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Russo-Chinese relations are at the heart of “Cold War 2” just like they were with the original Cold War. The most famous book about the Bolshevik revolution is John Reed’s Ten Days that Shook the World. The next 10 days could be the equivalent for China. The world could see some pivotal changes soon as the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) fourth plenary session of the 20th congress is scheduled to be held next week from Monday to Thursday.

The current cold war sees the West fighting a combined Russia and China. In a nutshell, the Ukrainians are doing an amazing job keeping Russian President Vladimir Putin from taking additional territory in Europe. They are also attacking Russia’s oil infrastructure. The Russian economy is almost ready to crack.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that he might offer Ukraine US Tomahawk cruise missiles, which could ramp up military pressure on Russia. Putin is becoming increasingly dependent on Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to prop him and his failing strategy up.

Meanwhile, Trump is putting additional economic pressure on China. He just imposed an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods.

In a classic “pincer” movement, there is a robust US military threat against Russia and an equally strong economic one against China. Trump’s goal is clearly to tear the Russo-

Chinese alliance asunder.

The maneuver is putting particularly well-timed pressure on Xi. There is much speculation online about why Xi did not attend a North Korean 80th anniversary celebration and military parade. Was he afraid to leave the country? Perhaps fearful of being overthrown?

Nobody knows why Xi chose not to attend, but clearly something is going on. All the facts point to one important question: Will Xi’s power be challenged at the fourth plenary session of the CCP’s 20th congress?

Xi could be facing the possibility of ouster in a week’s time. His misguided support for Putin will certainly be the question of the hour. China must make a pivotal decision soon: continue to support Russia’s failing war against Ukraine, or seek to improve its economic relations with the US.

That makes the upcoming days the “10 days that shook the world.” Not just for China and Russia, but also for the US. The world could see some major “Cold War 2” changes soon.

Bruce Elleman, who was the William V. Pratt professor of international history at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, is retired.

title: Beijing has a pivotal decision to make


content_text: George Santayana wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”This article will help readers avoid repeating mistakes by examining four examples from the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces and the Republic of China (ROC) forces that involved two city sieges and two island invasions. The city sieges compared are Changchun (May to October 1948) and Beiping (November 1948 to January 1949, renamed Beijing after its capture), and attempts to invade Kinmen (October 1949) and Hainan (April 1950). Comparing and contrasting these examples, we can learn how Taiwan may prevent a war with

title: EDITORIAL CARTOON


content_text:
The Pakistani establishment has put together bespoke offers for the US and China that look too good to refuse

Pakistan’s leaders have worked out how to manage two rival superpowers in a way that seems to have escaped much more stable nations. They are promising the US a foothold in the economy that does not step on China’s — and vice versa. Their response to a multipolar world is to give every pole a stake.

In the past months, the nation’s vulnerability has been starkly visible. Monsoon floods damaged half the crops, killed 1,000 people and displaced millions. The government is still trying to persuade the IMF to release US$1.2 billion it needs to stay solvent.

Yet its leaders are managing to win friends and influence people. Last month, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Beijing and announced US$8.5 billion of new investment. Later that month, Pakistan signed a mutual defense agreement with Saudi Arabia that might extend Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella.

Islamabad is managing all this even while locking in gains with the US. Its dependence on China and renewed intimacy with Saudi Arabia has not put off Washington — quite the opposite. US President Donald Trump hosted Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir twice in the past few months.

How has the Pakistani establishment — run essentially by Munir and his soldiers, without whom Sharif could not stay in office — managed this? Partly though skillfully reassessing what a multipolar world actually looks like, and by putting together bespoke offers for possible partners that look too good to refuse.

For example, the US has reportedly been presented with a port to develop in the southwestern province of Balochistan — possibly as a route to the mineral resources in the interior that Islamabad has already promised the White House.

The offer is a physical manifestation of Pakistan’s developing “please-everybody” strategy. The fishing village in question, Pasni, is 110km from the Chinese-run Port of Gwadar, the southern terminus of Beijing’s ambitious corridor from the Arabian Sea to Xinjiang.

If, as official sources have confirmed, Pasni is to play “a vital role in transporting Pakistani minerals to partner countries,” then it appears that Munir and Sharif imagine two parallel tracks bisecting their country, one built for China and one serving the West.

There is real money in play, as well. Missouri-based US Strategic Metals has signed a US$500 million contract with an army-run company, the Frontier Works Organization. The Asian Development Bank has created a US$410 million financing package for Barrick Mining Corp’s Reko Diq mine, which is close to the Iranian border and 400km north of Pasni. International Finance Corp, a multilateral agency, is to add another US$400 million to try and develop one of the world’s largest remaining reserves of copper and gold.

Even if there is gold in Balochistan, getting it out of the ground is not the only challenge. Transporting it to the coast is harder. It is an inhospitable part of the world, as every outsider since Alexander has discovered — the conqueror’s most difficult days were near Pasni, where the Greeks suffered from “intolerable heat and the lack of food, water and firewood,” and lost most of his army’s families and transport animals to a flash flood.

The Baloch have always been restive under Islamabad’s yoke, and have killed almost 100 Chinese expatriates in the past few years. If the US truly intends to put down roots, it would have to deal with local opposition.

Officials might already be preparing for this: In August, the US Department of State added the Balochistan Liberation Army to its list of foreign terrorist organizations, something of a reversal from how Washington viewed the area a decade ago.

Islamabad might have failed for decades to create the sort of productive, dynamic economy that builds anything the world might want to buy, but that does not mean there is nothing left to sell. It can still slice off its sovereignty: Outsource fiscal policy to the IMF, share its nuclear umbrella with Saudi Arabia, mortgage its energy infrastructure to China and promise the US minerals that are still in the ground.

The strategy might have bought the Pakistani establishment another few years. Munir and Sharif must not waste it. They need to ensure the promised money gets spent, and the hoped-for rewards materialize. They must use the treasure and time they have deftly unearthed to stabilize the country’s creaking economy.

Mihir Sharma is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, he is author of Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy. 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.

title: Pakistan’s power move is to say yes to everyone


title: Government debt is a global problem

content_text:
Finance ministers and central bankers, gathering this week in Washington for the annual meetings of the IMF, face a global trading system in disarray, uncertainty over the US dollar’s standing and the likely course of interest rates, and financial markets that are (for now) unnervingly complacent.

Amid all these challenges, policymakers must pay particular attention to one more: Following years of neglect, public debt has emerged as an increasingly serious risk.

Five years ago, budget deficits soared worldwide because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns throttled economic activity and squeezed tax revenue, while public spending surged as governments tried to protect the most vulnerable. Deficits increased from 3.5 percent of global output in the year before the emergency to 9.5 percent in 2020.

No question, a strong fiscal response was necessary — but, as many argued at the time, it should have been reversed in due course. It was not. Even now, deficits are higher than they were in 2019.

Before the pandemic, government debt was 84 percent of global GDP. It currently stands at 95 percent. In country after country — including the US, the UK and most of the EU — it is on track to keep growing faster than output. By 2030, even if all goes well, the global debt ratio might surpass the level it surged to in 2020, when the fiscal emergency was at its worst.

Public debt, to be clear, is not bad in itself, and there is no fixed ceiling on how high it can safely go, but as it rises, so-called fiscal capacity shrinks, leaving governments less room to maneuver when the next crisis comes around. Eventually, a combination of protracted indiscipline, bad economic news and souring financial markets can dig countries into a hole so deep that the only way out is some form of debt default, either explicit or disguised by high inflation.

Attitudes shifted after the global recession of 2008, and they need to shift back again. Because the post-crash recovery was so sluggish, “austerity” — the effort to roll back the earlier stimulus — got a bad name. There was talk of “secular stagnation” as interest rates fell to historic lows, which were then thought to be permanent. Cheap money for years to come made bigger deficits affordable. Balance the budget? From now on, public borrowing would pay for itself.

The facts have changed, but the mindset persists. Most US policymakers have simply stopped caring about ever-rising debt. Elsewhere, governments might pay lip service to the need for discipline — in some cases adopting budget rules or creating “fiscal councils” to address the problem — but their actions have fallen short.

If long-term inflation-adjusted interest rates outpace economic growth and drift even higher, debt would keep trending upward and deficits would be ever harder to cut.

That is all too likely. In the US and Europe, aging populations are raising dependency ratios, pushing revenue down and social spending up. Governments are acknowledging the need for bigger defense outlays. New and better infrastructure is urgently required, including for the clean-energy transition. Coping with the next recession, to say nothing of the next pandemic, is a matter of when, not whether.

The only alternative to an eventual fiscal breakdown is to combine spending restraint with new revenue. First, policymakers must understand just how vulnerable their economies have become. It is way past time for them to rediscover budget discipline — and actually plan to do something about it.

The Bloomberg Editorial Board publishes the views of the editors across a range of national and global affairs.


title: Freeing Marwan Barghouti is a red line for Israel

content_text:
Hundreds of Palestinians were released from Israeli jails as part of an exchange at the heart of the ceasefire deal brokered between Hamas and Israel, but one was conspicuously absent: Marwan Barghouti, a prominent Palestinian leader who has been jailed for more than two decades.

The 66-year-old former Fatah commander is serving five life sentences after being convicted of involvement in attacks that killed Israelis during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which started in 2000 and lasted about five years.

Israel also accused him of founding the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a US-designated terrorist group that operated as the armed wing of Fatah before the movement announced its dissolution in 2007. He refused to recognize the court’s authority, saying it had no jurisdiction over him as a Palestinian living under occupation.

Barghouti’s name was top of a list that Hamas negotiators presented during talks to end the two-year Israel-Hamas war. However, Israel said he also acted as a liaison between late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and Fatah’s armed groups, allegedly overseeing the transfer of weapons, funds and orders for operations.

For right-wing politicians, setting him free is a “red line.”

For Palestinians, the decision is seen as a move not to “grant Hamas this victory, one that could empower a person capable of uniting everyone around him and offering a new political ambition for the Palestinian movement,” said Jehad Harb, head of the Ramallah-based Thabat Survey Research and Opinion Polls.

Barghouti is often described by supporters as the “Palestinian Mandela.”

Under the first phase of the ceasefire deal, Netanyahu’s government released about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and Hamas is releasing the remaining hostages it took on Oct. 7, 2023, when its fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people.

In Israel’s retaliatory war on the group — which ruled Gaza, and is considered a terrorist organization by the US and the EU — at least 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

The question of governance of the Palestinian Territories is one of the thorniest questions left to negotiate.

In August, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir posted footage on social media showing Barghouti in his prison cell. His frail, gaunt look sparked concern for his health. Palestinian rights groups said he has been held in solitary since the Oct. 7 attacks, and has been “brutally assaulted” by guards.

Barghouti’s political rise began in the 1980s during the first intifada, when he emerged as one of its most prominent young leaders. He was deported to Jordan by then-Israeli minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, returning years later to the West Bank — the larger of the two Palestinian Territories — where he was born.

He survived several assassination attempts, including an Israeli airstrike on his convoy near his office in Ramallah in 2001, and a year later was arrested then sentenced to prison.

Even from behind bars, Barghouti retained influence, issuing statements urging national unity and political reform. He was among the authors of the 2006 “Prisoners’ Document,” which sought to bridge internal divisions and reaffirm support for a two-state solution.

His ability to maintain ties across multiple factions made him a rare figure respected by both organizations, whose months-long fight ended in 2007 with Hamas taking over Gaza and Fatah leading the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

“It’s clear that Barghouti is one of the major Palestinian kingpins in Israel’s prisons now,” said Michael Milshtein, who directs Palestinian studies at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.

Referring to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Milshtein added that Barghouti is “very much looking to succeed Abu Mazen.”

“If he ends up contesting and winning an election from behind bars, it’ll be a cause of great consternation for Israel and in Ramallah,” Milshtein said. “Israel will face enormous pressure to release him, as he will be the Palestinian president. In Ramallah, meanwhile, there will be confusion as to how to administer power with the president in prison.”

With assistance from Fares Alghoul,Dan Williams and Fadwa Hodali


content_text:
TITLE CAMPAIGN: The victory sent the Monkeys to the Taiwan Series for the third time in the past four seasons as they seek their first championship since 2019

The stage is set for the Taiwan Series after the Rakuten Monkeys on Monday beat the Uni-President Lions 4-3 in Game 5 of the CPBL Challenger Series in Kaohsiung.

The Monkeys, who entered the top of the ninth scoreless, tied the game with a three-run blast by Lin Chih-ping and scored the winning run in the 10th on an RBI single by Lin Li, a three-time batting champion in the CPBL. Both players entered the game as pinch hitters.

“The coach told me to stay prepared as a pinch hitter in the later part of the game. My teammates had played really well over the last two games to give me some rest,” said Lin Chih-ping, a 40-year-old veteran who admitted feeling fatigued after a full season.

The Rakuten Monkeys’ Lin Chih-ping runs during Game 5 of the CPBL Challenger Series against the Uni-President Lions in Kaohsiung on Monday. Photo: CNA

Named Most Valuable Player of the game, Lin said he felt “in the groove” before stepping into the batter’s box.

“I just focused on a spot and swung when I saw the ball come around there... I knew it was gone the moment I hit it,” he said.

Rakuten manager Kenji Furuki said the pinch-hit appearance had been part of their plan, and he praised the Uni-Lions as a “very strong opponent.”

“Both teams gave their all in this game. Our players never gave up until the very last moment to get the win,” said the Japanese manager, the first non-Taiwanese to lead the team since Rakuten took over the franchise in 2020.

It marks the first time Furuki has led the Monkeys to the Taiwan Series since taking over as manager at the end of the 2023 season.

After the game, Uni-Lions manager Lin Yue-ping said he accepted the result.

“This shows our team still needs more backbone. Throughout this series — whether in relief pitching or defense — these are areas where we need to improve. We accept that with humility, and during fall training or next season, we’ll focus on building a team that wins with defense,” he said.

Monday’s game reflected the trajectory of the series, in which the Uni-Lions repeatedly took early leads, but failed to close them out.

