Agency warns farmers about risks of hot weatherBy Chiu Chih-juo / Staff reporterHumid hot weather in summer has led health officials to issue a warning for farmers, stressing four points: “shielding sunlight, hydration, rest and being alert.”Taiwan has about 1 million farmers, whose average age is older than other workers and their bodies are less capable of cooling off, Health Promotion Administration (HPA) officials said. Currently Taiwan has experienced a rise in temperature by 1.6°C compared with 2021, while with the seasonal change summers became longer from 120 to 150 days on average, Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said. Health Promotion Administration officials and guests hold placards at a news conference in Taipei on July 20 publicizing heat-risk prevention measures for farmers. Studies at Academia Sinica indicated the correlation of the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index with cases of heat exhaustion, the HPA said. “My tiller, plow and rice harvester all have air-conditioner added, and when operating the rice transplanter, I cover up its top with canvas to shield myself from the sunlight and to avoid heat-related injuries,” he said.

India delays shock curb on imports of laptops, tabletsBloombergIndia on Friday backtracked on its sudden plan to curb laptop and tablet imports without a license, giving companies three months to secure the permits. India’s trade regulator surprised the world’s biggest PC makers when it made licenses mandatory for imports of electronics from small tablets to all-in-one PCs. Customers look at Apple Inc laptop computers at the Apple Saket store during its opening in New Delhi on April 20. However, on Friday, India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued a new order saying companies can import electronic goods such as laptops, tablets and other PCs without a license until Oct. 31. It is also part of a wider state push to boost local production and create a world-class tech manufacturing industry in India.

Olympic swimming test competition in Seine canceled due to pollutionAFP, PARISThe pre-Olympics swimming test competition due to take place yesterday in the Seine in Paris was canceled due to pollution of the river, the international swimming federation said after analysis of the latest water samples. Following recent heavy rainfall, “water quality in the Seine has remained below acceptable standards for safeguarding swimmers’ health,” World Aquatics said in a statement yesterday. A crane yesterday dismantles a temporary venue to host a pre-Olympic swimming test competition on the Seine in Paris after the event was canceled due to pollution. Olympic open water swimming has frequently been hit by pollution concerns. The triathlon event in Sunderland served as the British leg of the World Triathlon Championship Series and coincided with the qualification period for the Paris Olympic Games.

ASEAN can help keep regional balanceBy Nigel Li 李澤霖Great power competition is expected to only continue to increase frictions along geopolitical fault lines. Caught between China and the US, no other regional organization recognizes this more acutely than ASEAN. “ASEAN centrality is not a panacea,” ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn said, but it is something that can be used to help deal with current and upcoming challenges. CRISIS MANAGEMENTThe problem remains that external powers might misunderstand the interests of ASEAN states. DIALOGUEDespite the challenges that Southeast Asian nations face, ASEAN continues to matter as it remains the key platform for regional cooperation.

Hou You-yi, Ko Wen-je cause stir at movie premiereStaff writer, with CNANew Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), both candidates in next year’s presidential election, yesterday made a rare appearance together at the premiere of a documentary in Taipei. New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi, left, and Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je shake hands at a documentary premiere in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei TimesFollowing the screening, Hou, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nominee, said he was “touched” by Chiang’s efforts to pursue democracy in Taiwan. Ko — who has on more than one occasion expressed his admiration for Chiang and named his party after Chiang’s Taiwanese People’s Party, despite opposition from Chiang’s descendants — said he would “inherit” Chiang’s unfinished work. The premiere was held on the campus of the Blessed Imelda’s School in Taipei, where the cultural association was headquartered more than a century ago.

Police arrest Imran Khan after court convicts former PMAP, ISLAMABADPolice yesterday arrested former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan at his home in the eastern city of Lahore after a court convicted him in an asset concealment case and handed him a three-year prison sentence. Supporters of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan protest outside the press club in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir yesterday. Photo: AFPHis Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party condemned the ruling and said it would challenge the decision in a superior court. While a superior court can suspend the conviction, it is the country’s election body that has the final say on whether people can be in politics. “Instead Imran Khan used the time to delay the court proceedings and went back and forth to the high court and supreme court to halt this case,” she said.

Media get Taiwan history wrongBy Gerrit van der WeesThere is no doubt that US-China relations are tense, as — under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — the communist government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is increasing its political, economic and military pressure on democratically governed Taiwan. During the next three to four decades, the Chinese Nationalists occupying Taiwan continued their claim to rule China. And this leads to the second misconception one often finds in international media: That “one China policy” means that the West recognizes Taiwan as part of China. Thus, the international media would bring more balance to their reporting if they included language highlighting Taiwan’s own history, culture and existence separate from China. He now teaches the history of Taiwan at George Mason University, and US relations with East Asia at the George Washington University Elliott School for International Affairs.

Foreign exchange reserves hit record high US$566.49bnASSET ALLOCATION: US government bonds remain the safest asset, despite the US’ credit rating being downgraded by Fitch Ratings, an official saidBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe nation’s foreign exchange reserves last month grew US$1.66 billion to a new high of US$566.49 billion, helped by value gains in major reserve currencies other than the US dollar, the central bank said yesterday. It was the ninth consecutive month foreign exchange reserves increased, even though the New Taiwan dollar lost 1.04 percent against the greenback after foreign portfolio managers cut their holdings in local shares and wired cash dividends to their home nations, Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民) told a news conference. The currency movements were due to the dividend season last month and this month, Tsai said, adding that foreign institutional investors wired about US$7 billion abroad last month. Tsai said US government bonds remain the safest asset with the best liquidity, despite the US’ credit rating being downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrade would have little impact on the central bank’s asset allocation, as it would buy US government debt to better utilize the nation’s foreign exchange reserves, Tsai said.

