Lakers humbled by lowly KingsWINNING STREAK: Pascal Siakam led the scoring as the Indiana Pacers bagged their third straight victory with an upset 98-96 win over the Boston CelticsAFP, LOS ANGELESLuka Doncic on Monday scored 42 points, but could not prevent the Los Angeles Lakers stumbling to a third straight defeat with a 124-112 loss against the lowly Sacramento Kings. Doncic and James were among only four Lakers players to make double figures, with Deandre Ayton finishing with 13 points and Jaxson Hayes adding 12 off the bench. Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers, top, goes to the basket against the Sacramento Kings in their NBA game in Sacramento, California, on Monday. “We literally couldn’t make a shot,” Lakers coach J.J. Redick said. In other games, the Indiana Pacers bagged their third straight victory with an upset 98-96 win over the Boston Celtics in Indianapolis.

Slot angered by Szoboszlai error in Liverpool victoryAFP, LIVERPOOL, EnglandDominik Szoboszlai on Monday produced a sublime goal and a ridiculous error as Liverpool eased to a 4-1 win over third-tier Barnsley to reach the FA Cup fourth round. Barnsley head coach Conor Hourihane claimed that Szoboszlai’s lax move was disrespectful and not one he would have tried in an English Premier League game. Barnsley’s Adam Phillips, right, celebrates scoring as Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai looks dejected in their FA Cup match at Anfield in Liverpool, England, on Monday. “I don’t think you should do that in a FA Cup game, or a League Cup game or in a friendly game, or in a training session. Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike, left, scores past Barnsley goalkeeper Murphy Cooper in their FA Cup match at Anfield in Liverpool, England, on Monday.

Military dependents’ village deliberations unfruitfulBy Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNALawmakers yesterday failed to reach a consensus on expanding redevelopment of military dependents’ villages, with opponents saying the plan would use taxpayer money to enrich certain people. Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei TimesThe act defines “military dependents’ villages” as buildings built before 1980. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus criticized Ma’s version as writing a blank check for state funding for dependents’ village reconstruction. The verdict of an administrative lawsuit involving Tsu Ren Eighth Village (慈仁八村) in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) said that the village was not considered a dependents’ village and should not be eligible for a rebuilding project, he said. Current regulations should be observed for the sake of legal stability, as well as the fairness and equality of dependents’ village reconstruction projects, Shih added.

Kids’ seaweed products recalledHEAVY METALS ISSUE: Six seaweed products had lead levels up to 4 times the maximum allowable and cadmium levels up to 50 times the limit, the FDA saidBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterTests of six seaweed products marketed toward young children and infants showed that they contained lead and cadmium in excess of legal limits, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday, advising parents to not give them to their children. Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug AdministrationThe products had lead levels 1.4 to 4.4 times the limit and cadmium levels 22 to 53 times the limit, the magazine reported. The companies supplying the six products — BEBE Kids’ Crispy Seaweed (BEBE 貝兒純淨海苔), LUSOL Unsalted and Unflavored Baked Seaweed (LUSOL 無鹽無調味烘烤海苔), YummyBaby 100% Pure Olive Oil Seaweed (芽米寶貝100%純橄欖油海苔), MB BABY Seaweed (MB BABY 萌寶寶海苔), HanAbbaDiary Kids’ Seaweed (韓爸田園日記嚴選初收孩苔) and Ibobomi Unflavored Kids’ Crispy Seaweed (Ibobomi 無調味海苔片) — have been ordered to recall them and remove them from the shelves, with 25,047 items removed as of Monday, the FDA said. Testing showed that the six products had lead levels ranging from 0.14mg/kg to 0.206mg/kg and cadmium levels from 0.912mg/kg to 2.013mg/kg, said Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘), director of the FDA’s Northern Taiwan Management Center. MB BABY Seaweed had lead levels of 0.206mg/kg, about four times the allowable limit, while HanAbbaDiary Kids’ Seaweed had chromium levels of 2.013mg/kg, or about 50 times the allowable limit, Liu said.

Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Photo: Chen Tsai-ling, Taipei TimesLiu, Lin and a woman surnamed Cheng (鄭) in March 2014 established Hong Kong OnePlus Co (香港一加公司) in Hong Kong, prosecutors said. They set up Hong Kong OnePlus’ Taiwan branch the following year, with Cheng in charge, they said. In May 2019, the company was renamed Hong Kong Soundna Consulting Co (聲赫公司), they said. She said the Taiwan branch was in charge of R&D for OnePlus, they added.

Arizona fabs could meet US’ chip demand: economistStaff writer, with CNAIf Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) increases its investment in Arizona, it would likely operate dual production hubs in Taiwan and the US, with US capacity nearly sufficient to meet that country’s local demand, an economist said yesterday. Photo: BloombergThe chipmaker could build new advanced wafer fabs as well as IC packaging and testing facilities as part of the arrangement, Liu said. “If TSMC builds new wafer fabs in Arizona, a dual-hub production model will take shape, gradually moving away from the current model of a single hub in Taiwan,” Liu said. TSMC is investing US$65 billion to build three advanced wafer fabs in Arizona. In March last year, TSMC pledged to invest an additional US$100 billion to build three more fabs, two IC assembly plants and a research-and-development center.

Taiwan eases work, residency restrictions for foreign professionalsStaff writer, with CNANew measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, according to the National Development Council (NDC) on Tuesday. Photo: CNAPreviously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company sponsor their work permit in order to work legally in Taiwan. Spouses of foreign specialist professionals can now also apply to work freely in Taiwan, instead of having to apply for an employer-backed work permit. As a result, the number of foreign professionals in Taiwan has "increased significantly" from around 30,000 to "nearly 80,000," he said. "Basically covering a foreign professional’s career development, family life, and retirement in Taiwan," the amendments seek to ensure "foreign professional talent in Taiwan have a pleasant work environment and happy life," Jan said.

Kaohsiung makes top-10 container port listBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterThe Port of Kaohsiung was rated as one of the world’s top 10 container ports last year, despite a decrease in the number of containers it handled, Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) said yesterday. The Norwegian Sun cruise ship is docked at the Port of Kaohsiung on Dec. 2. It said that 567 cruise ships made port calls, bringing in 1.15 million travelers, surpassing 1.05 million travelers in 2019. Before the pandemic, 90 percent of the cruise ships docking at the Port of Keelung were “contemporary” cruise ships, while “premium,” “luxury” and “expedition” cruise ships accounted for only 2.7 percent, 5.7 percent and 1 percent respectively, it said. The company has established a cruise ship marketing division in light of the increases, while its branch office in Keelung is to launch a cruise ship business development department on July 1, Chou said.

Former Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan named SEF chairmanStaff Writer, with CNAFormer Legislative Speaker Su Jia- chyuan (蘇嘉全) has been appointed by President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) as chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), according to the Presidential Office on Tuesday. Su had long been widely tipped for the post after his predecessor, Frank Wu (吳豊山), announced his resignation on Dec. 18. Then-legislative speaker Su Jia-chyuan announces the launch of official legislative television channels at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Feb. 14, 2017. Kuo said Lai also expressed hope that Su will strengthen SEF’s operations and help promote "positive and healthy" cross-strait exchanges. Apart from serving as Legislative Speaker, Su, a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has previously served in posts including legislator, Pingtung County magistrate, interior minister, and secretary-general to the president, according to the statement.

Pentagon embracing Grok as it draws global outcryAP, WASHINGTONUS Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Monday said that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok would join Google’s generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military’s data as possible into the developing technology. The announcement comes just days after Grok — which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk — drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Photo: ReutersMalaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the UK’s independent online safety watchdog on Monday announced an investigation. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make anti-Semitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several anti-Semitic posts. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.

However, the travel agencies actually applied for single-use Chinese passports on their behalf, he said. Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng, center, speaks to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei yesterday. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. Travel and tourism podcaster Hua Yeh (花爺) on Friday last week said that some Chinese travel agencies say they could provide visas that guaranteed “quick passage” through Russian customs, but what they call visas are “one-time” Chinese passports. The NIA said that according to the Regulations on Restoration of Taiwanese Citizenship to Chinese Citizens (在台原有戶籍大陸地區人民申請回復台灣地區人民身分許可辦法), one must have made significant contributions to Taiwan’s national defense, bolster the nation’s international image or have performed actions to help uphold the stability of Taiwanese society for their application to be considered.