Due to CPBL’s playoff format, the Uni-Lions entered the best-of-five series with one automatic win as first-half season champions, even though the Monkeys posted a higher winning percentage overall — second only to the CTBC Brothers, their upcoming opponents in the Taiwan Series.

The Uni-Lions put the Monkeys on the ropes after a 2-1 victory in the series opener on Friday and appeared one step away from reaching their second straight Taiwan Series when they led 6-2 after five innings in Game 2 on Saturday.

However, the Lions managed no hits and only four walks for the rest of the game, while the Monkeys tallied nine hits and five walks, scoring in three of the last four innings — including three runs in the sixth and a walk-off single.

The Monkeys then evened the series with a 9-3 win in Game 3 before completing their comeback on Monday.

Lin Yue-ping, who has managed the Uni-Lions since mid-2020, has led the team to a league-best 10 CPBL titles.

Meanwhile, the victory sent the Monkeys to the Taiwan Series for the third time in the past four seasons as they seek their first championship since 2019.

The best-of-seven Taiwan Series is to start on Saturday at the Taipei Dome, where the first three games would be played, with the Brothers hosting the opening two.

The Monkeys are to host Game 4 in Taoyuan, their second and final home game of the series, before the Brothers host the remaining three games in Taichung, if necessary.

title: Monkeys advance to Taiwan Series


content_text:
Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Tuesday hurled a complete game three-hitter as defending champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, beat Milwaukee 5-1 to seize command of their MLB playoff series.

The 27-year-old Japanese right-hander, despite surrendering a home run on his first pitch, was the first Dodger to go the distance in the playoffs since 2004, retiring the final 14 Brewers batters he faced.

“That was the first heater. I feel [it was] regrettable,” Yamamoto said of the homer through a translator. “But I reset my mind and just focused on executing my own pitches.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto celebrates the end of the eighth inning in Game 2 of MLB National League Championship Series in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

“I established my rhythm and kind of dictated the tempo and pace of the game, so that was great,” he added.

Yamamoto struck out six while allowing only one run on three hits and a walk for the first MLB playoff complete game by a Japan-born pitcher and the first by anyone since Justin Verlander in 2017.

Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez smacked home runs for the Dodgers, Muncy blasting his 14th to set the all-time Dodgers career playoff homer record.

The Dodgers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series (NLCS), which resumes in Los Angeles tomorrow morning Taipei time.

The NLCS winners are to play the American League Championship Series winners, either the Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays, in the World Series, which begins on Oct. 24.

The Mariners lead that series 2-0 with Game 3 this morning Taipei time in Seattle.

The Brewers tagged Yamamoto for five runs in two-thirds of an inning in a July regular-season contest, the shortest start of his MLB career, and made him pay early again.

Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio smashed the first offering from Yamamoto over the right-field wall for the Brewers’ only run.

“I was able to complete the game, and as a player, that was great,” Yamamoto said. “I’m glad people trust me out there.”

Hernandez, a Dominican outfielder, answered with a solo homer in the second inning, blasting a Freddy Peralta curve ball over the left-field wall.

The Dodgers grabbed a 2-1 lead later in the second when Enrique Hernandez singled and scored on an Andy Pages double to right field.

Muncy bashed a solo homer off Dominican right-hander Peralta with two out in the sixth, boosting LA’s lead to 3-1 and sending the Brewers starter to the showers.

The Dodgers added another insurance run in the seventh inning when Enrique Hernandez doubled, took third base on a Pages sacrifice bunt and scored on Shohei Ohtani’s single to right field.

The visitors struck again in the eighth for a final run as Will Smith singled, took second when Muncy walked, reached third on a ground out by Teoscar Hernandez and scored on a Tommy Edman single.

title: Yamamoto throws rare complete game playoff win


content_text:
In north central Nigeria’s Muslim-majority state of Kwara, where religious traditions shape daily life, a group of girls are challenging cultural norms by playing soccer.

They have embraced the game’s team spirit, competitive thrill, plus the highs and lows of winning and losing, while trying to ignore the disapproval of those who consider it unsuitable for women who choose to dress modestly.

As Maryam Muhammed laces up her boots and heads to soccer training at a local school in Ilorin, she feels the sweltering heat — made worse by her hijab and leggings — as well as the scorn from some in the local community.

Model Queens Football Academy players round up before their match against Kwara Ladies in Ilorin, Nigeria, on Aug. 29. Photo: Reuters

Muhammed, 17, regularly hears taunts as she walks to her training sessions with the Model Queens Football Academy.

“They tell me I won’t achieve anything, but I believe I will achieve something big,” she said.

Despite the discomfort, it is important to her to cover up when she plays rather than wear shorts and a T-shirt.

Model Queens Football Academy players pose for a photograph at the Kwara State Stadium in Ilorin, Nigeria, on Aug. 29. Photo: Reuters

“Sometimes it feels like I want to open the hijab, but I must not expose my hair,” she said. “I have to put it on as a good Muslim.”

Hijabs, which cover the head and neck, were barred by soccer’s world governing body FIFA on safety grounds in 2007, a move which led to the Iranian women’s team being banned from a qualifying match for the 2012 Olympics. The ban was relaxed in 2012, and the hijab fully permitted in 2014.

Nouhaila Benzina of Morocco became the first player to wear a hijab at a FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.

Muhammed’s mother, Kehinde Muhammed, has faced criticism for allowing her daughter to play.

“So many people discouraged me,” she said. “But I respect my children’s decisions. I support her and keep praying for her.”

She sews hijabs to match team jerseys.

“I counsel her that this is the normal way you’re supposed to be dressed as a Muslim,” she said.

Model Queens coach Muyhideen Abdulwahab is trying to change perceptions.

“We go out to meet parents, to tell them there are laws in place for modest dressing,” he said. “Despite that, some still say ‘no.’”

Team member Bashirat Omotosho, 19, is passionate about the sport, but cannot always attend training, because she has to help her mother sell puff puff, a fried dough snack, at a roadside stall for the family to make enough money.

Sometimes the team jog past the stall as part of their training, which is frustrating for her.

“Training is often in the morning, but I have to be here,” she said, handing snacks to customers. “I can’t leave my mom — this is how I earn money.”

Her mother, Titilayo Omotosho, was initially hostile to the teenager’s sporting ambition.

“Why would a lady choose football?” she asked.

However, after her husband gave his blessing, the mother relented.

“Seeing other Muslim girls succeed, like Asisat, encouraged us to let her play,” she said, referring to Nigeria star Asisat Oshoala, the record six-time African Women’s Footballer of the Year. Oshoala, who does not wear a hijab on the pitch, comes from Lagos, in southwest Nigeria, where Islam is less conservative.

Despite growing interest, female participation in soccer remains low in Ilorin, local soccer administrator Ambali Abdulrazak said.

The Nigerian Women’s Football League (NWFL) is among Africa’s strongest, led by southern clubs from cities such as Lagos and Port Harcourt, where infrastructure and societal support are robust.

In contrast, northern and central regions face cultural and religious barriers, but grassroots efforts are expanding.

Nationwide, the sport’s popularity is rising, driven by the success of the national women’s team, the Super Falcons, as well as increased sponsorships and grassroots programs.

NWFL viewership has grown by 40 percent since 2020, with match attendance up 35 percent last year, according to Nigerian media company iTelemedia, which tracks audience trends across local leagues.

As the sun dipped, Maryam Muhammed and her teammates jogged across a sandy pitch at the local school during one of their training sessions, their voices rising between bursts of a muezzin’s call to prayer from a nearby mosque.

On Aug. 29, Maryam Muhammed captained the Model Queens in a youth tournament final. They lost. At the whistle, she high-fived teammates and cheered as they received runners-up medals. Later, alone in her room, she broke down in tears over the defeat.

However, the support of her family and her faith have kept her going.

“I really love this sport. I have passion for it,” she said. “Since my parents support me, there is nothing stopping me. Football is my dream.”

title: Nigerian teenage girls chase their soccer dreams


title: England qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup

content_text:
Harry Kane on Tuesday scored twice as England thrashed Latvia 5-0 to secure qualification for the FIFA World Cup, while Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal were forced to wait to clinch their spot at the finals after being held by Hungary.

Elsewhere, pro-Palestinian demonstrations prefaced Italy’s vital win over Israel, and Spain took another step toward qualification with a big victory against Bulgaria.

Thomas Tuchel’s England brushed aside Latvia in Riga to make it six wins from six in European qualifiers’ Group K and guarantee top spot before their final two fixtures next month — they have 18 points and an unassailable seven-point lead over second-placed Albania.

Italy’s Nicolo Barella, left, struggles for the ball against Israel’s Roy Revivo at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Anthony Gordon opened the scoring before Kane produced a lethal finish and then netted a penalty to make it 3-0 at halftime — the Bayern Munich striker has 21 goals in 13 games this season for club and country.

Maksims Tonisevs scored an own-goal, and Eberechi Eze added the fifth, with England now able to look forward to December’s draw for next year’s finals.

“It comes rarely that you qualify for a World Cup, so the mood is very, very good,” Tuchel said.

All 12 group winners in Europe qualify directly for the World Cup, with the runners-up going on to playoffs.

Serbia are a point behind Albania after fighting back to win 3-1 in Andorra.

Guillaume Lopez gave Andorra the lead with a stunning strike from inside the center circle which sailed over Serbia goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

Christian Garcia’s own-goal brought Serbia level before Dusan Vlahovic headed them in front, and Aleksandar Mitrovic netted a penalty.

Portugal were on the brink of punching their ticket as they led Hungary 2-1 in stoppage-time in Lisbon, knowing a win would confirm first place in Group F.

Attila Szalai headed Hungary in front only for Ronaldo to turn in Nelson Semedo’s driven cross to equalize midway through the first half.

Ronaldo then converted a Nuno Mendes cross to give Portugal the lead in first-half stoppage-time, taking the 40-year-old Al-Nassr superstar to an all-time international record of 143 goals in 225 appearances for his country.

He now holds the record for the most goals in World Cup qualifying with 41, two more than retired Guatemala international Carlos Ruiz on 39.

However, Hungary snatched a draw when Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai finished from close range in stoppage-time.

That means Hungary remain five points behind Portugal with two games left and so could still top Group F, while Ireland theoretically could too after Evan Ferguson’s header secured a 1-0 victory against Armenia, who had Tigran Barseghyan sent off.

Italy’s meeting with Israel in Udine was prefaced by clashes between some pro-Palestinian demonstrators and police as thousands more peacefully marched through the northern Italian city in anger at the hosting of a match they felt should not have been played.

There have been calls for FIFA to exclude Israel from international competition in response to the country’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip which followed a cross-border assault carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. There was a huge security presence around the Bluenergy Stadium hosting the Group I fixture, won 3-0 by Italy.

The Azzurri are desperate to qualify for the World Cup having failed to make it to the previous two editions.

Mateo Retegui converted a penalty in first-half stoppage-time and scored again with a stunning hit on 74 minutes.

Gianluca Mancini headed in a late third to ensure that Italy will finish at least second in the group and are now just three points behind leaders Norway with two games left.

The teams are to meet next month, but Norway’s superior goal-difference means they remain primed to finish first. Estonia and Moldova drew 1-1 in the same group.

European champions Spain have four wins from four in Group E after defeating Bulgaria 4-0 in Valladolid.

Mikel Merino scored two headers and now has six goals in four games in qualifying. Atanas Chernev scored an own-goal before Mikel Oyarzabal converted a late penalty.

“We don’t have much further to go to get to the World Cup, but it’s not done yet... I hope we keep winning,” Merino told Spanish television.

Spain are three points clear of Turkey, who beat Georgia 4-1 at home with Merih Demiral bagging a brace. Kenan Yildiz and Yunus Akgun also scored.


title: The lions of teranga

content_text: A Senegal fan cheers ahead of their FIFA World Cup African qualifiers Group B match against Mauritania in Dakar on Tuesday. Senegal won the game 4-0 and qualified for the World Cup.


title: Madagascar’s president ousted in coup

content_text:
ARMY IN CHARGE: Colonel Michael Randrianirina told reporters that the military was taking power, while protesters celebrated the news alongside soldiers

Andry Rajoelina on Tuesday was toppled as Madagascar’s president in a military coup that capped weeks of youth protests over poverty, power outages and a lack of opportunity in the Indian Ocean island country.

Right after parliament voted to impeach Rajoelina, who fled the country fearing for his safety, the leader of Madagascar’s elite CAPSAT military unit said that the armed forces would form a council made up of officers from the armed forces and gendarmerie, a military unit that polices civilians, and would appoint a prime minister to “quickly” form a civilian government.

“We are taking power,” Colonel Michael Randrianirina told reporters in front of a ceremonial presidential palace in the capital, Antananarivo, as protesters celebrated the news alongside soldiers.

Protesters welcome members of the military a during a rally in Antananarivo on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

The constitution and High Constitutional Court’s powers had been suspended, and a referendum would be held in two years, Randrianirina said, without adding details.

From an undisclosed location after fleeing, Rajoelina issued a decree on Tuesday trying to dissolve parliament’s lower house in an apparent attempt to pre-empt being impeached.

However, lawmakers ignored it and voted overwhelmingly to end the rule of the 51-year-old leader, who himself came to power as a transitional leader in a military-backed coup in 2009.

Rajoelina’s office released a statement condemning Randrianirina’s announcement as an “illegal declaration” and “a serious breach of the rule of law.”

“The Republic of Madagascar cannot be taken hostage by force. The state remains standing,” it said.

Madagascar, a sprawling island country off the east coast of southern Africa, is home to about 30 million people. It is the world’s biggest vanilla producer and, because of its geographic isolation, is known for its biodiversity.

Since gaining independence from French colonial rule in 1960, it has struggled to overcome poverty and political instability, including a series of coups.

Rajoelina’s fall capped weeks of youth-led protests that started over persistent electricity and water outages, but snowballed into demonstrations of frustration with the government and Rajoelina’s leadership.

