Singapore Airlines adding four more flights to TaipeiINCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, FridayBy Shelley Shan

The kill line is a dangerous place to be. Illustration: Mountain PeopleIn the past few months, Chinese media have been flooded with discussion of the so-called “kill line” in US society. The social media posts, news articles, podcasts and blogs describe a vision of the US as a dystopian capitalist hell. Promoting the supposed “kill line” in the US could be one helpful distraction. Commentators who have tried to draw a more explicit link between the kill line meme and China’s domestic problems have been swiftly censored.

Sri Lanka declares four-day weekCONSERVING FUEL: State institutions are to operate only four days a week starting tomorrow, with the measures also applying to schools and universitiesAFP, COLOMBOSri Lanka on Monday announced a shorter working week to conserve its scarce fuel reserves as it prepares for a prolonged war in the Middle East. Sri Lankan Commissioner-General of Essential Services Prabath Chandrakeerthi said state institutions would operate only four days a week starting tomorrow. Sri Lanka imports all of its oil and also buys coal for electricity generation. Sri Lanka buys refined petroleum products from Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, while crude oil for its Iran-built refinery is sourced from the Middle East. Sri Lanka defaulted on its US$46 billion foreign debt in 2022 after the country ran out of foreign exchange.

Taiwan’s overdue name changeBy Rath Wang 王健智Taiwanese pragmatism has long been praised when it comes to addressing Chinese attempts to erase Taiwan from the international stage. “Taipei” and the even more inaccurate and degrading “Chinese Taipei,” imposed titles required to participate in international events, are loathed by Taiwanese. Not only does it hamper Taiwan’s efforts to project its soft power, it also warps the international perception of Taiwan, severely restricting countries from aiding Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. Throughout history the power of public perception has influenced democracies. That was evident at the World Baseball Classic, where Taiwan must compete as “Chinese Taipei” at the behest of China.

As Trump acts with open contempt for international law, China is taking notes. The Cuba model, in particular, offers a useful blueprint for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to apply in pursuing his “historic mission” of “reunification” with Taiwan. The suffering is the point: It is the lever Trump is using to apply pressure to the regime, whose fall, Trump glibly maintains, is imminent. Like Cuba, Taiwan would face blackouts, which would disrupt its water and healthcare systems. Each step appears insufficient to justify a major military response.

Andrew and Mandelson pictured with EpsteinSCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them

Traffic fines going the wrong directionBy Lin Chin-kuo 林進國From 2022 to last year, traffic fine revenues from the six special municipalities have continued to rise, news reports said. New Taipei collected a total of NT$3.65 million, Taipei NT$3.1 billion, Taichung NT$3.05 billion, Tainan NT$1.75 billion and Kaohsiung NT$2.5 billion. Traffic fines imposed in Taiwan exceed NT$30 billion annually. Finally, the issue of traffic fines being incorporated as a source of local government revenue should be reassessed. The central government has a responsibility to revise and reform this system so that traffic enforcement refocuses on maintaining safety and order.

Trump’s war jolts global central banksDAMAGE REPORT: Global central banks are assessing war-driven inflation risks as the law of unintended consequences careens around the world, spiking oil prices Central banks from Washington to London and from Jakarta to Taipei are about to make their first assessments of economic damage after more than two weeks of conflict between the US and Iran. Decisions this week encompassing every member of the G7 and eight of the world’s 10 most-traded currency jurisdictions are likely to confirm to investors that the specter of a new inflation shock is already worrying enough to prompt heightened caution. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to do exactly what everyone anticipated weeks ahead of its March 17-18 policy gathering: hold rates steady. The narrative surrounding that

Memory chip crunch to persist until 2030, SK Group chairman saysBloombergA global shortage of memory chips is likely to persist another four to five years because of endemic constraints in semiconductor production, SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won said on Monday. Leading players such as SK Hynix Inc are expanding capacity but they’re unlikely to fully sate demand till around 2030, said Chey, whose company controls the chipmaker. SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics Co and Micron Technology Inc together dominate the supply of memory chips globally. Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang, left, and SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won attend the Nvidia GTC event in San Jose, California, on Monday. SK Hynix is preparing to outline measures to help stabilize prices, Chey added, without elaborating.

