陸居民情緒在交易量減少的情況下轉趨謹慎。考慮到近幾個月房價下降趨勢穩定，及房地產市場在推動經濟增長中的作用減弱，重申大陸全國性房市政策的增量支持將保持有限。並估未來數月房地產銷售將有更大幅的按年下降。


content_text:
中共二十屆四中全會將於10月20至23日召開，主要研究制定「十五五」規畫（2026至2030年）的建議。瑞銀預計，中國大陸將在「十五五」規畫中將GDP增速目標定在4.5%至5%。

彭博引述瑞銀投資銀行高級中國經濟學家張寧在報告中稱，這一較低的增速目標仍具雄心，預計「十五五」規畫將提出進一步向外資開放服務業，重點領域包括電訊、醫療健康、教育、養老、文化和旅遊、體育以及金融，同時推動中國企業在全球擴張。張寧預計，中國大陸將維持其雄心勃勃的減碳目標，新規畫可能把非石化能源在能源消費總量中的占比目標提高至25%，高於2024年約20%的水準。

報告預估大陸政府還將擴大直接稅的運用，拓寬個人所得稅稅基，將資本利得和資產相關收入納入個稅徵收，著手解決地方政府收入與支出責任之間的財政錯配。

預料大陸官方將繼續向基礎研究和前沿研究，及面臨技術瓶頸的領域配置資源，重點方向或包括新一代訊息技術、人工智慧及其應用、航空航天、新能源、新材料、高端裝備、生物醫藥、量子技術等的數位化升級；同時可能力爭到2030年將數位經濟核心產業在GDP中的占比提高至13%或以上。

title: 陸「十五五」GDP目標 瑞銀估4.5~5%


content_text:
大陸十一中秋假期，重慶一家名為「心鑫知我心」的療癒空間人氣十足。民眾進店點杯咖啡、茶飲，或與三兩好友談天說地，或在定製化的「療癒沙龍」學習充電，放慢腳步感受愜意時光。 中新社報導，據療癒空間負責人胡學華介紹，自今年8月末開業以來，空間定期舉辦沙龍活動，邀請兩岸多領域專家學者做主題分享。

胡學華是來自台北的教育從業者，入行近30年，曾擔任台灣一家上市教育集團CEO。2019年，她到大陸尋找發展機遇，在重慶創辦「語真童趣」教育機構，聚焦幼兒銜接教育，引進台灣教育理念，助力快樂學習。

胡學華說，打造療癒空間的構想始於2024年，初衷是為有需要的人搭建一個認識自己、緩解焦慮的平台，從而幫助人們更好地生活。「於我而言，這是在老本行裡的新實踐。療癒空間的本質脫胎於教育，只是以更多元的方式呈現」。

哪些人有療癒需求？胡學華認為目標客群四大類：即將踏入職場的學生、全職太太或寶媽群體、奮鬥期的商務人士、退休的老年人。他們對實現自我價值、追求事業轉型、尋得社會認同感等，有迷茫與期待。空間圍繞共享、共學、共贏理念率先推出療癒沙龍，開設心理諮詢課、生活美學課、家庭教育學、財富心理學等課程。

「交流是實現療癒的關鍵。」胡學華倡導，參與者除了在課程中收獲知識，更要分享觀點、釋放情緒。她計畫引入更多兩岸專家資源，推陳出新沙龍主題。

title: 台人重慶逐夢 打造療癒共學空間


title: 上海旅遊節 帶動消費逾3千億人民幣

content_text:
第36屆上海旅遊節6日閉幕。為期90多天的活動創新採「一節兩季」模式，遊客「流量」與消費「留量」齊升，累計拉動「吃住行遊購娛」旅遊消費額超過3000億元（人民幣，下同）。

新華社報導，據上海旅遊大數據測算，自7月5日至8月31日的「暑期旅遊季」期間，上海接待遊客9698.37萬人次，同比增長1.54%；實現旅遊消費交易總金額1524億元，同比增長27%；賓館酒店客房出租率71.6%，同比增長2個百分點。