EDITORIAL: Spy case warrants law reformAn army officer and a suspected spy were arrested and questioned on Monday, while four others involved in the case were released on bail, the High Prosecutors’ Office said. Lawyer and former prosecutor Weng Wei-lun (翁偉倫) said that the case differs from previous espionage cases, which primarily involved retired military personnel who were recruited abroad and who accepted gifts in exchange for information. If money is the main motivator for military retirees to commit treason, then active military personnel would likely be similarly motivated to commit such acts. One recent case involved a suspected spy who cased pawnshops frequented by military personnel to identify those with money problems who would be most susceptible to recruitment for espionage. CTBC Business School Department of Business and Economic Law associate professor Chen Tsung-chien (陳重見) suggested that the problem might stem from Taiwanese judges’ poor understanding of national security issues, and suggested that a specialized court should try all national security cases.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back, and maybe better than everThe seventh iteration of the franchise delves into the teenage-ness of its 15-year-old turtles in the gross-out humor and the comic book-like feel of the animationBy Jake Coyle / APThere are some good gags and clever innovations in the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, but there is one brilliant idea: casting Ice Cube as the voice of the movie’s mutant insect supervillain Super Fly. But we’re now up to the seventh Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, not counting all the series and videogames. Mutant Mayhem, currently in theaters throughout Taiwan, can’t entirely get over the feeling of trodding over well-covered turtle ground. But the most important twist to this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles iteration may be diving into the teenage-ness of its 15-year-old turtles. Yet this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while a half shell of those films, has its own low-key charms.

Ukraine’s drones provide a lessonBy Fang Fu-chuan 方復權Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been going on for nearly a year and a half. At the end of last year Ukraine started building the world’s first “naval fleet of drones” to counter Russia’s Black Sea fleet, news reports said. One of Ukraine’s maritime drones — an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) that resembles a speedboat — is 5.5m long and weighs one tonne. The USV’s main functions include long-range maritime reconnaissance and coastal surveillance, escorting and supporting Ukraine’s conventional fleet and countering amphibious operations, among others. In such a scenario, easily concealed sea drones and their operators stationed in bunkers might well play a role in turning the tide of the war.

S Korea experts to test superconductor breakthrough claimBloombergSouth Korean experts have created a committee to verify claims about a potential breakthrough in superconductor technology that has been driving both excitement and controversy among markets and industry participants. The Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics (KSSC) asked the Quantum Energy Research Centre to submit samples that are required in the verification process of room-temperature superconductors, the institution said in a statement on Wednesday. Excitement grew further after a video of a team of Chinese scientists replicating the South Korean team’s findings went viral. Research institutes of KSSC members are to conduct cross verification if the Quantum Energy Research Centre provides samples, the statement said. Meanwhile, investors continued to pile into some South Korean stocks seen as related to superconductors, even as the stock exchange warned of speculative bets and unfair trades.

The funds managed by the bureau, such as the Labor Pension Fund, the Labor Retirement Fund, the Labor Insurance Fund, the Employment Insurance Fund and the Arrear Wage Payment Fund, posted gains of NT$470.98 billion during the six-month period, for a rate of return of 8.59 percent. The new Labor Pension Fund, launched in July 2015, had NT$3.79 trillion in assets as of the end of June, the most of any of the labor funds, and reported a rate of return of 8.38 percent in the first half, the bureau said. Overall, the funds managed by the Bureau of Labor Funds had combined assets of NT$5.86 trillion as of the end of June and generated NT$178.08 billion in returns in June alone. Bureau of Labor Funds Deputy Director-General Liu Li-ju (劉麗茹) said the funds the agency manages have built positions in electronics stocks because the nation’s electronics industry, including TSMC, has stayed ahead of its peers in terms of global competition. From January 2013 to June this year, the funds have had an average 4.99 percent rate of return, she said.

Three strategies to stop phone fraudBy Chiueh Tzi-cker 闕志克Perpetrators carrying out transnational telecommunications fraud originally came from Taichung. As a result, failure to eradicate telecom fraud has consistently ranked very high on surveys of public complaints about the government. To curb telecom fraud, the National Communications Commission said it has urged telecoms to adopt the following two measures. The following are three ideas that could effectively stop telecom fraud. The first is to aggressively detect phone numbers that perpetrators use to carry out telecom fraud based on their specific usage patterns.

‘Brave, but mad’ Russian activist diesAFP, DAVYDKOVO, RussiaDuring his trial, Anatoly Berezikov repeatedly said that he was afraid of “disappearing.” Two weeks later, on June 14, he was found dead in his cell in southwest Russia. Rights advocate Tatiana Sporycheva during an interview in Tbilisi on Monday last week shows a video clip of Anatoly Berezikov, right. Photo: AFPHis friends and allies dismiss that account, saying they believe Berezikov was tortured in detention, possibly leading to his death. They can kidnap you, imprison you, search you, intimidate you, torture you and kill you,” said Tatiana Sporycheva, a rights advocate who supported Berezikov. He claimed to have put up posters from an Ukrainian campaign that offers Russian soldiers guidance on how to surrender.