Protesters raised a range of issues, including government corruption, access to higher education, the cost of living and poverty, which affects about 75 percent of Madagascar’s population, according to the World Bank.

Although young people led the demonstrations, others also took part, including civic groups and unions.

The turning point came on Saturday, when Randrianirina and CAPSAT troops joined the protests and turned against Rajoelina, prompting the president to go into hiding.

In a speech broadcast on social media on Monday, Rajoelina said he left the country for a “safe place” in fear for his life.

The protesters, who have been on the streets for weeks and packing a main square since Saturday, have said they were inspired by other movements that toppled leaders in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The protesters have said that they do not have a leader.

“We do not get a constant supply of electricity and water from the government,” said Soavololona Faraniaina, a protester. “If Madagascan children are studying in darkness, where will the future of this nation be? Where is the wealthy Madagascar that many countries envied?”

CAPSAT is the same military unit that turned against the government in 2009 and helped Rajoelina take power.

The unit said over the weekend that it was taking charge of all of Madagascar’s armed forces, and new heads of the military and the gendarmerie security forces have been appointed.

CAPSAT commanders previously denied that they had carried out a coup and said that Madagascans should decide what happens next.

However, the unit appeared to be in a position of authority in some areas of government decisionmaking since Saturday.

Rajoelina had called the military’s actions a rebellion against the government and “an attempt to seize power illegally and by force.”


title: Flooding cuts off towns in Mexico

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When a river that winds through the mountains of central Mexico suddenly turned into a crushing wall of water over this past week, it practically wiped the 400-person village of Chapula off the map.

Residents only had time to shout, warning neighbors living along the riverbanks, and desperately seek shelter from the deadly flooding and landslides that have cut off 300 towns in central and eastern Mexico from the outside world.

Thousands of soldiers and workers on Tuesday scrambled to rescue people and unblock roads.

Volunteers drive a pickup truck amid debris after flooding in Poza Rica, Mexico, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

“There’s nothing left. It wiped out houses, it wiped out the bridge, it wiped out everything. The only thing left standing was the church and the warehouse where we were seeking refuge,” said 21-year-old Stephanie Ramirez, who was part of a group of elderly people, women and children who stumbled off a rescue helicopter on Tuesday.

The Mexican government said that at least 64 people have died due to the torrential rains.

Dozens are still missing and officials warned that the full extent of the devastation in remote towns of a couple hundred to 1,000 residents remained unknown.

The rains were triggered by the convergence of two tropical storms churning off Mexico’s western coast, striking at the end of an unusually heavy rainy season that has left rivers overflowing and hillsides weakened.

Ramirez and her grandmother were evacuated after days of hoping help would come. The rest of her family and dozens of their neighbors were still waiting to be evacuated.

As more rain threatened to pour down, they sought shelter on a nearby hillside on the verge of collapsing next to the still-swollen river.

“We have to get them out. They’re in constant danger there,” Ramirez said.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that one of the government’s priorities was to open roads and “to secure air bridges, food supplies, water and check on how each person is faring.”

Thousands of military and civilian personnel were working tirelessly on those efforts, but in Chapula, residents organized on their own.

They called their relatives in the US “and it was them who made arrangements to get us out of there little by little,” Ramirez said.

With help from residents of the nearby town of Tianguistengo, a private air bridge began operating, using a borrowed helicopter to evacuate groups of about half-a-dozen people at a time, while other residents organized bags of basic goods to carry on foot — with some soldiers— to neighboring villages that were still cut off.

“We think it’s about six or seven hours walking, but we want people to know that we’re working ... that they can see we also care about their situation,” local resident Neptali Rodriguez said.

The hardest-hit states were Veracruz, Hidalgo and Puebla. In Hidalgo alone, where about half of the isolated villages are, about 100,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by flooding rivers and mudslides.

In Veracruz, where at least 29 people died, rainfall reached 61cm in just four days.

Veracruz Governor Rocio Nahle said that more than 300,000 people were affected in the state alone.

On Tuesday, public officials were going door-to-door in cities such as Poza Rica, Veracruz, where water from the overflowing Cazones River on Friday reached 4m high in some areas.

They were asking residents if anyone was missing.

According to the Mexican National Civil Protection Coordination, 67 people were still unaccounted for as of Tuesday.

In Poza Rica, resident Roberto Olvera said that an oil refinery alarm alerted him to rising waters.

“It was terrifying, many people in the neighborhood couldn’t escape,” he said.

Floodwaters there also left a black, oily residue believed to have come from nearby oil and gas installations, coating trees and rooftops.


title: HK dissidents decry UK change

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EXTRADITION FEARS: The legislative changes come five years after a treaty was suspended in response to the territory’s crackdown on democracy advocates

Exiled Hong Kong dissidents said they fear UK government plans to restart some extraditions with the territory could put them in greater danger, adding that Hong Kong authorities would use any pretext to pursue them.

An amendment to UK extradition laws was passed on Tuesday. It came more than five years after the UK and several other countries suspended extradition treaties with Hong Kong in response to a government crackdown on the democracy movement and its imposition of a National Security Law.

The British Home Office said that the suspension of the treaty made all extraditions with Hong Kong impossible “even if there were strong operational grounds,” because it was still listed as a treaty state in the law.

Chloe Cheung, a public affairs and advocacy manager at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, holds a poster at a protest on College Green in London on March 19. Photo: AFP

The amendment has redesignated Hong Kong as a non-treaty state, bringing it into line with other countries for extraditions assessed on a case-by-case basis.

British Minister of State for Security Dan Jarvis has said that London would “never allow” extraditions for political purposes.

All requests are assessed by courts, and subjects have the right to appeal, Jarvis said.

“This government is uncompromising in its commitment to human rights, the rule of law and the protection of all individuals who reside in the United Kingdom, including the many Hong Kongers who have chosen to make their lives here,” a Home Office spokesperson said.

However, dissidents and advocates said that they fear Hong Kong authorities could exploit the ad hoc process to target political figures.

About 220,000 Hong Kongers with British national overseas status have fled to the UK, seeking residency. More have moved to the US, Australia, Canada and other countries, some as refugees.

Hong Kong has vowed to pursue overseas activists “to the end,” issuing arrest warrants and bounties for 38.

“Even if the current government does not intend to hand us over, we need binding commitments that this will never happen under any future government,” said Chloe Cheung (張晞晴), a public affairs and advocacy manager at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation’s London branch.

Carmen Lau (劉珈汶), a former Hong Kong politician now living in exile in London, said that British assurances that requests must be “nonpolitical” would be easily undermined.

“When you are the subject of an international arrest warrant and a bounty — a clear act of hostile state behavior on UK soil — a statement of commitment is simply not enough,” Lau said.

Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have a track record for laying nonpolitical charges against dissidents, sometimes to then switch out the allegation.

Supporters of Jimmy Lai (黎智英), a Hong Kong media tycoon and democracy advocate, have called his lease fraud convictions politically motivated and trumped up.

Lai is on trial for national security offenses.

“The idea, after watching the Jimmy Lai show trial, that we should be sending anybody back to China is an absurdity,” Conservative Member of Parliament Iain Duncan Smith said.

Luke de Pulford, cofounder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, called for the British government to offer a “dedicated and concrete appeal mechanism to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.”

In 2021, the British government reportedly warned democracy advocates against traveling to countries with extraditions agreements with Hong Kong.

Feng Chongyi (馮崇義), a dissident academic now living in Australia, said before the amendment was passed that he would avoid the UK if it did.

Feng is wanted in Hong Kong for allegedly supporting a “subversive” organization.

“Making such amendments is a clear indication that the UK government is willing to compromise and cooperate with Beijing,” he said.

The amendment’s timing has also drawn suspicion, tabled amid efforts by the UK to negotiate a trade deal with China and a softer UK government approach toward Beijing.

In 2020, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, then opposition leader, welcomed then-British prime minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of the extradition treaty, labeling it “a step in the right direction.”


title: Kenyan politician Raila Odinga dies

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Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has died during a health visit to India, local police said yesterday.

He was 80.

Odinga was the perennial opposition figure of Kenyan politics, running unsuccessfully for the presidency on five occasions, most recently in 2022.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga attends a rally in Nairobi on Oct. 18, 2017. Photo: AP

He was a dominant force, able to rally huge numbers, particularly from his native western Kenya.

Indian police told reporters that he was walking with his sister, daughter and a personal doctor “when he suddenly collapsed.”

“An Indian police security officer and a Kenyan security officer were also with them at the time. He was rushed to a nearby private hospital, but was declared dead,” the police source said.

Odinga’s death was also confirmed by a member of his political team, but they requested anonymity while awaiting an official announcement from the party.

Born on Jan. 7, 1945, Odinga spent his early years in politics either in jail or in exile, fighting for democracy while Daniel arap Moi was president.

A member of the Luo tribe, he entered parliament in 1992 and ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1997, 2007, 2013, 2017 and 2022, claiming to have been cheated of victory in the last four of those elections.

He cast himself as an anti-establishment firebrand despite belonging to one of Kenya’s top political dynasties — his father serving as the country’s first vice president after independence in 1963.

His death leaves a leadership vacuum within the opposition, and it is far from clear if anyone would have the same ability to mobilize opposition forces as the country heads into a campaign period ahead of elections in 2027.

Former Kenyan chief justice David Maraga, a 2027 candidate, said he was “shocked” by news of the death.

Odinga was “a patriot, a pan-Africanist, a democrat and a leader who made significant contributions to democracy in Kenya and in Africa,” Maraga wrote on X. “Kenya has lost one of its most formidable leaders who shaped the trajectory of our beloved country. Africa has lost a leading voice in pushing for peace, security and development. The world has lost a great leader.”

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was among the first to react, posting on X: “On behalf of the Government of Ethiopia, I extend my sincere condolences on the passing of former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. May he Rest In Peace.”

A spokesman for the Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre in Kerala, India, also confirmed the death.

“He experienced some breathing difficulties and collapsed. He was provided CPR, on the spot and having seen some sign of recovery, he was rushed to the nearest modern hospital. Despite repeated efforts by the medics, his condition deteriorated and the doctors were unable to save him,” the hospital spokesman said.


title: India’s elephant population falls by one-quarter: study

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India’s wild elephant population estimates have dropped sharply by one-quarter, a government survey incorporating a new DNA system has found.

India is home to the majority of the world’s wild Asian elephants, a species listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and increasingly threatened by shrinking habitats.

The Wildlife Institute of India’s new All-India Elephant Estimation report released this week put the wild elephant population at 22,446 — down from nearly 29,964 estimated in 2017, a fall of 25 percent.

An elephant walks in Mudumalai National Park in India’s Tamil Nadu on July 30 last year. Photo: AFP

The survey drew on genetic analysis of more than 21,000 dung samples, alongside a vast network of camera traps and 667,000km of foot surveys.

However, researchers said that the methodological overhaul meant the results were “not comparable to past figures and may be treated as a new monitoring baseline.”

The report also warned that the figures reflect deepening pressures on one of India’s most iconic animals.

“The present distribution of elephants in India represents a mere fraction of their historical range,” it said, estimating that they now occupy only about 3.5 percent of the area they once roamed.

Habitat loss, fragmentation and increasing human-elephant conflict are driving the decline.

“Electrocution and railway collisions cause a significant number of elephant fatalities, while mining and highway construction disrupt habitats, intensifying man-wildlife conflicts,” the report said.

The Western Ghats, lush southern highlands stretching through Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, remain a key stronghold with nearly 12,000 elephants.

However, even there, populations are increasingly cut off from one another by commercial plantations, farmland fencing and human encroachment.

Another major population center lies in India’s northeast, including Assam and the Brahmaputra floodplains, which host more than 6,500 elephants.

“Strengthening corridors and connectivity, restoring habitat, improving protection, and mitigating the impact of development projects are the need of the hour to ensure the well-being of these gentle giants,” the report said.


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Free societies should be deeply concerned about AI from China, both because it parrots CPP propaganda and its cheap cost means it’s the go-to place for information

After the release of the Deepseek AI from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) it soon became obvious that it would shy away from topics the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not want discussed. In January of this year the Guardian observed in an article on Deepseek that, while it would not talk directly about topics such as Tiananmen Square’s Tank Man, users could obtain useful outputs via work-arounds.

That DeepSeek would simply reproduce the PRC’s farcial history when asked about topics related to its expansionism and authoritarianism was entirely predictable. It should beg the question of what other topics are impacted by its shaping effects. Such questions are acquiring even greater urgency because PRC AI models are beginning to dominate free AI use.

LMArena, “created by researchers from UC Berkeley,” bills itself as “an open platform where everyone can easily access, explore and interact with the world’s leading AI models.” Users of LMArena vote on which answers they receive from AI platforms (whose identities are concealed) are better, with each question answered by two different AI programs. On the LMArena platform, the top five open-weight AI models in order are Zai, Alibaba, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and Meituan, all from the PRC.

A small example of such shaping effects was posted to Bluesky this week. User @dferrer.bsky.social said that “We had an outage because [Alibaba’s] Qwen 2.5 refused to do anything for a prompt that was modified to add a table of markets with Taiwan and China as separate countries. Wouldn’t do the SA task without a disclaimer that Taiwan is an integral part of China added.”

PRC AI programs imposing PRC frames on everything must be common, but largely shrugged at by users interested in obtaining AI performance at low cost.

These disclaimers are also common in scholarly publications. I have edited hundreds of research articles from the PRC over the last two decades, and seen them many times. Most articles which refer to a map of the PRC use an identical government map that shows the South China Sea and Taiwan as part of China. Another common dodge is a footnote explaining why data from Taiwan wasn’t included if the article is working with provincial-level or similar data. When AI wants to present an answer, it will scour this immense database.

Many PRC influence actions in Taiwan are quite visible. For example, the PRC’s position is obvious when it permits export of agricultural products from areas in Taiwan that are governed by Beijing-friendly politicians, but bans products from areas under pro-Taiwan control. It pays for young people to travel to China. It paints the pro-Taiwan politicians as warmongers, and then increases its military activity around Taiwan to hype the threat. It uses TikTok to push certain politicians, a behavior reported around the globe. TikTok especially shows how the PRC regards widely used software as channels for its propaganda and political action.