伴隨上海樂高樂園暑期開園，上海文旅「流量入口」持續「上新」。據統計，今年暑期上海樂高樂園接待遊客超過60萬人次，單日峰值1.5萬人次，也帶動方圓5公里內的酒店平均出租率超過90%。

9月1日至10月6日的「經典活動季」期間，上海接待遊客6581.64萬人次，同比增長4.26%；實現旅遊消費交易總金額1608億元，同比增長10.6%；賓館酒店客房出租率為67%，較去年同期增長5個百分點。

9月經典活動「半價惠民周」期間，上海野生動物園、東方明珠廣播電視塔等60餘家景區推出門票優惠活動。攜程集團數據顯示，上海這一周門票預訂用戶數量、消費金額均同比增長超過五成。

今年上海旅遊節「邂逅」十一、中秋長假。徐匯區「唐韻中秋」、金山區「朱涇花燈會」、嘉定區「南翔國潮大會」、松江區「秋季尋根十八遊」等各區品牌活動，讓民眾在文旅商體展多元融合場景中，感受傳統文化煥發新生。上海迪士尼樂園、上海樂高樂園、上海海昌海洋公園、上海歡樂谷等主題樂園推出豐富活動，持續迎來客流高峰。


title: 陸「十五五」GDP目標 瑞銀估4.5~5%


title: 上海旅遊節 帶動消費逾3千億人民幣


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美拋台美晶片製造「五五分」，經濟部長龔明鑫表示，比例上不會有這種情況，目前赴美投資主導權在台積電，最先進製程及最大生產量會落腳台灣，台灣廠仍最賺錢。立委也關注我方有意助美建立「類科學園區」，他則以輝達在台設立研發中心為例，強調這是「能量延伸」。

美國商務部長盧特尼克拋出「五五分」構想，我國主責關稅談判的行政院副院長鄭麗君否認，稱「不會答應這樣的條件」。

龔明鑫昨在立法院受訪指出，以現在布局來看，台積電預估赴美投資一六五○億美元，包括六個先進製程廠，但光是台灣布局，已對外透露的廠區超過十幾座，未來可能更多，「比例上來講，不會有台美五五分」。

能否談出比五五分更好條件，龔明鑫表示，別忘了台積電在美投資是獨資，台積電母公司立足台灣，最先進製程仍會根留；以量來說，多數都會在台灣生產，從過去經驗跟未來預期，台灣廠仍是最賺錢的廠。

對於台積電赴美國、日本、德國等投資，政府是否支持？龔明鑫說，政府的態度是，哪個地方有訂單可賺錢，對國家安全無虞、對產業有幫助，政府會提供行政協助，也可以透過政府與對方政府接洽，爭取優惠或稅額協助。

國民黨立委林思銘質詢，在美國建類科學園區，是否「肥美國，瘦台灣」，把產業送過去？龔明鑫回應，「這是我們的能量的延伸」，台灣力量會更大，這很像輝達為何要在台灣設研發中心。

🏠 udn房地產・推薦新聞

進駐北士科卡關...北市府提T12+整合私地主有戲？輝達反應曝光    北市提「B計畫」拚留住輝達 將推薦北士科T12與周邊私人地     輝達進駐北士科 她點破三角關係難解：誰付140億當冤大頭?     中古屋代售量3個月大降兩成！網分析：不是崩…是屋主「不爽賣」    他憂信貸會影響房貸 網見「1條件」直言：影響不大

title: 龔明鑫：助美建類科學園區 台灣量能延伸

people: 林思銘 鄭麗君

countries: 台灣 德國 日本 美國


title: 銀樓爆搶金潮…有人扛逾300萬現金 買1公斤金塊

taiwan-subdivisions: 高雄 新北 板橋

content_text:
國際金價屢創新高，新北板橋金進峰珠寶店鍾姓業者表示，店內業績比過去激增兩、三倍，近日最大一筆是一名四十多歲男子扛著三百多萬現金買一公斤的金塊，對方表示因身上有閒錢，買點黃金來保值。