Defense is priority, US tells TPP: sourceNATIONAL INTERESTS: The US hopes that the TPP can set aside partisan differences and demonstrate a unified stance on defense issues, a source told the ‘Liberty Times’By Su Yung-yao, Lee Wen-hsin, Hollie Younger and Fion KhanStaff reporters,with staff writers and CNAThe purpose of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang’s (黃國昌) whirlwind visit to Washington this week was to reiterate that improving Taiwan’s national defense capabilities is an “urgent and non-deferrable” priority, a Washington-based source familiar with the matter said. Photo: CNAThe four-person TPP delegation, which also comprises TPP caucus director Vicky Chen (陳智菡), former TPP International Department head Lin Tzu-yu (林子宇) and party member Wang An-hsiang (王安祥), left Taiwan on Sunday. The delegation on Monday held meetings in Washington with officials from the US National Security Council and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Unity would be a win-win outcome for the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan and the TPP, the source added. While countries in the first island chain are stepping up national defense efforts, there would be severe consequences if Taiwan lagged behind, the source said.

Study shows traits in cancer cells help tumors resist drugsBy Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNAResearchers have identified adaptive traits in cancer cells that help tumors resist immunotherapy drugs after extended targeted treatment, revealing new hurdles to effective cancer treatment. The team found that “therapeutic stress” might prompt cancer cells to produce an inflammatory mediator to block the immune system’s neural pathways, the statement said. National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University professor of clinical medicine Yang Muh-hwa, front, and other researchers pose for a photograph at a lab in Taipei’s Beitou District in an undated photograph. After being subjected to extended immunotherapy, cancer cells release tumor necrosis factor-alpha, triggering a previously unknown process named STAT1 lysine 637 acetylation, which disrupts the function of interferon gamma, the statement said. Understanding the mechanisms tumors employ to defeat immunotherapy — which is hailed as a milestone in cancer treatment — would help doctors use biomarker-guided sequences and combinations to improve outcomes, Yang said.

Beijing demands the EU ban Taiwanese politiciansBy Helen Davidson / The GuardianChinese officials have been pushing “legal advice” on European countries, saying the EU’s border laws require them to ban entry to Taiwanese politicians, more than half a dozen diplomats and officials familiar with the matter said. The officials made demarches to European embassies in Beijing, or through local embassies directly to European governments in their capital cities, warning the European countries not to “trample on China’s red lines,” the European diplomats and ministries said. Photo: APThey occurred in November and last month, and were at least partly in response to Taiwanese officials’ recent trips to Europe. In some cases, they also referred to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, or suggested the European countries follow the UN’s example and bar all Taiwanese from government buildings. “Beijing is trying as much as they can to say that you should really think a little bit before letting Taiwanese officials in.

Hospital visits for flu rose about 10% last week: FDAEPIDEMIC THRESHOLD: Among hospital visits for flu-like illnesses, 9.7 percent sought treatment at emergency rooms, almost at the level defining an epidemic, it saidBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterHospital visits for flu-like illnesses increased by about 10 percent last week from a week earlier, with local flu activity expected to peak next month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Flu viruses were the most common pathogen spreading in the past few weeks, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said, citing respiratory pathogen monitoring data. There were 91,842 hospital visits for flu-like illnesses at outpatient departments and emergency rooms last week, up 9.6 percent from the previous week, Guo said. Photo: CNAAmong the hospital visits last week, 9.7 percent sought treatment at emergency rooms, almost at the epidemic threshold of 11 percent, he said, adding that influenza A(H3N2) was the dominant strain over the past few weeks. Twenty-three cases of severe flu complications and three flu-related deaths were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, he said, adding that since the start of the flu season on Oct. 1 last year, there have been 441 severe cases and 86 deaths.