Indian PM Modi eyes election victory as his top opponent goes back behind barsAFP, NEW DELHIA top opponent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to keep fighting “dictatorship” before he returned to jail on Sunday, following elections widely expected to produce another landslide victory for the Hindu-nationalist leader. The chief minister of Delhi and a key leader in an alliance formed to compete against Modi, Kejriwal was detained in March over a long-running corruption probe. Photo: EPA-EFEHe was later released and allowed to campaign, but ordered to return to jail once voting ended. “When power becomes dictatorship, then jail becomes a responsibility,” said Kejriwal, who promised to continue “fighting” from behind bars. “I don’t know when I will return,” he told supporters in an emotional departure speech at his Aam Aadmi party headquarters.

They would also criminalize “contempt of the legislature” by civil servants who make false statements during a hearing or questioning in the Legislative Yuan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said the bills are “unconstitutional” and an abusive overreach of legislative power, which might increase the risk of sensitive information leaks, infringe on the courts’ jurisdiction and harm individuals’ privacy rights. Many protesters also expressed concern that expanded legislative power would erode the Constitution, and benefit Beijing by hindering the government’s execution of policies and undermining President William Lai’s (賴清德) presidency. Ko said the TPP advocates for the division of three powers: the Legislative Yuan, Executive Yuan and Judicial Yuan. The public should continue to keep their eyes on the Legislative Yuan, especially on Fu and the KMT caucus, as their “victory” has seemingly encouraged and intensified their undisguised grab for power and could further harm the nation’s democracy.

The problem with asking Google and AI for all the answersIn an era of conspiracy theories and misinformation, it is even more vital that we humans have a firm grasp of basic factsBy CHRIS BRYANT / Bloomberg OpinionArtificial intelligence (AI) has persuaded a lot of folks that we need to radically overhaul education. Now that chatbots can speedily retrieve information and answer complex questions, why bother memorizing historical facts or quotations? There is a problem with these arguments: Humans require knowledge to think creatively. Outsourcing our memory and cognition to Google and AI risks making us dumber and more susceptible to misinformation — including errors made by AI. “There is a consensus in cognitive psychology that it takes knowledge to gain knowledge,” he wrote.

Hindu holy city votes as India’s six-week election endsAFP, VARANASI, IndiaIndians yesterday flocked to the polls under scorching heat in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi as a marathon national election reached its final day, six weeks after voting first began. People line up outside a polling station during the seventh and final phase of voting in India’s general election in Varanasi yesterday. Photo: AFPIt is one of the final cities to vote in India’s grueling election and where support for Modi’s ever-closer alignment of religion and politics burns brightest. “I voted for growth and development of my country,” local resident Brijesh Taksali said outside a polling station. “Workshops here are closing down and the Modi government has been busy with the politics of temples and mosques,” the 44-year-old said.

India’s onion farmers cry foul at politicians’ price ployFarmers dread elections when politicians implement policies to cut the price of the daily essential, appeasing consumers while leaving them in the lurchBy Bhuvan Bagga / AFP, NASHIK, IndiaAlmost every Indian meal requires an onion — one of the cooking essentials along with sugar and lentils that sweet-talking politicians use to curry favor with voters by lowering costs. The defeat was widely blamed on voters’ anger at high onion prices. Days before voting began in the onion belt of Nashik, Modi’s government lifted the export ban, but analysts called that a political ploy. Gulati said restrictions remained — including a minimum export price and 40 percent duty — and made exports unviable, leaving farmers teary-eyed. “People at the top fear that if onion prices rise, governments will fall,” said Jagannath Bhimaji Kute, 58, vice-president of a wholesale onion market in Nashik.

Education needs an AI revolutionBy Nigel P. DalyMore than a year and a half after ChatGPT’s release, the Ministry of Education has finally announced an initiative to overhaul Taiwan’s education system to accommodate artificial intelligence (AI), and develop AI literacy among teachers and students. AI literacy involves understanding the basic concepts of AI, such as how it works, its applications and the potential risks. However, in the context of education, moving from AI literacy to AI fluency would transform students from mere consumers of information into active participants in their learning process. My guess is that many teachers have no idea what an effective AI workflow is and how to develop AI fluency. Of course, if AI fluency becomes a major goal for Taiwan’s education, it would demand a revolution.

National emergency call sought for India heatwaveAFP, NEW DELHIAn Indian court on Thursday urged the Indian government to declare a national emergency over the country’s ongoing heatwave, saying that hundreds of people have died during weeks of extreme weather. India is enduring a crushing heatwave with temperatures in several cities well above 45°C. An aerial photograph shows people waiting by a well in Shahapur District in India’s Maharashtra state on Sunday. Photo: AFP“Due to extreme weather conditions in the form of [the] heatwave, hundreds of people have lost their lives this month,” the court said. Ruling on the heatwave and such events in the future, it also said India should begin declaring them “national calamities.”This would allow the mobilization of emergency relief in a similar manner to floods, cyclones and natural disasters.