目前國內金價已來到每錢一萬四千六百元到一萬五千元，買盤強勁。國內知名黃金盤商「王鼎貴金屬」說，昨天買氣熱絡，應接不暇，買、賣方約八比二。顯示多數客戶看漲後勢，前天到昨天一錢黃金就漲兩百元，未來應該還有上漲空間。

王鼎貴金屬表示，金價波動沒個準，沒人預期得到會衝高，建議如果手中有閒錢的民眾，或可存一些黃金。

鍾姓業者說，近日金價猛漲，民眾預期心理也帶動業績上揚，觀察買黃金的年長者多半是為了安全感而買，甚至還有人表示因現在兩岸關係有點緊張，深怕中共打過來，帶著黃金比較好跑路。至於較年輕的買家則是傾向保值而買。

另一名珠寶店呂老闆說，有些人看好黃金漲幅，因為覺得錢放銀行利息太低，還不如買黃金，長輩族群下手的金額比較高，年輕人則是受限於薪資不高，想買但買不多，比如會買近年流行的金豆豆當成儲蓄。

高雄三多商圈銀樓業者劉又甄說，有的投資客選擇「以金換金」，有男性客戶原已有一至二兩金飾，昨就加價換購更大金條當做「存金」。年輕族群多數買小金豆、吞金獸、仙人掌等造型飾金，兼具佩戴與投資功能。

相較於民眾近日搶發黃金財，我中央銀行長期奉行「黃金不買、不賣」原則，持有多年未動，維持四二二點七公噸的水準，以金價每盎司四千美元計算，市值約五四三億美元（約台幣一點七四兆元）。央行的黃金大多在上世紀八○年代購入、每盎司成本約四百美元，帳面增值約四八九億美元，足足翻了十倍。

🏠 udn房地產・推薦新聞

進駐北士科卡關...北市府提T12+整合私地主有戲？輝達反應曝光    北市提「B計畫」拚留住輝達 將推薦北士科T12與周邊私人地     輝達進駐北士科 她點破三角關係難解：誰付140億當冤大頭?     中古屋代售量3個月大降兩成！網分析：不是崩…是屋主「不爽賣」    他憂信貸會影響房貸 網見「1條件」直言：影響不大


title: 金價首度攻上4千美元 95%央行想增持

countries: 台灣 美國

content_text:
國際金價屢創新高，現貨黃金價格昨天盤中首度突破每盎司四千美元大關，創下新高，最高來到四○四九美元價位。台灣銀行貴金屬部經理楊天立指出，通膨隱憂、美國政府債務增加、地緣政治、美國聯邦政府關門等問題，帶動避險資金湧入金市；儘管金價趨勢仍是往上，但短線漲幅已大，要注意何時拉回或是盤整。

全球政經不確定因素多 避險資金湧入

Saxo Capital Markets策略師查娜娜表示，「黃金突破四千美元不僅是因為恐懼，更反映資金重新配置。隨著美國經濟數據暫停公布、公債利率走低及降息在望，實質收益率正在下降，而受ＡＩ炒作的股市看起來已經過熱。這波漲勢的基礎由央行奠定，但現在由散戶與ＥＴＦ（指數股票型基金）推動下一階段。」

世界黃金協會（ＷＧＣ）六月中公布一項針對全球七十三間央行的調查顯示，近四分之三的受訪者預期美元儲備將在五年後下降，較去年的百分之六十二明顯增加；另有創紀錄的百分之九十五受訪央行預期未來十二個月內將增持黃金，高於去年的百分之八十一。

