Initial results show Colombia Congress to remain dividedAFP, BOGOTAPreliminary results in Colombia’s legislative elections on Sunday showed President Gustavo Petro’s left-wing bloc maintaining its status as a dominant force, but with Congress continuing to be divided. Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, is barred by law from running for re-election and had been eying to push through reforms ahead of his term running out. Photo: AFPWhile the makeup of the lower chamber remained uncertain, Petro’s leftist coalition was expected to be among the biggest, while in the Senate, it was expected to be the largest. With Congress likely remaining divided, the next president would need to form coalitions to pass legislation. However, preliminary results showed Sunday that his party had not reached the threshold to win a seat.

Cho hits home run in baseball diplomacyBy Yang Chih-chiang 楊智強The streets of Tokyo over the past few days could have been mistaken for a little Taiwan. Resounding cheers for Taiwan filled the Tokyo Dome at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) last week, with fans packing the stands. Among them was Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), whose low-profile visit to the stadium on Saturday inevitably attracted attention. Cho’s seemingly simple act of “baseball diplomacy” broke new ground, overcoming some significant and long-standing political taboos. Cho’s quick trip to Japan, even in his capacity as a private citizen and baseball fan, could never have been achieved without the tacit understanding and support of high-level officials in Taiwan, Japan and, indeed, the US.

China keeps pushing nuclear power despite missesBloombergChina is maintaining the pressure on its nuclear power giants to deliver more reactors with an ambitious new target, despite a string of misses in recent years. The government last week set a goal of 110 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2030 in its latest five-year plan draft, a 76 percent jump from the end of last year. The new objective comes after the country fell short of reaching 58 gigawatts by 2020 and 70 gigawatts by last year. Wind and solar are helping the country meet growing power needs without lifting emissions, but their intermittent delivery is increasingly straining the grid. Still, the industry’s execution has been hobbled somewhat over the past decade by disruptions following the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan and snags in the global supply chain after the COVID-19 pandemic.

US military planes fly out of S KoreaASSET REDLOYMENT? Data from the Flightradar24 Web site indicated that US military transport planes, including C-17 and C-5s, flew out of South Korea’s Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, one as recently as Saturday. The potential redeployment of military assets from South Korea would underscore how the Iran conflict might strain missile-defense inventories. On Friday, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun confirmed that Seoul was in talks with US Forces Korea over the possible redeployment of weapons systems. The defense ministry declined to comment on US military operations when reached by Bloomberg News.

Beijing’s South China Sea obsessionBy Rath Wang 王健智Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela on March 1 was promoted from commodore to rear admiral from Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The promotion is a striking testament to how Beijing’s intimidation tactics on its current main target in the South China Sea have backfired. It is also yet another example that Taiwan can look to when it comes to responding to Chinese scare campaigns. As the face of the West Philippine Sea Transparency Office, Tarriela holds news conferences to expose aggressive China Coast Guard encroachments into the Philippines territorial waters to harass humanitarian resupply missions and fishers. The largest success in Tarriela’s approach is showing the world the hypocrisy of China’s “Sea of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation” concept in ASEAN.

EDITORIAL: Not just war is worrying investorsThe conflict in the Middle East has been disrupting financial markets, raising concerns about rising inflationary pressures and global economic growth. One market that some investors are particularly worried about has not been heavily covered in the news: the private credit market. Even before the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global capital markets had faced growing structural pressure — the deteriorating funding conditions in the private credit market. For investors, private credit offers high yields, greater flexibility in interest rate terms and diversified investment portfolios. The conflict in the Middle East already has investors on edge, but stress in the private credit market could spook them even further.

Minds are not so easily colonizedBy Khedroob ThondupToday, Tibetans around the world mark the anniversary of the 1959 uprising in Lhasa — a day when ordinary men and women rose up against overwhelming force to defend their dignity, culture and faith. It seeks to reshape Tibetan identity itself — rewriting history, controlling monasteries, and attempting to sever the bond between Tibetans and the Dalai Lama. However, minds are not so easily colonized. Each year, Tibetans reaffirm that their minds remain free, even if their bodies are constrained. Tibetans endure because they know that identity is not granted by power, but preserved through memory, practice and faith.

Khamenei’s son named leaderAP, DUBAI, United Arab EmiratesIran yesterday named the hard-line Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his late father as supreme leader, signaling no letup in the war launched by the US and Israel. People carry placards with images of new Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and late supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a gathering to support Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran yesterday. Mojtaba Khamenei, center, attends the annual Quds, or Jerusalem Day rally, in Tehran, Iran, on May 31, 2019. His wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, was killed in the same Israeli strike that killed the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mojtaba Khamenei could choose to do what his father never did — build a nuclear bomb.