Order visibility unaffected by Mideast war, Eclat saysBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterEclat Textile Co (儒鴻) yesterday said it has an order visibility of about six months, with the next quarter relatively clear, despite rising uncertainty over conflicts in the Middle East. Geopolitical tensions have triggered fluctuations in raw material prices, a situation the company continues to monitor closely, Eclat president Hung Jui-ting (洪瑞廷) told an earnings conference in Taipei. Eclat Textile Co president Hung Jui-ting, right, speaks next to vice president of finance and accounting Tiffany Lin at an earnings conference in Taipei yesterday. Eclat aims to maintain monthly revenue above NT$3 billion this year and is “cautiously optimistic” about achieving full-year revenue of NT$39.74 billion, a record set in 2022, Hung said. The company guided its gross margin to between 28 and 32 percent this year, compared with 28.64 percent last year.

Far EasTone eyes expansion of smart city services to Southeast Asian marketBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterFar EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday said it is seeking to expand its smart city-related services to the Southeast Asian market as part of efforts to grow revenue beyond traditional telecom services. Far EasTone Telecommunications Co president Chee Ching speaks at an event in Taipei in an undated photograph. To further drive growth, Far EasTone plans to enhance its foothold in Southeast Asian countries in collaboration with subsidiaries including Nextlink Technology Co (博弘雲端) and Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (FETC, 遠通電收), Ching said. Far EasTone owns 67 percent of Nextlink, a cloud service provider, and 40 percent of FETC, which provides electronic toll collection services. Revenue this year is expected to grow 6.5 percent to NT$117.48 billion, from NT$110.35 billion last year, Far EasTone forecast, attributing the growth partly due to the inclusion of NT$3 billion revenue from FETC for the first time.

Chinese database for spying on Taiwanese leakedNETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in TaiwanBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterChina has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). Documents from Chinese technology company GoLaxy show information about Taiwanese politicians. The Beijing-based data firm also created a Taiwan-related knowledge graph about Taiwanese political parties, both large and small. Overall, the database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians, about 23 million records of Taiwan household registration data from closed sources, as well as information about 75 Taiwanese political parties, 1,478 Taiwanese firms, 13,000 Taiwanese religious groups and nearly 24,000 Taiwanese civic organizations. GoLaxy said that the information of Taiwanese politicians was collected to support the narrative wars in Taiwan.

The facility would serve as a hub within the US industrial base for the production of key military explosives, including research department explosives (RDX) and high melting explosives (HMX), while also supporting research and development of next-generation materials. M795 artillery projectiles are stored during the manufacturing process at Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on April 13, 2023. Photo: APThe proposed center would integrate research laboratories, pilot production lines, full-scale manufacturing, testing, packaging and waste treatment into a single supply chain, the report said. The US faces additional challenges due to environmental and safety regulations, with its last TNT production facility having closed in the 1980s. If the live-fire test is successful, the missile could be included in the fiscal 2027 defense budget for mass production, sources said.

Turning salt into cultureA group of young artists bring old Kaohsiung back to its roots in art festival in Kaohsiung’s Yancheng DistrictBy Julien Oeilette / Contributing ReporterYou would never believe Yancheng District (鹽埕) used to be a salt field. This is what local art galleries are revealing during the first edition of the Yancheng Arts Festival. Photo: Julien OeuilletShen Yu-rung (沈裕融), the main curator, says: “We chose the connection with salt as a theme. The ocean is still very near, just a few blocks away, but the salt fields disappeared. It sparkles under the light and emulates the feeling we would have had watching mounts of salt.

Newcastle United visit tonight in the UEFA Champions League last-16 — the tie delicately poised after a 1-1 draw on Tyneside last week. Candidate Joan Laporta reacts during early voting projections for Barcelona soccer club’s presidency in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday. “If Yuste wins this Champions League, it will be wonderful, he is like a brother to me,” said Laporta. Sergio Busquets was one of them, with the defensive midfielder part of three Champions League triumphs with Barcelona, in 2009, 2011 and 2015. The Magpies’ visit gives Barca the chance to begin Laporta’s new era with a bang, with a Champions League quarter-final place beckoning.