ＷＧＣ指出，黃金在危機時期的穩定表現、投資組合多元化效益以及對抗通膨功能，是推動各國央行計畫增持黃金的主因；此外，過去三年各國央行每年合計購買黃金超過一千公噸，遠高於前十年平均每年四百至五百公噸水準，「在地緣政治與經濟不確定性升高背景下，黃金累積速度加快尤為顯著」。

專家：金價趨勢向上 但短線漲幅大

各國央行增持黃金為金價走勢添柴火，楊天立說，金價已經漲很多了，尤其現在內含的風險貼水來到一倍以上，已開始發生民眾擔心錯失行情的「短線追高」現象，以致於短線高點會漲到什麼程度難以預測，甚至何時會回檔整理或橫向整理也更難預期，金價趨勢仍是往上，但短線漲幅已大，要注意何時拉回或盤整。

楊天立建議投資人，若是作長趨勢布局，就算短線回檔仍可進場，若此時進場是想短線撈一票就賣出走人，就要有風險自負的認知。

對於這波黃金交易熱潮，楊天立說，國內民眾的反應其實慢於國際投資者，例如觀察八月至十月，金價早在八月已升破很多線型指標，國際市場在八月的交易已顯著增加，但台灣市場在八月成交量反而萎縮，而且賣方大於買方，真正有明顯的買盤出來，反而是等到九月中下旬，當時金價已到三千七百、三千八百美元價位，若以九月中下旬迄今，成交量約較八月增加一倍，而且黃金存摺增加得比現貨更多。

但也有專家警告，金價正進入「融漲」（meltup）階段。美銀分析師齊安納指出，國際金價已連漲七周，一九七○年來只發生過十八次，如今潛在問題正在浮現，首先，根據歷史數據，漫長的連漲後，持續走高的機率僅百分之廿八；其次，目前金價比兩百日簡單移動均線高出百分之廿，逼近過去約百分之廿五即見頂的關鍵水準；最後，十四個月相對強弱指標（ＲＳＩ）顯示，黃金已處於嚴重超買狀態。

億萬富豪投資人、全球最大避險基金橋水創辦人達里歐七日表示，「黃金是非常優秀的投資組合分散化工具。如果僅從戰略資產配置的角度來看，最優組合大概會是把約百分之十五的投資組合配置在黃金。」他說，在政府債負上升、地緣政治緊張以及法定貨幣穩定性的信心遭侵蝕之際，他將黃金視為強有力的保值工具。

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title: 避險升溫…金價衝破4,000美元 一度飆4,049美元新高

content_text:
現貨黃金價格8日盤中首度突破每英兩4,000美元大關，創下新高，由於市場對美國經濟及政府關門的擔憂加劇，導致避險情緒升溫，再度為這波黃金漲勢添加柴火。

現貨金價8日盤中一度漲1.6%，報每英兩4,049.64美元。這對黃金而言是個里程碑，兩年前價格還不到2,000美元。紐約12月交割的黃金期貨7日已收4,000美元之上，8日盤中再漲0.96%，報每英兩4,072美元。

現貨金價走勢現貨黃金的主要市場是倫敦場外（OTC）市場，該市場是全球定價的指標。

今年來，金價已飆升逾50%，主要受到全球貿易不確定性、美國聯準會（Fed）獨立性及美國財政穩定性的疑慮推動。同時，地緣政治緊張局勢也刺激了避險資產需求，而各國央行則持續大買黃金。

此外，聯準會啟動降息，也進一步有利黃金走勢。投資人紛紛湧入黃金ETF，使得黃金ETF在9月寫下逾三年來最大單月資金流入。

Saxo資本市場策略師查娜娜表示：「黃金突破4,000美元不僅是因為恐懼，更反映資金重新配置。隨著經濟數據暫停公布、公債利率走低及降息在望，實質收益率正在下降，而受AI炒作的股市看起來已經過熱。這波漲勢的基礎由央行奠定，但現在由散戶與ETF推動下一階段。」