These threats are open and can easily be traced to the PRC. The problems of PRC narratives in AI programs developed in the PRC is conventionally understood and reported. But what about AI in general?

LMArena turns out to be a good way to explore that question, because for each query it returns two answers, from two different AI programs apparently suggested at random. When I asked LMArena’s AI systems in both English and traditional Chinese what the earliest Chinese administration of Taiwan was, in all cases I got Ming Dynasty general Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功) (better known as Koxinga) in 1661 or 1662, followed by the Qing in 1683. Yet Koxinga hardly administrated all of Taiwan, and the Qing were Manchus, not Chinese, who also did not administer the entire island of Taiwan. Does the AI return PRC expansionist history because such history is common in the sources it draws on, and the AI does not know any better?

My next step was to ask it to identify the first Chinese government to administer all of Taiwan. One apparently PRC-owned AI program gave the verbatim “inseparable part of China since ancient times” nonsense, comically adding that “It is important to clarify that Taiwan is not a place that can be “administered,” but rather a province that is an inseparable part of the People’s Republic of China.”

The other program LMArena used, gpt-oss-20b, confidently proclaimed that Koxinga’s Kingdom of Tungning ruled the whole island, and was followed by another Chinese administration, the Qing. Both were awful.

Next I asked it to explain why the Qing Dynasty was not Chinese. Both Grok and Qwen (Alibaba) returned standard PRC state history. Grok even warned me that “Any attempt to question the Chinese identity of the Qing Dynasty could inadvertently undermine this established historical narrative, which is central to the ‘one China’ principle.”

It would be easy to blame the problems in trying to obtain proper history on the way PRC expansionist history has infected mainstream Chinese history narratives across the Internet and academia, but Grok’s scolding of me for trying to split China indicates how even non-PRC AI programs are incorporating PRC state propaganda. Indeed, for that question, Grok’s bombastic PRC state discourse was worse than Qwen’s, for Grok ended by asking me to focus on the shared history of Taiwan and China and engage in “constructive dialogue.”

That comment and the other PRC-style warnings do not feel like they were discovered on the Internet by the LLM, but rather, appear to have been installed in the program as canned responses to specific types of inquiries. Note that many Grok employees were born in the PRC.

I went on to ask about UN Resolution 2758, which the Beijing uses to justify as its claims over Taiwan, but only covers the PRC’s right to represent China in the UN. Four major western programs got the resolution correct. The problem is not that AI is stupid, it’s that users and audiences require extensive domain knowledge (not “critical thinking”) to understand when it is right and when it is not, and most will not possess that. Nor will they have time and resources to query multiple AI programs. In most places they will choose the cheapest and most accessible AI program, and that program will be Chinese.

It’s thus sobering to think that hundreds of thousands of students around the world ask these programs questions about China. But AI development is a good example of how the various channels available to the PRC, from state propaganda outlets to PRC citizens working in foreign firms, all enable discourse about Taiwan to converge on PRC state-sponsored narratives. Even when western AI programs correctly answered the question, the PRC narrative was still packaged in the answers as “the Chinese point of view” or some similar claim, preserving the CCP’s claim to construct and speak for “China.”

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.

title: Notes from Central Taiwan: PRC narratives  and  AI discourse


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China’s Communist Party holds a plenum on its next five-year plan. What does it mean?

The elite Central Committee of China’s ruling Communist Party will hold a closed-door meeting from Monday to Thursday to discuss, among other things, the country’s 15th five-year development plan.

The meeting, known as a plenum, is the fourth since the 2022 Party Congress. Here is what it all means:

WHAT’S A PLENUM?

A member of the People’s Armed Police in July last year stands guard inside a tunnel leading to Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, a week before the Third Plenum, one of the most important political meetings of the Chinese Communist Party. The Fourth Plenum is to take place from Monday to Thursday next week. Photo: Bloomberg

The Central Committee is the largest of the party’s top decision-making bodies, and it typically holds seven plenums between congresses, with the fifth traditionally deliberating on five-year plans.

But due to an unexplained nine-month-long delay in the third plenum until July last year, the party is expected to now review the 2026-2030 plan during the fourth, on Oct. 20-23.

To prevent leaks, plenum attendees are traditionally confined to the venue for the duration of the meeting. Little, if any, news of the proceedings is made public until it closes. Foreign media and most Chinese reporters don’t have access.

On the day the plenum ends, China releases a brief report outlining what was agreed — this time, the general scope of the next five-year development plan. To project party unity, there will be no mention of any dissent.

Some days later, potentially on the week starting Oct. 27, Beijing releases more details, although it’s unlikely these would contain specific targets or costs for any new policies.

These are more likely to be released in March, when parliament approves the next five-year plan.

WHAT’S A FIVE-YEAR PLAN?

It’s a strategic blueprint that outlines economic and social development goals over a five-year period, guiding national policy, investment and reform.

It typically covers economic growth, industrial modernization, technological innovation, environmental protection, national security and social goals.

The 2026-2030 plan will be China’s 15th five-year plan since it adopted Soviet-style quinquennial policy formulation cycles in the 1950s.

The 1980s plans were seen as pivotal in China’s staggering subsequent development into the world’s second-largest economy. These reforms allowed private ownership, opened up its markets and paved the way for the country’s integration into global trade.

The 2000s and 2010s focused on poverty alleviation and transitioning towards an economic model relying more on domestic consumption than on infrastructure investment and manufacturing.

China has declared success in fighting poverty. But it is widely accepted that it fell short on fostering durable household demand.

WILL THE PLENUM DISCUSS OTHER TOPICS?

Most likely.

Fourth plenums have in the past deliberated on party governance, including personnel reshuffling and disciplinary actions.

Diplomats and other observers will look at the people who might fall from grace or rise through the ranks, particularly in the military, to better understand Beijing’s thinking.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

The next five-year plan will be closely watched for how much emphasis China places on rebalancing its economy.

Most observers expect strong language from Beijing on its intentions to boost consumption.

In practice, however, analysts say the trade war with the US is likely to keep policymakers focused on industrial upgrading and technological breakthroughs, which means resources would by and large keep flowing towards factories and strategic investments rather than consumers.

This might consolidate China’s achievements in developing world-leading industries, such as electric vehicles or green energy and open up opportunities in other sectors where it still lags rivals, such as semiconductors or aircraft.

But it also means deflationary forces will persist and debt will accumulate, while China’s limited contribution to global demand relative to its growing stake in the supply of manufactured goods will keep tensions high.

The plenum comes days before an APEC summit in South Korea, where Presidents Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump might meet. It also comes days after Beijing tightened export controls on rare earths, prompting a threat from Trump of triple-digit tariffs.

Five-year plans don’t change on short-term fluctuations in diplomatic and trade relationships, but analysts say Beijing sees protecting national interests in times of growing great power rivalry as the basis of every policy it formulates.


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Latest collection in East Asian human rights series pushes for new approach

There were many excellent presentations at the 5th World Congress of Taiwan Studies at Academia Sinica in May, with a session on Cold War and Mobility standing out. Three papers were presented, each by the author of a landmark book on displacement, migration and refugeeism.

First was Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang (楊孟軒), whose work The Great Exodus from China (reviewed in Taipei Times, Oct. 08, 2020) examined the social impact of mass migration from China to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War. Yang spoke about the 15,000-plus Dachen Islanders evacuated to Taiwan in 1955.

David Cheng Chang (常成), who spotlighted the 21,000 Chinese POWs in the Korean War — two thirds “repatriated” to Taiwan — in his book The Hijacked War (reviewed in Taipei Times, April 28, 2022), also spoke. He introduced the case of two interpreters whose careers intersected from World War II through the POW camps and the Liu Ziran Incident (劉自然事件) of 1957, when the killing of an ROC soldier by an American officer sparked riots.

Finally, Chang Wen-ching (張雯勤), whose 2014 book Beyond Borders documented Yunnanese migrants to Burma, presented a case study on Republic of China (ROC) policy toward Vietnamese boat people following the Vietnam War.

The presentations connected to the present, with Yang noting that “because of its troublesome history,” Taiwan’s refugee policy remains premised on “the selective use of refugees for political purposes” rather than “global humanitarian” concerns.

“It’s for us to reflect on this history and [ask] if Taiwan has a coherent refugee policy,” Yang said. “The answer is no.”

This is reinforced by contributions to this collection, which focuses on Taiwan and Japan. As in the Cold War years, China looms large in the decision-making of Taiwan’s authorities, though for different reasons.

The Dachen Islanders were initially heralded as “righteous warriors” by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government. Similarly, the first Vietnamese refugees were ethnic Chinese and used for anti-communist propaganda.

In contrast, Hong Kongers seeking asylum following the 2019–2020 anti-extradition bill protests were portrayed as a security risk, particularly in the pro-Taiwan media.

Articles about these refugees and the influence of media depictions on society are analyzed in a chapter by Cody Wai Kwok Yau (丘偉國), a political scientist at Soochow University.

DELIBERATE AMBIGUITY

Parsed into categories such as “political migration,” “migration safety” and “insincere assistance,” in 259 articles across five Chinese-language newspapers, the analysis finds pro-China media “tended to … criticize the [Democratic Progressive Party] DPP government’s assistance, whereas the pro-[Taiwan] media tended to highlight national security and management cost issues related to immigrants.”

A technique called sentiment analysis is then used to “grasp public sentiment towards refugees,” with +1 given to words with positive connotations such as “assistance” and -1 to negative terms such as “illegal.” The analysis finds the proportion of articles in pro-China media conveying negative sentiments lower (21.83 percent) than that in Green-affiliated titles (35.04 percent).

Elements of this analysis are confusing. The most “negative” article for pro-China media, for example, is a United Daily News report criticizing then Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) for “abandoning judicial sovereignty” over the case of Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳), a Hong Kong national accused of murdering his girlfriend in Taipei in 2018 before fleeing back to Hong Kong.

Likewise, the “insincere assistance” charge from pro-China critics arguing DPP measures were “old wine in new bottles … offering no new or helpful mechanism,” and deliberately ambiguous to avoid controversy. Apart from these cases representing political point scoring, it is unclear how “negative” portrayals of government policy equate to negative public sentiment toward refugees.

PLUGGING THE GAP

Ulterior motives aside, KMT criticism is legitimated in a chapter by Chen Min-yen (江旻諺) and Candia Tong (唐紋) of Flow Hong Kong (如水), founded in 2020 as the first magazine for diasporic Hongkongers in Taiwan.

Their article shows how Taiwan’s civil society organizations (CSOs) stepped in when the government failed “to establish a refugee resettlement institution that provided emergency living assistance.” Despite assurances from then president Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文), preparation was nonexistent, with no official channels for receiving applications.

For the first year, resettlement was led by CSOs who struggled “to develop feasible operational models” partly because of the “safety risks” that led political refugees to cautiously rely on “existing social networks” rather than “widespread appeals the community.”

Despite this, the CSOs established procedures for “a civil shelter mechanism,” including a standard interview process and negotiations with the government over residency.

Finally, the Mainland Affairs Council announced a scheme to take over from the CSOs. However, details remained “undisclosed,” on the grounds of protecting applicants’ identities. While CSOs acknowledged these concerns, they objected to the lack of transparency. Showing how opaque the system remains, the authors “pieced together” a model of the review process based on available information.

ARBITRARY REJECTIONS

This murkiness continued in a third stage, the “quasi-asylum mechanism,” with details known only through press reports based on interviews with applicants. Yet official legislation was still not forthcoming, as premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) stubbornly cited “the completeness of existing laws.”

And there’s the rub: Taiwan does have regulations to accept refugees. In the case of dissident Hong Kongers and Macanese, the relevant articles provide a legal basis for assistance but say nothing about “procedures, working frameworks or the legal right of the applicants.” Similar provisions exist for Tibetans, whose “living experience” is discussed in another chapter, Burmese and Thais.

While these measures are flimsy, there is at least some recourse to legal assistance. Not so for refugees not tied, however tenuously, to the old ROC.

As noted in a chapter on common challenges for Japan and Taiwan, by renowned human rights scholar Bonny Ling and Mariko Hayashi of the Southeast and East Asian Centre, a London-based refugee organization, Taiwan incorporated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) into domestic law in 2009.

Under international law, the ICCPR is interpreted as prohibiting refoulement where there is a threat to an asylum seeker’s safety. By rejecting a legal path toward residency, Taiwan is contravening its own laws.

Various bills for a refugee act have stalled in Taiwan’s legislature since the first was introduced in 2005, with little progress since a 2016 draft. Extant cases show that the authorities favor ambiguity and opacity, allowing them to arbitrarily reject applications.

In her chapter on public opinion in Taiwan, Czech scholar Kristina Kironska highlights the lack of public dialogue and surveys on the refugee issue and notes that, among Taiwan’s elites, “the picture is somewhat similar.”

Until this changes, the passage of a comprehensive refugee act remains a pipe dream. Still, with its emphasis on global human security, this book is most welcome.

For your information Publication Notes Refugees and Asylum in East Asia: Perspectives from Japan and Taiwan Edited By Lara Momesso and Polina Ivanova 400 pagesPalgrave Macmillan Hardback and Paperback: UK

title: Security for all: Rethinking Taiwan’s refugee strategy

people: 蘇貞昌 徐國勇 蔡英文


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Countries throughout the globe are scrambling to find supplies after Beijing implements sweeping new restrictions on the valuable materials

China’s sweeping new restrictions on rare earth exports jolted governments and set off a race to secure alternative supplies, in a stark demonstration of Beijing’s global clout and growing risks for companies.

The rules announced last week require overseas firms to obtain Chinese government approval before exporting products containing even trace amounts of certain rare earths that originated in China. They prompted threats of punitive measures from Washington even as both sides signal an openness to talks, and pushback from the EU.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he might stop trade in cooking oil with China, ostensibly to retaliate against Beijing’s refusal to buy American soybeans. He previously threatened to impose an additional 100 percent tariff on goods from China by Nov. 1 and raised the prospect of canceling his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea later this month.