VPN demand rises as Australia limits content for minorsReuters, SYDNEYAustralians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring Web sites that disseminate pornography to verify users are at least 18 years old. The most downloaded VPN — called VPN - Super Unlimited Proxy — ranked ahead of any social media platform, the chart showed. Meanwhile, Canada-based Aylo, owner of a large network of pornography Web sites, blocked Australians from accessing the platforms RedTube and YouPorn, while presenting a version of Pornhub without explicit content.

In Finland, kids take hovercraft to school over frozen Baltic SeaAFP, PARGAS, FinlandSkipper Sampsa Jalo greets three young children on their way home from school as they board an unusual amphibious vessel docked and humming at a wooden pier on the frozen Baltic Sea. An hovercraft used also to bring home kids from school, on March 3 floats on the ice of the Finnish archipelago in Pargas, Finland. Peaking on February 20, “the ice cover has been the most extensive in the entire Baltic Sea region since 2011”, he said. “In the long term, the maximum winter ice cover in the Baltic Sea is shrinking, and that is due to climate change,” he said. In the Pargas archipelago, there are 9,000 second homes on 1,070 islands, according to Pargas’ head of archipelago affairs, Benjamin Donner.

NDC shows more economic growthBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterThe overall monitoring indicator for the business cycle showed a “red” growth signal for a second straight month in January, with the overall economy maintaining positive momentum, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. The council measures the nation’s economic health using a five-color system, with “blue” signaling a recession, “green” suggesting steady growth and “red” indicating a boom. The trend-adjusted coincident index, which tracks the pace of economic activity, climbed 0.78 percent to 106.4, increasing for the 15th consecutive month, it said. The leading and coincident indices continued rising, indicating steady growth in the local economy, the report concluded. However, the impacts of escalating geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, the US tariff policies and trade deals on global economic growth and inflation still pose uncertainties ahead, with their effects on Taiwan’s stock market, business activities and consumer confidence warranting more observation, it added.

Taiwan not facing imminent power shortage: officialBy Meryl Kao / Staff reporterMinister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday assured the public that the nation is not facing an imminent power shortage as supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) remains sufficient and there is no need to increase coal-fired power generation in the short term. Photo: CNATaiwan sources natural gas from different regions, with about one-third coming from Qatar and more than 60 to 70 percent from other countries. With natural gas supplies stable, previously discussed contingency plans to increase electricity generation from coal-fired plants starting next month are unnecessary, he said. Whether domestic natural gas prices would be adjusted has yet to be decided, as the government’s priority is maintaining price stability, he said. Rising energy prices and the impact of the Middle East conflict are challenges that countries across the world are facing — not just Taiwan, he added.

Dozens of people stood outside of the camp, shouting “Stop long-range missile deployment” and holding banners carrying messages of protest. A vehicle believed to be carrying long-range missile-related equipment enters the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Kengun Garrison in Kumamoto City, Japan, yesterday. The Japanese Ministry of Defense last year moved up the schedule of the missiles’ deployment by one year. It has deployed PAC-3 interceptors and midrange surface-to-air missiles on many of the islands, including Okinawa, Ishigaki and Miyako. Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi last month said Japan would deploy the midrange surface-to-air missiles on Japan’s westernmost island of Yonaguni, just east of Taiwan, by March 2031.

Tens of thousands march for women’s rightsAFP, PARISTens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in cities across the world on Sunday to mark International Women’s Day and denounce the war in the Middle East. From Rio in Brazil, Caracas in Venezuela and cities across France, Spain, Turkey and other European countries, demonstrators marched to demand women’s rights across a range of issues. Thousands marched in cities across Spain to protest gender-based violence and call for an end to the war in the Middle East. Photo: EPARape survivor Gisele Pelicot led a women’s rights march in Paris, one of 150 demonstrations in French cities. “We won’t give up,” Pelicot, 73, told the crowd, as she joined thousands in the French capital marching for women’s rights, economic equality and an end to sexual violence.

US urges legislature to pass defense billARMS PROCUREMENT: A KMT proposal slashing the budget to NT$380 billion from the Cabinet’s NT$1.25 trillion could cast doubt on Taiwan’s self-defense commitmentStaff writer, with CNAThe US government on Sunday called on Taiwanese lawmakers across party lines to pass a special defense budget bill that would finance Taiwan’s planned purchases of US weapon systems for self-defense. “We encourage all parties in Taiwan’s legislature to work through political differences and quickly pass a special defense budget that demonstrates Taiwan’s commitment to its self-defense by funding the acquisition of critical defense capabilities,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson said. Photo: ReutersThe state department was responding to a Central News Agency question on whether Washington would support a version of the special defense budget bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), if it is passed in the legislature. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) on Friday said that the KMT’s version of the special defense budget could derail the procurement of five weapons systems approved by Washington for sale to Taiwan. Commenting on the KMT’s proposed budget, former KMT legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) said there are problems in terms of feasibility, technical implementation and legislative practice.