但也有專家警告，金價正進入「融漲」（meltup）階段。美國銀行（BofA）分析師團隊也提醒，這波已延續數周的漲勢正顯現脆弱，面臨回檔風險。

今年來，投資人因貨幣貶值、經濟不確定性和地緣政治逆風等因素，紛紛湧向這種避險資產。High Yield經濟學家公司創辦人歐特曼說，「金價上漲是對美國和其他主要經濟體面臨通膨與貨幣貶值雙重風險的直接回應。自金融海嘯以來，全球各國政府累積了龐大債務，使金價表現持續優異。」

億萬富豪投資人、全球最大避險基金橋水（Bridgewater）創辦人達里歐（Ray Dalio）表示，黃金「肯定」比美元更具避風港作用，目前價格的創紀錄漲勢與1970年代的情況類似，當時黃金在高通膨和經濟不穩定的背景下飆升。

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title: 銀樓黃金牌價每錢站上15,170元

content_text:
金價持續飆漲，臺銀黃金存摺昨（8）日收盤寫下每公克3,986元新高，距4,000元近在咫尺。銀樓黃金牌價則正式突破15,000元大關，來到每錢15,170元。

據悉，近期民眾在銀樓的黃金「賣出量明顯高出買進量」，不過，指標行庫的黃金存摺則是「買進量略大於賣出」，顯示投資人追價意願高，與實體黃金市場不同調。

隨國際金價不斷寫歷史，昨日臺銀黃金存摺牌價開盤後節節上升，最終收盤在最高點每公克3,986元。至於台北市銀樓黃金牌價來到每錢15,170元新天價，較前一日上漲180元。

資深銀樓業者透露，近日買進的客人多數金額在5萬以內，但拿家中黃金來賣的動輒六、七十萬，最高紀錄拿逾3公斤金條、入袋千萬現金。坦言在黃金天價的此刻，需要維持大量現金流是一大挑戰。

由於金價高漲，現在維持高檔現金流很重要，畢竟民眾賣黃金多數屬意現金，有時業者甚至需要用房子原屋融資調度資金。

此外，白銀今年漲勢更驚人，年內大漲近七成，價格直逼50美元，然Metals Focus警告高價可能壓縮工業需求，特別是太陽能產業正加速降低用銀量，根據白銀協會年度《世界白銀調查》，太陽能產業今年預計消耗1.957億公噸白銀，較2024年的歷史高點下降1%。儘管如此，市場供應赤字仍高達1.876億英兩，投資買盤持續湧入，基本面支撐依舊穩固。

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title: 黃仁勳：AI模型能力提升 推動運算需求大增

countries: 中國 美國

content_text:
美國人工智慧（AI）晶片大廠輝達（Nvidia）執行長黃仁勳今天表示，隨著AI模型從回答簡單問題，進一步發展到複雜推理，今年對運算能力的需求「大幅增加」。

黃仁勳接受美國財經媒體CNBC節目Squawk Box專訪時指出：「今年，特別是過去六個月，運算需求大幅增加。」

他還說，AI推理模型使用的運算力呈指數式成長，同時需求也以相同速度攀升，「AI已變得足夠聰明，人人都想使用，我們現在同時經歷兩種指數式增長」。

黃仁勳提及，對於輝達最新一代圖形處理器（GPU）Blackwell的需求「相當高」，他認為「我們正處於新一輪建設與新工業革命的開端」。

CNBC問及美中AI競爭目前誰勝出，黃仁勳表示，現年美國在AI競賽中「並未遠遠領先」中國，中國在建設AI能源所需設施方面進展快許多，並在能源布局上領先許多。

根據CNBC，在黃仁勳發表這番談話後，輝達股價今天盤中上漲約2%，並推升那斯達克綜合指數走高。

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title: 銀樓爆搶金潮…有人扛逾300萬現金 買1公斤金塊


title: 黃仁勳：AI模型能力提升 推動運算需求大增


title: 金價首度攻上4千美元 95%央行想增持

countries: 美國 台灣


content_text:
輝達在北士科土地卡關，台北市長蔣萬安要排除障礙，但在賴清德總統出手、高雄市長陳其邁大動作爭取後，這一局不僅牽動中央和北市府競合，也形成北高等縣市長的政治角力，輝達落腳處，埋藏伏筆。