A man in January 2020 displays crushed ore before it is sent to the mill at the MP Materials rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California, US. Photo: Reuters

The EU “should have a tough response,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country chairs the EU’s rotating presidency, said Tuesday. EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis charged China with “using trade interdependencies for political gain,” speaking in Washington as global finance chiefs gathered for fall meetings of the IMF and World Bank.

While the degree of disruption will hinge on how broadly the new rules will be applied, the move has already energized companies and policymakers alike to look for potential counter-measures, and eventual alternatives to China’s critical inputs.

“We will not let these export restrictions and monitoring go on,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Fox Business interview Monday. “They have pointed a bazooka at the supply chains and the industrial base of the entire free world.”

A sample of bastnaesite ore, a mineral used in the rare earth industry to extract elements such as cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium, is displayed on Tuesday at the Geological Museum of China in Beijing, China. Photo: Reuters

The American official said he expected to get coordinated support from Europe and India, along with other democratic governments in Asia — an apparent reference to nations such as Japan and South Korea. Dombrovskis said he expects discussions this week at a meeting of the Group of Seven in Washington.

In India, automakers and parts suppliers have begun accelerating testing of ferrite-based magnets as a less efficient but geopolitically safer substitute for the heavy rare earths they previously relied on, according to people familiar with the matter. For now, they have enough inventory until December, the people said.

Taiwan’s economic minister, Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), said Tuesday the government will start encouraging local companies to recycle and refine rare earths to ensure a stable supply for its domestic industries. He said China’s latest measures will impact motor, car and drone makers, while the chip sector is largely unaffected.

Meantime, tit-for-tat protectionist measures continue apace, beyond tariff hikes already imposed. China on Tuesday unveiled sanctions on US units of a South Korean shipping giant, part of a broader array of measures in the maritime space between Beijing and Washington. And the EU is considering forcing Chinese companies to hand over technology to European ones if they want to operate locally.

BACKFIRE RISK

The barrage of steps mark China’s first major effort to police the global flow of critical minerals it dominates, using the same playbook that allows the US to wield power far beyond its shores.

“After decades of striving, China finally has a few real technological advantages over America,” wrote Arthur Kroeber and Laila Khawaja at Gavekal Research in a Monday note.

Overly aggressive rare-earth implementation by China could supercharge efforts to build alternative supply chains, undermining China’s long-term dominance — the same way that Washington’s export controls on advanced semiconductors risk backfiring and spurring Chinese innovation.

Australian mining companies with critical minerals projects made dizzying stock gains Tuesday, with shares of Resolution Minerals Ltd closing up 56 percent and Nova Minerals Ltd gaining 16 percent.

China’s measures represent President Xi’s adaptation of tactics that were pioneered by the US — using dominance in critical sectors as a cudgel against foreign rivals. Where Washington has the capacity to wield the dollar to exercise long-arm jurisdiction, China is now deploying its stranglehold on rare earth processing and the production of permanent magnets.

“The US has unmatched leverage in financial markets because of the dollar’s reach and because of the centrality of the US financial system,” said Chris Kennedy, a senior geoeconomic analyst at Bloomberg Economics who previously served at the National Security Council in the Biden and Trump administrations. “China has global leverage in its dominance of key industries that are essential to global manufacturing.”

CHINA’S DOMINANCE

The addition of five rare earths to China’s restricted list — holmium, europium, ytterbium, thulium and erbium — will make it harder for companies to find replacements for magnets made with the seven minerals that were originally affected by restrictions Beijing unveiled in April.

In the short term, alternatives remain limited. China is responsible for 70 percent of the world’s mined rare earths and more than 90 percent of permanent magnets made with the minerals. While companies in the EU and US have previously reported supply shortages and production halts during earlier Chinese restrictions, building replacement capacity takes years.

If rigorously enforced, the policy serves as a made-with-Chinese-technology chokepoint that affects virtually every modern industry that relies on high-performance permanent magnets. The measures apply not just to raw materials but to products made overseas using Chinese rare earth inputs — even when those materials make up as little as 0.1 percent of a product’s value.

China’s Ministry of Commerce justified the restrictions on national security grounds, noting that medium and heavy rare earths have important military applications. Officials emphasized the measures would not prohibit exports entirely, and promised to approve applications meeting regulatory requirements.

Regardless of the intent, the ambition to police the global flow of the minerals was captured in a Monday commentary by a researcher for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top government-linked think tank.

Wang Ziyang, assistant research fellow at the institution, said China is shifting from being a supplier to a “governor of the rare earth order,” arguing that the measures prevent the military use of the elements and are in the common interest of the global community.

The latest move caps years of expansion in Beijing’s export control regime. Since 2020, China has systematically built an architecture mirroring US controls, from blacklisting entities to establishing extraterritorial jurisdiction over Chinese-origin technology.

The timing appeared linked to Washington’s lengthening of an entity list that targets Chinese semiconductor firms — a move that Beijing saw as violating bilateral understandings reached in Madrid last month that neither side would impose new controls during trade talks.

The controls may serve as negotiating leverage ahead of expected discussions between Xi and President Donald Trump later this month. Kroeber and Khawaja said that the announcement set up a negotiation for China to relax its rare earths export controls in exchange for matching US concessions on semiconductor export controls.

No matter the outcome of those talks, a full reversal appears unlikely, according to Oliver Melton, until recently the US Treasury attache in Beijing and now director of Rhodium Group’s China practice.

‘TO THE END’

“This is a strategic decision to ensure that they have sustained and persistent leverage over the US and other countries to deter future export controls against China,” he said. “Chinese policymakers are keenly aware that they have the ability to disrupt production for major US companies in ways that maximize the impact on US markets — for example by targeting firms like Apple and Tesla.”

China’s Ministry of Commerce signaled openness to dialogue while defending its actions, saying in a Tuesday statement that Beijing would “fight to the end if necessary,” while the door remains open for talks.

Beyond retaliation and negotiation tactics, the measures advance Beijing’s broader industrial strategy. By controlling access to processing technologies and manufacturing equipment, China aims to keep competitors behind while incentivizing partnerships with Chinese firms.

The rules on overseas manufacturers using Chinese rare earths or related equipment take effect on December 1. The 0.1 percent value threshold could affect large swaths of intermediate goods and will likely cause major administrative delays.

title: China’s rare earth ‘bazooka’ sparks global alarm


content_text:
SPEAK UP: Blackpink & more K-pop stars to hit Taiwan (1/2) Blackpink等多組韓團將襲台（上）

A: K-pop supergroup Blackpink is finally touring Taiwan again.

B: I can’t believe we’re going to Blackpink’s concert at the Kaohsiung National Stadium over this weekend.

A: The group has caused a global sensation since it went international in 2020.

B: And the four members — Jisoo, Jennie, Rose and Lisa — have achieved success as solo artists.

A: Seeing them live will be like a dream come true.

A: 韓流天團Blackpink終於又來台巡演啦。

B: 真不敢相信我們這週末要去她們在高雄國家體育場的演唱會。

A: 該團自2020年進軍國際，便持續造成全球轟動。

B: 而4位團員––Jisoo、Jennie、Rose、Lisa––單飛也很成功。

A: 這次能去她們的演唱會真是美夢成真！

（By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）

For your information Language Tip 語文小提示 come true (idiom) 證實、實現（不可用被動式）To become real; to happen in the way that one wished or dreamed:A. The trip abroad was a dream come true.B. Everything we hoped for came true.C. Their prediction seems to be coming true

taiwan-subdivisions: 成功 高雄


title: 關掉一台還能做出落葉飄！　殲-35已裝上新中推渦扇-19

content_text:
▲殲-35高清飛行照。（圖／翻攝自微博）

軍武中心／綜合報導

大陸全力發展第二款隱身系列戰機殲-35，《央視》透露為其配套的新一代中等推力渦扇-19已裝上機，可為該機帶來高達1350公里的作戰半徑。由於官方透露福建艦電磁彈射測試順利，未來殲-35帶著渦扇-19上艦，意味著中國航母戰鬥群的打擊半徑將直接覆蓋第二島鏈。

渦扇-19是中國獨立研發的第四代中等推力渦扇發動機，由中國航發貴陽所自主設計、貴州黎陽發動機公司製造。官方公布的數據顯示，渦扇-19最大推力能達到12噸，使用壽命有4000小時，殲-35搭配兩台渦扇-19，總推力輕鬆突破22噸，推重比超過10，和殲-31用的RD93發動機相比，最大推力和使用壽命分別提高了30%和25%。

中國航發集團的總設計師黃維娜指出，新一代中等推力的航空發動機在工程驗證階段，因為用了數字化技術，現在需求滿足程度已經超過了90%。值得注意的是，在試製這款發動機的時間也縮短了25%，整個項目進度有望比原計劃提前完成。

▲大陸國產新一代渦扇中推在2019年曝光，從照片中其噴口鋸齒若隱若現被認為就是渦扇-19。（圖／翻攝自新浪軍事）

渦扇-19的成功問世無疑給殲-35系列戰機帶來更強大的動力，知名軍事自媒體「矚望雲霄」表示，如此一來殲-35A便能實現超音速巡航，最快可飛到2.2馬赫，比美軍F-35的1.6馬赫快出一大截，同時作戰半徑達1350公里，機載燃油量8噸左右，最大彈藥掛載超過8噸，正面最小雷達反射截面積僅0.01平方米。

此外，渦扇-19發動機的全向矢量噴口技術，讓殲-35A具備「360度全方位」的過失速機動能力，甚至還傳出在南海的軍事演習裡，完成關掉一台發動機還能做出落葉飄的高難度動作。

文章同時也指出，渦扇-19發動機不光能用在有人駕駛的戰鬥機上，因模塊化的設計也能裝在艦載無人機上，特別是非加力型號，能讓攻擊-21大型艦載無人機作戰半徑能超過2000公里。據了解，目前改進型已進入研發階段，推力還能更進一步漲10%，為下一代戰機動力研發打下基礎。


taiwan-subdivisions: 和平 鹿野

title: 聲優媽媽推薦超好看動畫...女兒一看傻「我有配音」：先裝不知道

content_text:
記者楊智仁／綜合報導

推理小說《GOSICK》於 2011 年改編為 24 集的電視動畫，聲優「鹿野優以」在劇中為主要角色之一的賽西爾老師配音。先前鹿野優以於社群上分享趣事，自己的媽媽最近推薦他一部動畫，這部作品正是《GOSICK》，不過媽媽似乎沒有發現女兒參與配音，有趣發展讓貼文迅速引發網友們討論。

▼媽媽分享《GOSICK》給女兒。（圖／翻攝自推特）

鹿野優以在《GOSICK》中扮演照顧學生，卻有點不可靠的賽西爾老師，先前鹿野優以魚推特上發文，「我媽媽經常看動漫，之前她向我推薦這部作品『很有趣』，我仔細一看竟然是《GOSICK》，這部作品我有配音欸！我先假裝不知道，她好像看到第 16 集了，究竟完結之前她會意識到女兒的存在嗎。」

有趣發展讓該篇貼文超過 881 萬觀看，網友們表示，「好期待媽媽說『這角色聲音跟你很像』的場景」、「其實看一下片尾工作人員名單就會知道了」、「請注意！女兒正在說話」、「聲優工作時的聲音和平常講話差別很大吧，聽不出來正常。」鹿野優以接著分享媽媽非常可愛，到 KTV 的時候還會搜尋女兒的名字，就算是沒聽過的歌也會點來唱看看。

アニメを観まくってる母から「これ面白いよ！」と薦められたよ、

『GOSICK』

私出てるー！！！！！！！！と思ったけど、気づくまでそっとしておくことにした。今16話らしい。最終回までに娘の存在に気づいてくれるだろうか。

— 鹿野優以 (@kanoyui1222) October 6, 2025


content_text:
▲人長得帥的法國總統馬克宏。（圖／路透）

文／朱錦華

武俠小說裡經常出現所謂「七大門派」或「八大門派」。少林、武當、峨嵋、崑崙都是大家熟悉的。當中還有一個不大起眼的叫崆峒派。事實上，它是民國時期小說家平江不肖生代表作《江湖奇俠傳》裡虛構的門派，內容有談到崑崙派跟崆峒派的鬥爭。書中著名的「紅蓮寺」，即是崆峒派的據點。

此一門派在今天依然存在，只是同音不同字，變成了「空洞派」。它在法國更有了一名傑出的傳人，他的名字，叫馬克宏(Emmanuel Macron)。近年來，法國政壇及社會陷入極度動盪。總統馬克宏任命的總理一再倒台。但「老馬」把政敵和人民當塑膠，12日依然執拗的宣布再度任命4天前才辭職的前總理勒克努(Sebastien Lecornu)重新組閣。此舉引發極右派「國民聯盟」(RN)強烈反彈，揚言將提出不信任案，要推翻這個新成立的政府。

▲法國新任總理勒克努(Sebastien Lecornu)。（圖／路透）

這等鬧劇，皆導源自法國政府裡總統「有權無責」的「雙首長制」（台灣正是仿自法國此一制度）。亂源的始作俑者，可追溯到許多年前的總統戴高樂(Charles de Gaulle)。1946年到1958年的「第四共和」時期，法國實施國會擁有最高權力的議會制。結果造成內閣頻繁倒台，施政困難。戴高樂痛定思痛，在「第五共和」時修憲，實施雙首長制，大大提高總統權力。

但它的缺點是給總統提供保護傘，讓不受歡迎的政策由總理背鍋。形成「總統有權無責，總理有責無權」局面。這種政體在執政黨於國會過半時尚無大礙，但法國今天各黨爭鳴，代誌就大條了。

▲法國政治強人戴高樂創設了雙首長制。（圖／公共版權照片）

馬克宏本來是左派的社會黨人。但社會黨總統歐蘭德施政不得人心。2016年，馬克宏辭去「經濟產業更新和資訊科技部長」職務，同年成立「共和國前進黨」，投入2017年法國總統大選。因為年輕俊帥、又是唸學哲學的，舌粲蓮花。最終他脫穎而出，以39歲之齡成為法國史上最年輕的總統、拿破崙一世以來最年輕的國家元首。我猜，他也可能是法國共和國時期以來最帥的國家領導人。