Alchip Technologies Ltd’s logo is pictured on the company’s Web site. Photo: screen grab from the Alchip Technologies Ltd’s Web siteThe stock price decline was, to some extent, buoyed by Amazon.com’s NT$535 million (US$16.5 million) equity investment in Alchip via a share subscription last month. Shen said the company would regain strong revenue growth in 2026, after customers start adopting its new 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer AI chips. Additionally, the technology barrier is getting higher, meaning fewer competitors are capable of developing chips using advanced 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer process technologies, Shen said. To support its growth, Alchip is expanding its workforce primarily outside of China, as customers are trying to avert risk from geopolitical tensions.

The Executive Yuan, as an apparatus born of the Constitution and bound to oversee law-based administration, must loyally uphold and protect the document, Cho said. Premier Cho Jung-tai delivers a report to the legislature in Taipei yesterday. He cited the announcement of the second edition of the government’s “Anti-fraud Strategy Guidelines” as an example of the government’s efforts to crack down on one such issue. In terms of national security, the Cabinet would follow the president’s “four pillars” plan for peace and prosperity, he said. The four pillars are: bolstering Taiwan’s military deterrence, equating economic security with national security, developing partnerships with the world’s democracies, and steady and principled cross-strait leadership.

TPP wants to abolish Control Yuan: legislatorBy Huang Ching-hsuan, Hsieh Chun-lin and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writerTaiwan People’s Party caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday said the party caucus has already signed onto a constitutional amendment to abolish the Control Yuan, although the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was reluctant to support the idea. The sign at the entrance to the Control Yuan in Taipei is pictured in an undated photograph. KMT Culture and Communications Committee head Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) yesterday said in a statement after the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting that the Control Yuan, under the leadership of Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊), had accomplished nothing. The Control Yuan respects legislators’ rights and powers, so long as such a motion is made through a constitutional amendment, as the Constitution establishes the Control Yuan’s powers, Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said. Lee opposed freezing or removing the Control Yuan’s budget, because such methods would only affect how the government is run.

Will Taiwan become Hong Kong? The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) subjugation of Hong Kong came about through four major stages. Fourth: The police became involved in maintaining security and Chinese military units stationed in Hong Kong joined in. In 2019, the anti-extradition movement was launched against China’s hoisted legislation to extradite anyone in Hong Kong to mainland China, with at least 1 million people taking to the streets on June 9 and 16. Perhaps the protest refrain “Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow Taiwan” is true.

Opposition confused about billsBy Chang Bao-yuan 張葆源The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have worked in cahoots to try and force through legislative reform bills. The “state of the nation address” motion alone reveals that the proponents have lost all sense of constitutional awareness. The Legislative Yuan on Tuesday last week completed the second reading of Article 15-1 of the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法). However, consider a scenario in which the president has already presented his speech to the Legislative Yuan, but must subsequently step down. Just how many speeches does the president need to deliver to satisfy the demands of the KMT and the TPP?

EDITORIAL: Voters must make the right choicesThe legislature, dominated by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), on Tuesday passed controversial legislative reform bills that have been criticized as unconstitutional, while tens of thousands of citizens surrounding the legislature called for more transparency. The statement said the bills are unconstitutional and trample on the powers of the Control Yuan and the Judicial Yuan. Dissatisfaction with the KMT was 57.3 percent, while dissatisfaction with the TPP surged to a record 53.7 percent. The Executive Yuan has announced it would return the bills to the legislature for reconsideration and the DPP caucus is to seek a constitutional interpretation. More importantly, Taiwanese should make the right choices in the next election to safeguard democracy with checks and balances.

The UK Parliament possesses high constitutional status and great authority, but it cannot abuse its powers. First of all, a legislative reform bill is not a small deal. In Taiwan, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) has his own political stance and remains in the KMT, and this lacks neutrality. The KMT and the TPP should withdraw the proposals, or the legislature might face dissolution and realignment. Although discontentment from the public has yet to reach this level, whether the legislature would soon face dissolution is hard to tell.

Protesters react to the passing of controversial bills outside of the Legislative Yuan building in Taipei yesterday. DPP lawmakers had waved bubble tea-shaped torches, shouting: “Brush your teeth, your breath stinks” at their KMT colleagues, a reference to what they said are opposition lies about the bill. Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers, front rows, protest at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei TimesThe KMT holds 52 seats in the 113-seat legislature, while the TPP has eight and the DPP has 51. Protesters have dubbed their movement the “Blue Bird Action” — named after the road next to the Legislative Yuan in Taipei where they gathered.