輝達坐落北士科Ｔ17、Ｔ18原本勢在必得，卻因新壽與北市府地上權解約未定，導致輝達、新壽ＭＯＵ上月底屆期，原案仍未拍板，台北市副市長李四川前天與輝達代表商談，提出北士科Ｔ12當備案，輝達也稱願意帶回研究，甚至也提出松山機場南側基地讓輝達選擇，全力維持「北市仍是首選」優勢。

北市提出Ｔ12備案，不無向新壽釋出兩大訊號：一、新壽非絕對首選，北市早已有備案給輝達選擇，且有能力以公私開發整合私地，未來還能排除新壽障礙，直接對口輝達，展現招商誠意。二、希望新壽在備案的壓力下，對於先前開出高達百億解約金，甚至要求北市修改契約讓新壽直接移轉土地予輝達等強勢作風能夠調整，原案Ｔ17、Ｔ18仍沒有完全滅失，公務員也不會有圖利財團風險。

對於Ｔ12私地整合難題，雖然李四川有信心整合，但輝達找經濟部另覓土地，也是在商言商，為輝達總部覓得「備案中的備案」。

賴總統下令出手後，中央若成功「拆彈」，即便輝達最後仍落腳北市，卻不是在北市提出的原案或備案，功勞恐被民進黨收割；更嚴重的是，輝達總部若「南漂」，不僅蔣萬安政治聲望受影響，也恐成為李四川挑戰新北市長的障礙，波及藍營明年雙北市長布局。蔣萬安今天赴議會施政報告，綠營議員肯定重兵伺候，在輝達這一題，蔣萬安和李四川已成命運共同體。

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people: 賴清德 蔣萬安 陳其邁


taiwan-subdivisions: 桃園 高雄 高雄市

people: 陳其邁 盧秀燕

title: 李四川說「輝達較喜歡北市」 高雄、桃園、台中都想爭取落腳

content_text:
輝達海外企業總部成為各縣市兵家必爭之地，外界質疑北市府「守不住」輝達？北市副市長李四川昨說，儘管輝達有請中央盤點符合土地，但台北市應該還是輝達比較喜歡的地點，因為ＡＩ產業鏈等都在北市，輝達員工也希望在北市上班，還有交通便利、沒有缺水缺電等問題，不管是員工上班、想要的區塊，大概都以台北市為主。

對於輝達的土地僵局，李四川說，與新壽的地上權契約就訂在那裡，如果Ｔ17、Ｔ18是素地當然好辦理，不過對公務員來說，有一個與新壽的地上權契約在哪裡，仍得依法辦理。

「亞洲新灣區已經準備好了。」高雄市長陳其邁說，輝達當初選擇台北，是考量下游伺服器與半導體廠商集中在北部，產業鏈具備地緣優勢，但高雄在經商環境、軟體人才、教育資源也具備相當條件，亞灣地區的新創公司、系統整合商、驗證場域正逐步成形，十分適合作為軟體與服務產業基地。

桃園市長張善政昨赴議會施政報告，張善政表示，輝達執著落腳台北，主因員工現居台北，也擔心子女就學問題，他說，有些事情只能做不能講，太早曝光恐讓事情破局，所以桃園會持續「鴨子划水」，不會公開講如何做。

台中市長盧秀燕昨晚表示，輝達總部涉及ＡＩ產業、國家級產業布局，台中市府有表達誠意；輝達進駐北市如破局，「台中該做的表達和聯繫都會有。」

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taiwan-subdivisions: 來義 屏東 屏東縣

content_text:
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屏東縣來義高中排灣族青年學生訪團一行12人近日抵達華府，其中共有9名學員，計畫8日晚間在雙橡園舉行的國慶酒會中獻聲表演；訪團訪問華府期間也安排多場快閃表演活動，繼日前在美國國會快閃之後，8日上午則在代表處前表演；訪團也預計9日在白宮前快閃獻唱。