2022年，他連任成功。但事實證明，長得出色不等同施政能力出色。法國近年來飽受預算赤字飆高、經濟改革困難、削減退休金與社會福利和延遲退休等政策受阻、反移民浪潮等諸多問題困擾。馬克宏卻無力解決，連開徵富人稅都推動不了，在在證明他僅是一個長得好看的「空洞皮囊」。

▲馬克宏任命前歐盟負責英國脫歐首席談判代表巴尼耶出任新總理。（圖／路透社）

但個性「硬頸」的馬克宏不信邪。去年6月時，因為執政黨在5年一次的歐洲議會選舉中慘敗，馬克宏大膽豪賭，宣布解散國會，尋求最新的民意支持。結果，他的美夢破滅。左翼結盟的「新人民陣線」(NFP)成功摧毀極右派「國民聯盟」執政的機會，拿下182席居冠，馬克宏的中間派聯盟贏得168席居次。

內閣空懸到9月5日，馬克宏宣布由巴尼耶出任總理。然而新內閣一個接一個倒台，馬克厷卻一次又一次提名新的總理，始終不肯讓出權力給左派、或是極右派。他就是這麼一直耗下去。空洞派誤國，不得不推馬克宏第一！

title: 國際火線／人帥真好！「空洞派」掌門人馬克宏的無限之戰

countries: 英國 台灣 歐盟 法國


content_text:
▲準風神結構仍鬆散，成颱時間不斷延後 。（圖／翻攝weathernerds）

記者許力方／台北報導

中央氣象署表示，今年第24號颱風「風神」預估最快17日（周五）晚間生成，路徑不排除接近台灣近海。氣象專家分析最新預報，準風神因發展受阻，成颱時間不斷後延，未來幾天可能出現關鍵轉折點，路徑有南修趨勢，估計直撞菲律賓呂宋島的機率最高，不過不管颱風怎麼走，秋颱有東北季風參戰，北東大雨依然躲不掉。

氣象署稍早預報，目前位在菲律賓東方的熱帶系統預計16日晚間增強為熱帶性低氣壓，17日晚間增強為風神颱風，未來偏西往西北西移動，18日接近呂宋島東北方或東方海面，路徑以通過巴士海峽或通過呂宋島機率較高，也有少數模式預測會靠近台灣近海。

▲風神若成颱路徑預估接近台灣近海 。（圖／中央氣象署）

民間氣象愛好「台灣颱風論壇」分析，準風神目前還相當鬆散，需要一點時間整合，太平洋高壓勢力依舊強勁，穩穩地推著它往西移動，到了菲律賓附近後，遇到槽線東移迫使高壓減弱，出現關鍵轉折點，不過若高壓太強、推得太快，準風神很可能就會「直衝菲律賓」而去。

根據最新歐洲模式系集，台灣颱風論壇指出，目前預估未來的風神直撞菲律賓呂宋島機率最高，但仍無法完全排除進入巴士海峽，Google AI FNV3的模式也是類似情形。由於時序進入秋季，有東北季風參戰，無論颱風怎麼走北、東部大雨依然躲不掉。

粉絲團「觀氣象看天氣」則說，目前太平洋高壓勢力較強，準風神不僅路徑略向南修，其周遭海域空氣偏乾、下沉氣流明顯，使得發展受阻，成颱時間不斷後延，估計還需2至3天才有機會發展為颱風，加上路徑南修至菲律賓中北部，颱風暴風圈直接影響台灣的機率明顯降低。

觀氣象看天氣粉絲團認為，19日開始受準風神外圍環流將與東北季風產生共伴效應，為大台北山區及東半部帶來顯著降雨，其他地區也可能出現零星降雨。同時，東北季風增強帶來涼空氣，加上台灣上空雲量偏多，各地低溫將降至23至25 度，桃竹苗一帶更可能出現約 21至22度的低溫，整天感受偏涼。

▼準風神未來路徑預估有關鍵轉折。（圖／翻攝weathernerds）

title: 風神成颱「關鍵轉折」路徑南修可能衝登陸　半個台灣雨涼變天2字頭

countries: 台灣 菲律賓


title: 中原大學林康平教授出任IFMBE理事長　引領全球生醫工程新局

content_text:
▲中原大學林康平（圖右）榮任IFMBE理事長。（圖／中原大學提供）

記者楊淑媛／桃園報導

中原大學15日表示，該校電機工程學系終身特聘教授林康平，於10月正式接任「國際生物醫學工程聯盟」（IFMBE）理事長，成為臺灣首位擔任此職務的學者。林康平長期致力於推動跨國學術合作及醫療器材開發，是全球領先的醫學工程領域專家之一。

IFMBE是聯合國所屬之非政府組織（NGO），同時也是「國際醫學物理與工程科學聯盟」（IUPESM）及「國際科學聯合會」（ISC）之成員組織，致力於推動全球醫學與生物工程領域的研究發展與應用。2025世界醫學物理與生物醫學工程大會（WC2025）日前於澳洲阿得雷德舉行，林康平亦在大會期間完成就任交接。

▲國際生物醫學工程聯盟理事長林康平（左1）帶領新任行政首長(Officers)。（圖／中原大學提供）

中原大學引以為傲的是，林康平的大學及碩士學位皆在中原大學完成，而後取得美國加州大學洛杉磯分校生物醫學物理博士，返回母校任教。曾獲頒美國臨床工程學會「Antonio Hernandez國際臨床工程獎」、羅馬尼亞克盧日納波卡科技大學榮譽博士，且擔任國際期刊《Journal of Medical and Biological Engineering》總編輯及《Health and Technology》總編輯，深具國際影響力。

▲中原大學林康平團隊獲IUPESM_2025科學挑戰賽肯定。（圖／中原大學提供）

中原大學推動「AI於中醫之應用」，也成為本屆世界醫學物理與生物醫學工程大會（WC2025）的焦點。林康平團隊與NVIDIA合作之研究專案「建構輔助臨床中醫科學診療之大型語言模型（LLM）」，於會中舉辦專場發表會（Special Symposium），向全球學界分享研究成果，成為中醫AI應用領域之國際亮點。

中原大學醫療器材科技轉譯中心團隊亦隨同出席WC2025，展現長期深耕智慧醫療與國際合作的成果。其中，有兩位榮獲獎學金獲頒證書，包括：呂紹弘博士獲得IFMBE Early Career Researcher Travel Fellowship、吳詩儀同學得到IFMBE Students Travel Fellowship。IFMBE目前涵蓋76個會員國、逾15萬名會員，能在激烈競爭中通過嚴謹審查榮獲獎助學金與表揚，殊為不易。

countries: 羅馬尼亞 美國 臺灣 澳洲


taiwan-subdivisions: 雲林 雲林縣 斗六 二崙

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▲縣長張麗善表示，這場盛大的聯合展演是全國運動會系列活動中，展現雲林推動藝術教育深耕的成果。（圖／雲林縣政府提供，下同）

生活中心／綜合報導

眾所矚目的「114年全國運動會」即將於10月18日至23日在雲林盛大舉行，雲林以辦喜事的心情迎接這場體育界的年度盛事，其中全國運系列活動之「雲林績優藝術團隊聯合展演」於10月15日晚間7時在雲林縣立田徑場隆重登場，在全運會開幕典禮及選手之夜前，在同一個舞台上，帶來美妙的藝術饗宴，不僅與運動精神相契合，更展現著最優雅、最動人的藝術光芒。

這場盛會集結了縣內6所學校共10團頂尖校園團隊，在全國性比賽中屢獲特優，是雲林藝術教育深耕的榮耀，他們以古典舞、民俗舞、合唱、弦樂、口琴等多樣化、高水準的表演，率先為即將到來的全國運賽事揭開序幕。

縣長張麗善表示，這場盛大的聯合展演是全國運動會系列活動中，展現雲林推動藝術教育深耕的成果，雲林的孩子不僅在運動場上追求卓越、奮力不懈，也在藝術殿堂裡展現豐碩果實，特藉此機會，向所有辛勤付出的指導老師們以及努力不懈的同學們表達最深的感謝，也向所有參與此次全國運動會的選手及教練們致上崇高的敬意。

各校團隊盡顯精湛演出，雲林國中舞蹈班展現連續多年榮獲全國學生舞蹈比賽「雙特優」的實力；蔦松藝術高中舞蹈科則以發揚古典舞為核心，呈現品德與技藝兼備的風采；斗六國中舞蹈團，近年是全國學生舞蹈比賽的特優常勝軍，帶來傳遞豐收喜樂的舞蹈。

音樂的部分，由斗六國中與雲林國小合唱團這兩支合唱勁旅，連續多年在全國音樂比賽摘下特優殊榮，以優美的嗓音傳遞滿滿的溫暖力量；二崙國中口琴隊也屢獲全國賽特優，利用口琴獨有的溫潤音色，帶來耳目一新的音樂饗宴；鎮西國小特優弦樂團則透過精湛優美的弦樂合奏，帶領觀眾共享藝術薰陶之美。

雲林績優藝術團隊聯合展演不僅帶給現場所有民眾心靈上的滿足，更重要的是透過悠揚的樂聲、曼妙的舞姿，向所有即將於10月18日至23日登場的全國運動會運動選手們，獻上了最真摯、最美好的祝福！希望所有選手都能在雲林這片土地上，發揮實力、締造佳績、超越自我，同時誠摯邀請全國的好朋友，以最大的熱情為全國運動會的賽事加油喝采，共同見證這場文武盛事！

張縣長也藉機為目前討論度最高的全國運開幕儀式入場方式做說明，持有114全國運動會入場券之民眾可以於下午4:00-5:20優先入場，並據以領取紀念品。5:20過後，若場內看台區還有座位，持票排隊民眾仍可入場。如果民眾參與踴躍，看台座位區已經坐滿，就要請民眾先在場外等候觀看400吋大螢幕轉播，等開幕典禮結束(預計7：50)，選手之夜演唱會開始之前，大會會開放場外民眾進場（不需票券都可進場）。詳細規劃請大家密切注意官方網站。

title: 114全國運雲林績優藝術團隊聯合展演　展現雲林推動藝術教育深耕的成果


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▲Toyz港式火鍋店「鍋癮子」10／27起歇業。（圖／翻攝自IG／鍋癮子）

記者閔文昱／綜合報導

由知名網紅 Toyz（劉偉健）創立、位於台中七期的港式火鍋店「鍋癮子」今（15日）在社群平台突然發布公告，宣布將於10月27日起暫時歇業，引發網友熱議。官方表示，這次歇業是為了「進行內部流程調整與空間優化」，並強調會用心檢視每個細節，期望以更完善的樣貌重新與顧客見面。

公告中寫道：「感謝一路以來對鍋癮子的支持與喜愛。為了讓每一次的用餐體驗更加完善，我們將於10月27日起暫時歇業，進行內部流程調整與空間優化。」店家也向顧客喊話，「期待再次與您相聚，共享一鍋暖心的美味。」

「鍋癮子」位於台中七期惠中六街，鄰近國家歌劇院與蔦屋書店，主打港式湯底與精緻火鍋料理，包含花膠雞湯、麻辣雞煲、胡椒豬肚雞等特色湯底，自2024年12月試營運、2025年1月正式開幕以來，因創辦人Toyz話題不斷而備受矚目。

Toyz雖在去年5月入監服刑，但仍透過信件參與餐廳營運規劃與菜色試吃，甚至由女友篠崎泫協助溝通、傳遞試菜意見。開幕期間，Toyz更邀「美食公道伯」徐乃麟試吃拍片，成為話題焦點。如今餐廳宣布暫時歇業，不少粉絲留言「希望只是短暫休息」、「要回來啊啊啊啊」、「還沒找時間去..」、「椅子撐住啊」。

title: Toyz台中火鍋店「鍋癮子」突宣布歇業！官方親曝原因：期待再相聚


title: 發電量相當15600片太陽能板　桃園打造全台首座ROT綠能水資源中心

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▲桃園打造全台首座ROT綠能水資源中心，沼氣發電系統啟用。（圖／水務局提供）

記者楊淑媛／桃園報導

桃園市政府與永豐餘集團旗下豐川綠能科技15日共同宣布，全台首座以ROT（民間興建營運後轉移）促參模式轉型的綠能水資源回收中心—「龜山水資源回收中心」正式啟用沼氣發電系統，成為全國循環經濟與綠能轉型的指標案例。

市長張善政在啟用典禮中指出，桃園是台灣產業重鎮與用電核心，也是落實淨零轉型的重要前線。龜山水資源回收中心營運逾30年，服務近2萬戶、每日處理約2萬3千噸生活與事業廢水。此次引進民間投資與技術，成功以ROT方式推動轉型，成為全國第一個促參法下的綠能回收中心，不僅加速實現2050淨零排放國家目標，也為全台示範一條公私協力的永續道路。

▲水資源回收中心沼氣發電系統設置。（圖／水務局提供）

張市長強調，後續市府將推動水足跡、碳足跡盤查、環境教育場所與TAF實驗室認證等措施，全面翻轉傳統水資源回收場的營運模式，走向智慧化、低碳化。

永豐餘投控暨豐川綠能科技董事長葉惠青表示，永豐餘多年來深耕循環經濟，建構獨有的再生能源閉環系統。此次導入專利沼氣技術，將污水處理過程中產生的高有機污泥，轉化為純度超過83%的高品質沼氣，再轉為綠電，實現從「排放廢棄」走向「資源再生」的關鍵跨越。

▲水資源回收中心沼氣發電系統設置。（圖／水務局提供）

水務局表示，透過厭氧處理與沼氣發電技術，龜山水資源回收中心每年可發電約640萬度，創能量相當於超過1萬5,600片400W太陽能板的年發電量（註1），足以供應約1,540戶家庭一整年的用電需求。沼氣發電不僅能自用，還可併入台電電網供民眾使用，真正落實「轉廢為能」、「在地供電」的綠能願景。

此外，該中心更具備減廢與減碳的環境效益，年碳排可減少超過7,000噸CO2e，處理中心內污泥年產量由1,800噸降至1,000噸，減量達40%。結合水資源回收、能源再利用與碳排減量，龜山水資源回收中心已躍升為全國首座具備三重效益的智慧綠能廠。

taiwan-subdivisions: 桃園 三重 成功 龜山


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▲「機電整合」職類國手陳勁達（左）及謝育翰（右），全力備戰亞洲賽期奪得好成績。（圖／桃竹苗分署提供）

記者楊淑媛／桃園報導

勞動部勞動力發展署桃竹苗分署15日表示，第3屆亞洲技能競賽將於11月下旬登場，這是台灣時隔30年再次獲得國際技能賽事的主辦權，桃竹苗分署與台科大共同培訓的「機電整合」職類國手—陳勁達與謝育翰，目前在分署職訓場內緊鑼密鼓地接受培訓，備戰亞洲賽，誓將好成績留在台灣。

桃竹苗分署說，目前就讀台灣科技大學資訊管理系二年級的陳勁達與電機工程系三年級的謝育翰，兩人分別以穩定思維與冷靜行動見長，陳勁達邏輯嚴謹、擅長程式規劃與系統整合；謝育翰則反應敏銳、具備優異的問題分析與臨場判斷力。

▲桃竹苗分署長賴家仁（右1）期勉「機電整合」國手陳勁達（右2）及謝育翰（左2）發揮培訓實力，努力為國爭光，左1為培訓老師熊朝懿。（圖／桃竹苗分署提供）

兩位國手皆曾在工業控制與工業4.0職類中表現出色，陳勁達曾於工業4.0全國賽獲佳作；謝育翰則拿下第47屆國手選拔賽工業控制職類副國手等亮眼成績，為了突破自我、挑戰更高技術整合層級，他們決定跨職類轉戰機電整合，將原有的自動控制與程式邏輯經驗延伸至更複雜的機構組裝與團隊協作領域。

為提升在不同賽事環境中的臨場應變力與穩定度，陳勁達與謝育翰自9月24日至10月31日進駐桃竹苗分署，展開為期五週的高強度移地訓練。兩人住進分署宿舍，全心投入每日從早上8點到晚間8點的緊湊訓練，即使假日也未曾停歇。

桃竹苗分署提供完善的訓練設備與舒適的生活環境，由分署訓練師熊朝懿老師全程指導，以系統化的規劃帶領兩位國手強化技術，更著重心理韌性訓練，帶領國手面對壓力學會冷靜思考、理性分析，在一次次失誤試錯中與修正中找到穩定節奏，課程內容結合模擬賽題、錄影檢討與數據分析，針對勁達在空間配置與管理上的不足，以及育翰在時間掌控與流程銜接的細節，進行逐項調整與提升，同時深化PLC程式設計、氣壓與電路控制、系統調試等跨領域能力，透過操作不同廠牌機台，訓練在多樣設備間的應變與精準度。

為鍛鍊體能，兩人每日傍晚攀登秀才步道，以汗水累積耐力與專注。兩人在日復一日的訓練中扎實累積實力，並從過程中體悟「穩定」的重要，他們期許能以最成熟的姿態站上國際舞台，讓世界看見台灣技職教育的實力與精神。

桃竹苗分署長賴家仁指出，桃竹苗分署長期深耕技職培訓，致力於建構完善的培訓制度與資源環境，持續為我國技職競賽注入堅強戰力。展現臺灣青年在國際舞台的實力與潛能。

title: 挑戰亞洲技能競賽　桃竹苗分署培訓「機電整合」國手陳勁達、謝育翰

countries: 台灣 臺灣


taiwan-subdivisions: 花蓮縣 光復

title: 中央救災群組遭集體退群！季連成批「心態可議」花蓮縣府回應了

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▲花蓮縣府行研處長陳建村表示，沒有任何花蓮縣政府的長官授意要同仁退出工作群組。（圖／記者王兆麟翻攝資料照片）

記者王兆麟／花蓮報導

馬太鞍溪堰塞湖潰壩造成花蓮光復嚴重災情，正當中央與地方持續投入搶修與復原之際，14日竟傳出花蓮縣政府民政處代理處長李葳帶頭相關承辦及科長退出中央民政的聯繫工作群組，遭中央前進協調所總協調官季連成批評此舉「心態可議」。

工作群組名為「民政聯繫：馬太鞍溪堰塞湖專案」，群組內34人，其中有花蓮縣政府民政處長、科長及承辦3人。

縣府行研處長陳建村15日面對媒體詢問表示，已經加回這個群組了。但據查證，目前只有承辦科員先加回，李葳尚未加回。

陳建村說，沒有任何花蓮縣政府的長官授意要同仁退出工作群組，縣府同仁已經加回這個群組了並再強調，所有關於救災的工作群組，花蓮縣政府相關人員都會保留，落實救災重建工作。

據了解，縣府民政處反映保全戶清查等人手不足，建議中央派員協助，群組回覆花蓮縣府：「倘光復鄉公所量能不足，仍請縣府優先協調鄰近未受災的公所或戶所人力協助完成。」

▲據了解，花蓮縣府民政處代理處長李葳尚未加回群組。（圖／記者王兆麟攝）

當天晚間花蓮縣府民政處代理處長李葳隨即退出群組，由民政處承辦留下訊息：「代轉本府民政處代理處長建議，爾後貴部如有任何處分或行政指導，請以正式公文或會議傳遞」，隨後承辦科員跟科長也退出群組。

由於縣府相關人員退出該群組引發各方關切，15日花蓮縣府也發文對外澄清表示，因LINE相關群組多且多為重複內容，為避免重複通報後誤傳，民政處自行調整LINE群組3名成員。當下仍留有一位科長級主管人員在群組內，並未與中央救災群組中斷聯繫，媒體所稱「全部退群、集體退群」之事發生與事實不符，特此再次澄清。

花蓮縣府對外澄清全文如下：因LINE相關群組多且多為重複內容，為避免重複通報後誤傳，民政處自行調整LINE群組3名成員。當下仍留有一位科長級主管人員在群組內，並未與中央救災群組中斷聯繫，媒體所稱「全部退群、集體退群」之事發生與事實不符，特此再次澄清。

同時，實體會議部分中央前進協調所與花蓮縣政府前進指揮所每日定期會議，加上不定期隨時討論，所有防救災工作均可處理，並未有任何救災工作中斷情事，請媒體及網路民眾勿過度渲染。

縣府強調，災害發生以來，中央與地方均全力投入救災與復原，當下縣府也啟動保全戶清查、撤離安置及物資協調等工作。災害期間的所有決策與執行均以民眾安全為首要，無論透過群組或現場協調機制，資訊皆即時暢通、運作順利，絕無怠忽職守情事。未來將持續檢討精進通訊與通報流程，確保防救災指令更快速、更一致，共同守護花蓮縣民的生命財產安全。


taiwan-subdivisions: 七股 七股區

title: 在地照顧最溫暖！　樂活七股龍山、義合日照雙雙奪「優等」肯定

content_text:
▲七股區長李佳隆率地方代表前往樂活龍山與義合日照中心祝賀，肯定團隊榮獲「優等」評鑑成果。（記者林東良翻攝，下同）

記者林東良／台南報導

台南市七股地區長照服務再傳佳績！財團法人台南市私立樂活社會福利慈善事業基金會旗下「樂活七股龍山日照中心」與「樂活七股義合日照中心」開辦兩年來深耕偏鄉，今年度長期照顧服務評鑑雙雙榮獲「優等」肯定，展現專業照顧與地方連結的亮眼成果。

七股區長李佳隆、龍山里里長王文財及義合里里長黃文乾15日一同前往兩家中心祝賀，向長輩與樂活團隊表達肯定與感謝。李佳隆區長逐一向中心長輩獻上平安健康祝福，並邀請團隊一同於中心大門口張貼紅榜單，祝賀龍山與義合兩中心榮獲評鑑優等，現場氣氛溫馨熱鬧。

樂活龍山日照中心設立於龍山里漁民活動中心二樓，以「海洋風」主題打造舒適多元空間，結合健康促進課程與延緩失能活動，讓長輩每日參與豐富互動。因位於海線社區，長輩多從事剖蚵與養殖相關產業，中心因此被譽為「海線最接地氣的長照機構」。

樂活義合日照中心則設立於社區公共空間，經樂活基金會活化再利用後，轉型為照顧據點，提供日間照顧與家庭支持服務。義合里長黃文乾表示，樂活長照網絡進駐偏鄉，對失能、失智與弱勢長輩是一大福音，感謝團隊長期投入與用心經營。

樂活基金會秉持「在地照顧、溫暖共好」理念，積極串連醫療、社區與家庭力量，打造貼近民眾生活的照顧模式，提供個別化、彈性且專業的服務設計，協助長輩在地安老、尊嚴生活。此次兩家中心榮獲優等評鑑，不僅是對專業團隊的肯定，也象徵七股地區長照服務能量的持續進步與希望。


people: 洪申翰 韓國瑜 顧立雄

title: 普發現金1萬倒數！立院協商「3.5小時拍板」保留8案　周五三讀衝關

content_text:
▲立院拍板韌性預算週五三讀 。（圖／記者屠惠剛攝）

記者閔文昱／綜合報導

立法院15日下午召開朝野黨團協商，討論攸關全民「普發現金1萬元」的《強化國安韌性特別預算案》。歷經3個多小時協商，朝野最終達成共識，僅保留8案送17日院會表決，其餘預算全數通過，預計同日三讀闖關成功，普發現金有望於11月下旬入帳。

立法院長韓國瑜主持協商，與會官員包括主計長陳淑姿、財政部長莊翠雲、勞動部長洪申翰、農業部長陳駿季及國防部長顧立雄等。三黨團代表簽署協商結論，表達一致支持。韓國瑜強調，保留案雖送院會表決，但部會仍可持續與各黨團溝通，「盡量求共識」。

這次特別預算總額上限5700億元，歲出5500億元，其中普發現金佔2360億元，另預留200億元彈性額度供產業支持。協商過程中，朝野對部分國防及宣導經費仍有意見，最終保留8案，包括凍結勞保與健保基金各1億元、刪除海委會強化國土防衛能量預算2億元、減列農漁村外銷冷藏經費25億元等。

在野黨也嚴審國防項目，針對「戰備飲用水」預算確定刪除4億元。對此，國防部表示尊重立法院決定，將依程序調整相關計畫。至於備受關注的「老屋修繕」及「防災物資整備」經費，也列為保留案待表決。

韓國瑜表示，本周五（17日）院會將宣讀通過非保留項目後，隨即表決保留部分，完成二、三讀程序。行政院預計於法定程序完成後，最快11月底前全民即可領到1萬元現金。


title: 曾為基隆寫歌爆紅日本！林右昌哀悼黃小玫：失去優秀年輕創作者

content_text:
▲黃小玫罹癌辭世，年僅34歲。（圖／好韻多多提供）

記者閔文昱／綜合報導

34歲創作歌手黃小玫（SANDY HXM）因罹患罕見疾病「NK／T細胞淋巴癌」病逝消息曝光後，令粉絲與藝文圈震驚與不捨。前民進黨秘書長、前基隆市長林右昌今（15日）也在臉書發文悼念，回憶她曾擔任基隆觀光代言人時的合作點滴，感嘆「她那麼優秀、又那麼年輕，真的太讓人難過」。

林右昌表示，第一次與黃小玫見面是在疫情後期，當時基隆市政府觀銷處邀請她擔任「24小時不斷電・玩基隆」代言人，他立刻被她「正面積極又細膩的熱情感染，滿滿的正能量」。他回憶，黃小玫為了拍攝企劃，花整整一天時間親自探索基隆，並創作主題曲與MV《24小時基隆》，用音樂向世界展現基隆的城市魅力。

他感嘆，「今天聽到她逝世的消息，除了震驚還有更多的不捨，我們失去了一位優秀的年輕創作者，願她安息。」貼文一出，許多網友留言哀悼，「很陽光的一位女孩，願她一路好走」、「謝謝她，願她安息」、「三語流利、外型亮麗，真的是天妒英才。R.I.P.」。

黃小玫以清新氣質與三語創作聞名，2018年以日語自創曲《我們在台灣見吧！》及「台灣燈會」主題曲《海與光》打開知名度，更以《24小時基隆》在「日本國際觀光影像節」奪下「最佳東亞影像獎」，讓台灣之美被更多國際觀眾看見。

她的團隊在粉專發布訃聞時表示，即使治療過程極為艱辛，黃小玫仍保持積極正面的態度，「她深深愛著台灣，將熱情化為動人的影像與音樂」，盼她的創作能繼續溫暖大家，也讓專輯《Appreciation》的精神延續下去。

references: 網友 臉書

countries: 日本 台灣

taiwan-subdivisions: 基隆 基隆市


content_text:
▲首屆「雲嶺奔羊會」登場，萬羊奔馳清境高山草原。（圖／清境農場提供，下同）

記者高堂堯／南投報導

清境農場於今天首度舉辦「雲嶺奔羊會」，共出動36隻可愛的瓦萊黑鼻羊領銜奔跑於高山草原間，場面壯觀，吸引大批遊客到場共襄盛舉。

今天的活動以「雲南踩街」揭開序幕，搭配牧場遊行、小羊照相館、泡泡秀、打卡任務等多元內容，讓民眾近距離與萌羊互動、合影留念；「有獎徵答 × 牧場大遊行」更將氣氛推向高潮，遊客熱情參與、拍照打卡不間斷，現場笑聲與歡呼聲此起彼落。