訪團學員8日身著排灣族傳統服飾，在代表處前獻唱三首曲目，包括排灣族傳統歌曲，「海洋」和「我的未來不是夢」；我駐美代表俞大㵢則為他們加油鼓勵，希望他們作為國慶酒會的壓軸演出不要有壓力。

屏東縣來義高中排灣族青年學生訪團一行12人近日抵達華府，8日上午於我駐美代表處快閃，我駐美代表俞大㵢也與學員同樂。記者陳熙文／攝影屏東縣來義高中排灣族青年學生訪團一行12人近日抵達華府，其中共有9名學員，計畫8日晚間在雙橡園舉行的國慶酒會中獻聲表演。記者陳熙文／攝影屏東縣來義高中排灣族青年學生訪問華府，有年輕學員說她的夢想就是成為外交官，這次訪問美國更堅定她的志向。記者陳熙文／攝影【全球熱話題】

▪整理包／南韓15機場無限期罷工 班機影響、理賠、原因一次搞懂 ▪公司誤發330倍薪水！他爽領522萬「秒辭職」 雇主提告敗訴 ▪諾貝爾化學獎出爐！3學者共享殊榮 表彰「金屬有機骨架」貢獻 ▪AI取代誰？報告揭「科技業職位最危險Top 4」 這領域反而人才荒 ▪末日將至？富爸爸作者清崎：快增持「四種資產」美元儲戶是輸家


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前美國聯邦調查局（FBI）局長柯米9月底遭司法部起訴不實陳述及妨害國會調查。全案進入審理後今天首次開庭，柯米對兩項指控均不認罪。

64歲的柯米（James Comey）被起訴2020年在國會聽證時做不實陳述以及妨害國會的通俄案調查。

華爾街日報指出，總統川普上月在本案起訴時效將屆前，推動更換原承辦檢察官希伯特（ErikSiebert），並在社群媒體公然要司法部長邦迪（PamBondi）迅速起訴包括柯米在內他所認為的政敵。

希伯特被迫辭職後，川普任命前私人律師哈利根（Lindsey Halligan）為檢察官，哈利根上任幾天內便完成起訴。今天開庭時代表司法部的控方，則是她從北卡羅來納州帶來的檢察官團隊。

聯邦地院法官納馬諾夫（Michael S. Nachmanoff）庭訊後訂明年1月5日進入實質審理。今天約30分鐘庭訊裡柯米只發言一次，向由前總統拜登任命的納馬諾夫致謝。陪同柯米出庭者包括家人及女兒茂琳（Maurene Comey），她曾任紐約州聯邦檢察官，但7月被川普政府開除。

前聯邦檢察官費茲傑羅（Patrick Fitzgerald）擔任柯米的辯護律師。他表示將主張此案是「選擇性起訴」與「報復性起訴」，動機出於川普對柯米的敵意。費茲傑羅同時還將主張起訴無效，理由是哈利根的檢察官任命「不具合法效力」。

華盛頓郵報指出，檢方兩頁的起訴書指控柯米2020年對參議院司法委員會聽證時陳述不實，當時他否認授意向媒體洩漏資訊；另一指控是同一場聽證裡柯米涉嫌妨害國會調查程序。

華郵稱多年來川普一直將FBI調查俄羅斯介入2016年美國總統大選歸咎於柯米，這項通俄案調查幾乎糾纏他整個第一任。川普去年在競選時曾誓言，要報復曾在通俄案裡查過他的執法人員。司法部目前已針對多位川普眼中的政敵展開刑事調查，法律專家與退休法官們形容這是對法治前所未有的破壞。