退輔會副主委傅正誠特地到場，表示今天的奔羊會特別有看頭，除有可愛的綿羊奔跑，更邀請到蒙古馬術團隊與雲南先鋒隊伍共同參與，讓活動充滿國際特色與文化亮點；而羊群奔馳不只是表演，更是高山畜牧生活的真實縮影，另早年滇緬游擊隊在清境駐紮、帶來雲南文化，在美麗山景和草原上形塑地方獨特的風土樣貌，系列活動自今天一路延伸到十月底的火把節，形成文化節慶的串聯與延續，希望民眾能藉此更深刻感受牧場生活的節奏，並體會清境獨有的自然風貌與人文魅力。

清境農場表示，今年首度舉辦「雲嶺奔羊會」，希望打造屬於清境的特色活動品牌，結合自然景觀與牧場文化，吸引更多旅客親近高山、體驗生態；農場也預告，未來將持續推出多元體驗活動，邀請民眾再訪清境，感受「雲端上的幸福牧場」。

title: 清境農場首辦「雲嶺奔羊會」　36隻瓦萊黑鼻羊要與遊客親密互動


title: 臉書留言「問候黃捷媽媽」挨告！法官判無罪

content_text:
▲男子在黃捷的臉書留下激進言論，挨告後法官判無罪。（資料照／記者屠惠剛攝）

記者柯振中／綜合報導

北市一名男子阿勇（化名）因在民進黨立委黃捷的臉書留言辱罵，因而挨告公然侮辱罪。案件審理後，士林地方法院認為，阿勇的言論屬公共事務激烈表達，且未構成公然侮辱，最終判決無罪。

根據判決書內容，黃捷曾在臉書發布貼文，分享一天的行程。怎料阿勇2025年4月間竟在該貼文下方留言辱罵，寫下包含「X妳XX黃捷」、「X妳老X」等話語，黃捷的服務處主任發現後，立即報警處理。

對此，士林地院法官認為，雖然阿勇的留言使用粗鄙語言，但內容明顯針對黃捷在立法院的政策立場及行為進行批評，屬於公共事務範疇。且阿勇僅一次性使用該語言，並沒有反覆進行攻擊，留言屬於偶發性政治言論，並未造成實際名譽損害。

法官考量到言論自由的重要性及政治性言論的特殊性，且黃捷身為民意代表，對於涉及公共領域的言行及政策選擇，本來就難以期待獲得所有民眾的認同，偶有針砭、譏諷或是激烈衝撞也屬難免。

法官衡量，喜歡讚好、厭惡指摘是人之常情，但刑法絕非、也不可能是保護個人只依照自己所願聽聞褒揚，而禁絕一切諷刺或激烈反對言論的工具，尤其言論涉及政治意見表達時更是如此，因此不應對阿勇以公然侮辱的罪責相繩，最終判阿勇無罪。全案仍可上訴。


taiwan-subdivisions: 鹿野 和平

title: 聲優媽媽推薦超好看動畫...女兒一看傻「我有配音」：先裝不知道


title: 國際火線／人帥真好！「空洞派」掌門人馬克宏的無限之戰

countries: 台灣 英國 法國 歐盟


title: 關掉一台還能做出落葉飄！　殲-35已裝上新中推渦扇-19


countries: 台灣 日本

title: 住溫泉飯店玩漆藝　虹夕諾雅谷關「蒔繪＋金繼手作」冬日專案先看

content_text:
▲虹夕諾雅 谷關甫獲首屆米其林星鑰（MICHELIN Key）榮譽。（圖／記者彭懷玉攝）

記者彭懷玉／綜合報導

甫獲米其林星鑰（MICHELIN Key）的「虹夕諾雅 谷關」，將於12月1日起推出「漆脈相傳」冬季限定專案。除了近距離展示光山行「蓬萊塗」、「千層堆漆」等珍品，旅人還可運用園內植物進行日本漆藝「蒔繪」、「金繼」技法，沉浸於工藝美學之中。

▲旅客能近距離一窺光山行創始人賴高山、第二代賴作明「蓬萊塗」、「千層堆漆」、「漆陶」等珍品。（圖／業者提供）

持續挖掘台灣在地特色的「虹夕諾雅 谷關」，今年冬季邀請台中「光山行」第三代主理人賴信佑，引領旅客探索在地漆藝文化。旅客能近距離一窺光山行創始人賴高山、第二代賴作明「蓬萊塗」、「千層堆漆」、「漆陶」等珍品，聆聽台灣漆器發展脈絡與藝術創作，並以園內植物進行日本漆藝「蒔繪」、「金繼」技法，深入瞭解漆器文化。

▲入住時以蒔繪漆器盛裝和菓子與日本番茶迎客。（圖／業者提供）

亮點一：漆器迎賓，開啟優雅序章 入住時以蒔繪漆器盛裝和菓子與日本番茶迎客，搭配漆藝書籍與茶席，讓旅客在光澤與紋理間初識漆器之美，為隔日體驗暖身。

▲▼旅客可親手體驗「蒔繪」植物拓印灑金粉；以金粉修復陶器的「金繼」。（圖／業者提供）

亮點二：匠人講堂 × 漆藝手作 由光山行第三代賴信佑講述漆器歷史與美學，現場展出蓬萊塗《日月潭少女泛舟》與《千層堆漆花器》等經典之作。旅客可親手體驗「蒔繪」植物拓印灑金粉，以及以金粉修復陶器的「金繼」，在創作中感受工藝的療癒力量。

▲清晨於客房享用以蒔繪漆器盛裝的山林早餐。（圖／業者提供） 亮點三：蒔漆朝食，山林中的極致款待 清晨於客房享用以蒔繪漆器盛裝的山林早餐，當季食材搭配器物光澤，映照晨霧山景，感受一場味覺與視覺的靜謐饗宴。

▲今年冬季邀請台中「光山行」第三代主理人賴信佑，引領旅客探索在地漆藝文化。（圖／業者提供） 業者表示，台灣漆器工藝始於1928年，谷關因鄰近大雪山與八仙山林場，成為材料重要產地。那時，來自日本的工藝師山中公在台中建立傳習所，將香川縣的「讚岐雕」技法帶進台灣，並從原住民文化中汲取靈感，創造出融合本土風格的「蓬萊塗」，讓漆器不只是器物，更是一種承載土地記憶的工藝。

這股風潮，也影響了後來的台灣職人，例如光山行創辦人賴高山，他遠赴東京藝術大學學習漆藝，回台後致力推廣「能真正走進生活的工藝」。雖然漆藝發展曾一度沉寂，如今又以時尚與永續的姿態回歸大眾視野。

▲虹夕諾雅 谷關今年冬天與光山行合推深度文化住宿專案。（圖／記者彭懷玉攝） 虹夕諾雅 谷關希望讓旅客不只是「看見」，而是「親自感受」，因此與光山行合作推出深度文化住宿專案。當旅人泡著溫泉、聽著匠人講述百年工藝的故事，再親手創作一件漆藝作品時，會發現原來工藝不僅是展示，而是一種可以帶走的溫度。

「漆脈相傳」文化體驗專案12月1日至2026年2月11日限期登場，活動採三天兩夜，固定於每周一出發，每日僅接待一組旅客（最多2人），不過12月29日至31日跨年連假不適用。專案費用每組70,000元（含稅，不含服務費與住宿費），內容包括一次漆藝講堂、蒔繪手作、金繼修復體驗各一場，並安排以純手工蒔繪漆器盛裝的客房早餐「蒔漆朝食」一次，另外提供兩晚會席料理與一次早餐，採信件預約。

▲誠品行旅The Lounge大廳書坊。（圖／記者彭懷玉攝）

另外，座落於台北松山文創園區的誠品行旅，即日起至11月11日18:00於誠品線上獨家開賣「悠遊旅誠 ∣ 饗樂套券」，共有兩種組合可選：四張套券4,360元、十張套券10,900元，平均每張僅1,090元。套券可跨店使用於旗下三大餐飲品牌 The Chapter、In Between之間餐廳與聚聚樓，也可依張數兌換飯店客房，五張可住雅緻客房、七張兌換經典客房、九張升等行政套房，使用期限一路延長至2026年9月30日。購買十張套券組再加贈1,000元抵用券乙張。

▲即日起至11月11日於誠品線上開賣「悠遊旅誠 ∣ 饗樂套券」，也可依張數兌換客房住宿。（圖／業者提供）

▲誠品行旅客房陽台飽覽台北市景，直面台北大巨蛋。（圖／業者提供）

誠品行旅全館客房皆設有獨立陽台，可遠眺台北101與台北大巨蛋，或俯瞰松菸四季綠意，對鐵道迷而言更能飽覽國家鐵道博物館園區全景。房內配備 Bose 音響、Nespresso 咖啡機、Dyson 吹風機與專屬浴缸閱讀頸枕，營造兼具品味與溫度的休憩空間。


title: 曾為基隆寫歌爆紅日本！林右昌哀悼黃小玫：失去優秀年輕創作者


people: 應曉薇 徐文彬 蔣萬安

title: 快訊／應曉薇明加開羈押庭　女兒害怕：越來越看不透台灣的法律

content_text:
▲應曉薇、女兒應佳妤。（圖／記者徐文彬攝）

記者鄒鎮宇／綜合報導

台北市議員應曉薇因涉及京華城案，自2024年起遭羈押禁見超過一年，今年9月初以3000萬元交保獲釋。不過，近日她在議會質詢時談及自己案情，並針對相關議題發表意見，引發台北地檢署認為已違反不得騷擾、恐嚇證人的交保附帶條件，因此向台北地方法院合議庭提出建議，要求重新評估羈押的必要性。法院已通知應曉薇，將於明天（16日）上午11點出庭接受調查。

對此，應曉薇的女兒15日晚間在社群媒體上表達心聲，表示剛得知母親需再度出庭，認為媽媽只是履行議員職責，堅持做她認為正確的事。她也提到，若是自己也會提醒市長蔣萬安，會議中偷拍及偷錄影行為不妥，市府與議會之間出現這種狀況，「除了媽媽說的公務倫理之外，恐怕更多的是白色恐怖，那不是挑釁，而是一個真切的警告。」

應女兒進一步批評檢方手段無所不用其極，直言法院也辛苦了，並坦言對明天的調查感到害怕，「難道台灣的法律是為了一路追殺來掩飾錯誤嗎？我只希望，審判長與法官能記得，在權力與良知之間，永遠有人在看，也永遠有人仍然相信公義。」

應曉薇上周四（10月9日）復出議會，在市長蔣萬安發表施政報告後，趁質詢機會吐苦水說參加議員與市長的便當會，竟被都市計畫委員會人員要都發局出席人員偷錄影，「我覺得1個做賊心虛的人，為什麼要錄影呢？」等語。

另外，她14日針對國宅改建質詢都發局，當面問都發局長簡瑟芳「有沒有覺得我再施壓妳」，並提及京華城案出現的「研議」字眼，意有所指「『研議』這2個字多可怕啊！」、「在檢方的立場就叫做『事前的圖利』，你們要小心欸！」

對此，台北地檢署認為已違反交保附加不得騷擾、恐嚇證人的禁令，建請台北地院合議庭重新審視羈押必要性，合議庭已通知應曉薇明天（16日）上午11點出庭調查。


title: 發電量相當15600片太陽能板　桃園打造全台首座ROT綠能水資源中心

taiwan-subdivisions: 桃園 三重 龜山 成功


title: 中原大學林康平教授出任IFMBE理事長　引領全球生醫工程新局

countries: 羅馬尼亞 美國 臺灣 澳洲


title: 日本2大商用車巨頭「公布最新合作進度」！新公司2026年正式啟動

content_text:
圖文／7Car 小七車觀點

Daimler Truck 與 Toyota Motor Corporation 宣布，旗下 Mitsubishi Fuso 與 Hino Motors 的整合計畫正式命名為「ARCHION Corporation」，預定於 2026 年 4 月 1 日正式開始營運。該公司已於 2025 年 6 月完成最終協議簽署，總部將設於日本東京品川區。名稱「ARCHION」源自「arches」與「eons」兩字結合，象徵企業之間的連結與持續創造未來移動價值的理念。

ARCHION 的成立宗旨為「Delivering the future of commercial mobility（實現商用移動的未來）」，結合 Daimler Truck、Toyota、Mitsubishi Fuso 與 Hino Motors 四方的技術與資源，致力於提供安全、可靠且具永續性的商用運輸解決方案。新公司將透過整合研發、生產、採購與物流等核心業務，提升營運效率與市場競爭力，同時持續保持 Fuso 與 Hino 品牌的獨立性與特色。

在產品與技術層面，ARCHION 將採行「整合平台策略（Integrated Platform Strategy）」，藉由協同開發重型、中型與輕型車輛底盤平台，以達成產品優化、成本效益提升與新車開發時程縮短。為進一步強化生產體系，雙方計畫於 2028 年底前將日本國內五座卡車製造據點整併為三座，分別為川崎、古河與新田工廠；其中 Hino Motors 的羽村工廠將移交予 Toyota，Mitsubishi Fuso 的中津工廠則整併至川崎廠，以提升生產效率與品質管理。

ARCHION 預計將整合後所產生的資源與成本效益，部分投入於 CASE（Connected、Autonomous、Shared、Electric）領域的技術發展。特別是在氫燃料電池技術方面，將結合 Toyota 與 Daimler Truck 的研發成果，打造世界級氫能動力系統；同時也將加速自動駕駛技術與車聯網應用的開發，提升車隊管理效率與用戶體驗。

ARCHION 的代表董事暨執行長（CEO）將由現任 Mitsubishi Fuso 總裁 Karl Deppen 擔任，財務長（CFO）由 Hetal Laligi 出任，技術長（CTO）則由現任 Hino Motors 社長 Satoshi Ogiso 兼任。公司目標在獲得主管機關批准後，將於 2026 年正式運作，並以東京證券交易所主要市場上市為長期規劃。Daimler Truck 與 Toyota 預計各持有 25% 股權。雙方強調，整合不僅是規模結合，更是為商用車產業創造永續發展與技術領先的新平台。


countries: 臺灣 台灣

title: 挑戰亞洲技能競賽　桃竹苗分署培訓「機電整合」國手陳勁達、謝育翰