【全球熱話題】

▪整理包／南韓15機場無限期罷工 班機影響、理賠、原因一次搞懂 ▪公司誤發330倍薪水！他爽領522萬「秒辭職」 雇主提告敗訴 ▪諾貝爾化學獎出爐！3學者共享殊榮 表彰「金屬有機骨架」貢獻 ▪AI取代誰？報告揭「科技業職位最危險Top 4」 這領域反而人才荒 ▪末日將至？富爸爸作者清崎：快增持「四種資產」美元儲戶是輸家

title: 遭川普政府起訴 前FBI局長柯米出庭拒認罪

countries: 俄羅斯 美國


title: 屏東來義高中學生快閃華府 獻唱傳遞台灣原民文化


title: 遭川普政府起訴 前FBI局長柯米出庭拒認罪

countries: 美國 俄羅斯


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美國聯邦調查局前局長科米被控向議員作出虛假陳述及妨礙國會程序的案件，科米否認控罪，案件將於明年1月5日開始審理。

案件當地星期三上午在弗吉尼亞州亞歷山德里亞市的聯邦法院提堂，法官向科米宣讀指控及被告的權利後，科米回應表示理解。

代表律師菲茨傑拉德提出不認罪抗辯，並表示計劃提出撤銷本案，理由是他的當事人因為批評總統特朗普而成為攻擊目標，檢方出於報復而提出起訴，而且負責案件的檢察官是被非法任命接手本案。

科米的案件最初由弗吉尼亞州東區聯邦檢察官西伯特負責，但他被指不願意起訴科米和紐約州檢察長詹姆斯，在特朗普的壓力下辭職，特朗普隨後任命哈利根接手。

title: FBI前局長科米否認向議員作虛假陳述及妨礙國會　明年初開審


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（中央社紐約8日綜合外電報導）黃金通常在動盪時期被視為避險資產的，但金價現卻在美股屢創新高之際暴漲。這種罕見現象令部分市場人士感到不安。

Axios新聞網報導，分析人士指黃金的漲勢反映投資人試圖分散風險、遠離以美元計價的資產，因對美國的信任正在逐漸削弱。

黃金期貨價格7日首次飆破每盎司4000美元創史上新高，有望創下自1979年以來的最佳年度表現。1979年當時經歷兩位數通膨、中東石油危機和蘇聯入侵阿富汗。

截至目前，今年金價已上漲51%。

前債券基金公司PIMCO執行長、現任劍橋大學皇后學院（Queen's College,Cambridge）主席艾伊里安（Mohamed El-Erian）告訴Axios：「投資人仍願意做多美國企業，但同時也想在這團亂局做空。」

關注貴金屬的投資管理公司Sprott，資深管理合夥人麥金泰爾（Ryan McIntrye）指「人們開始對制度失去信任」，金價上漲正反映出人們正「重新評估他們眼中何為安全」。

當前的黃金價格漲勢，時值美國總統川普的貿易戰，以及目前美國聯邦政府關門、兩黨不見妥協之際。

艾伊里安說：「對他國而言，我們正在把經濟政策的工具武器化。」還說令人擔憂的是隨時間推進，黃金的持續上漲可能逐漸顯示人們對「美國例外論」的動搖。

而在金價與美股齊漲之際，美元今年以來相對其他主要貨幣的匯率已下跌超過9%。

Axios認為，這表明投資人既想藉美國企業的韌性獲利，卻又不願承擔對沖基金Citadel執行長葛里芬（Ken Griffin）所稱的「主權風險」。葛里芬認為人們正在尋找有效去美元化的方法，或降低投資組合中對於美國主權的相對風險。

葛里芬表示，投資人為了「去美元化」而轉向黃金的現象令人擔憂，因為這反映出市場對全球主要儲備貨幣美元的信心正在動搖。（編譯：陳亦偉）1141009

title: 金價創新高 分析：投資人對美國信任減弱 | 國際