New sesame variety created
New sesame variety createdStaff writer, with CNAA Tainan agricultural research station has developed a new sesame variety, “Tainan No. 2,” with 35 percent lower production costs and higher oil content, boosting the competitiveness of Taiwan’s domestic sesame industry. Taiwan relies heavily on imported sesame, with domestic production accounting for only a small fraction, Ministry of Agriculture data showed. 2” sesame variety is pictured on a farm in southern Taiwan in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension StationTo increase domestic production, the research station has been promoting “Tainan No.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
CDC reports 7,500 cases of diarrhea early in holiday
CDC reports 7,500 cases of diarrhea early in holidayHYGIENE: People should wash their hands before eating or preparing food, and clean contaminated surfaces with a diluted bleach solution, the CDC saidBy Wu Liang-yi / Staff Reporter, with CNAMore than 7,500 people sought medical attention for diarrhea during the first three days of the Lunar New Year holiday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that nearly 90 percent of the cluster diarrhea outbreaks were caused by norovirus. Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei TimesHospitals reported 7,581 visits due to diarrhea on the first three days of the Lunar New Year holiday, including 2,256 on Monday, 2,825 on Tuesday and 2,500 on Wednesday, CDC data showed. If an infected person’s vomit becomes aerosolized into droplets, people in close contact might become infected as well, the hospital added. Symptoms usually show up 24 to 48 hours after infection, with the most common symptoms including nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhea, and fever, the hospital said. There is no vaccine to prevent norovirus gastroenteritis, the CDC said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase, Luis Ortiz fight pitch-rigging charges
Pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, speaking Spanish, entered not guilty pleas through a translator to a rewritten indictment in Brooklyn federal court. Emmanuel Clase of the Cleveland Guardians arrives at the Brooklyn federal court for a hearing in New York City on Wednesday. Clase, the Guardians’ former closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have been on nondisciplinary paid leave since July last year. Clase and Ortiz, who are free on bail, left the courthouse separately after the hearing. “Mr Clase may have abused his relationship with Mr Ortiz as friends and teammates by convincing Mr Ortiz to throw certain pitches at certain times — ostensibly for baseball reasons as far as Mr Ortiz was aware,” the lawyers wrote.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
Travertine quarries carving new generation of temples
Travertine quarries carving new generation of templesAP, TIVOLI, ItalyLong ago, when Romans wanted to build a new temple, they would head to the nearby quarries of Tivoli, chisel out blocks of porous rock called lapis tiburtinus — now known as travertine — and float the cargo downstream on rafts to craftsmen in town. Today, the same quarries that built Rome with their distinctive pock-marked travertine are still being dug out to build a new generation of churches, temples and mosques around the world — as well as banks, museums, government buildings and private homes. Photo: APWhile other countries have versions of the sedimentary limestone, Roman travertine is unique because it is quarried underground in the sulfuric springs and basins around Tivoli. All around the Tivoli quarries, the air is heavy with the stench of sulfur and the constant pounding, clinking and cracking of giant jackhammers blasting ancient rock into pieces. And like Roman cuisine, which is made up of simple dishes, often using discarded ingredients, travertine is a genuine and traditional stone.”
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
Pope mourns ‘ashes of international law’ on Ash Wednesday
Pope mourns ‘ashes of international law’ on Ash WednesdayAP, ROMEPope Leo XIV opened the church’s penitential Lenten season by presiding over Ash Wednesday and lamenting the “ashes of international law and justice” that have been left by today’s wars and conflicts. Leo revived the traditional prayer and procession that Pope Francis largely delegated to others in his final years. He walked with dozens of monks, priests, bishops and cardinals from one Roman church to another and then sprinkled ashes on the heads of cardinals during Mass. Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and reflection, starts a season of self-denial and repentance from sin known as Lent. Pope Leo XIV, back, center, takes part in the penitential procession on Ash Wednesday toward the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
After Greenland, people on the arctic island Svalbard wary of great powers
After Greenland, people on the arctic island Svalbard wary of great powersAFP, LONGYEARBYEN, SvalbardThere are no outward signs of jitters, at least not yet: People in Svalbard are going about their daily lives as normal despite speculation that this Norwegian archipelago could be the next arctic territory coveted by the US or Russia. “Today Greenland, tomorrow Svalbard?” a question Longyearbyen Mayor Terje Aunevik said he has been asked many times. A polar bear watches a bearded seal in Spitzbergen in the Svalbard archipelago on April 9 last year. Photo: AFP“The arctic is no longer a quiet corner on the map,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy told a conference in Tromso in northern Norway early this month. “It is the front line of the global power competition.”Longyearbyen, the main town on Svalbard, is an unusual place.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
Anisimova to face Andreeva in Dubai
Anisimova to face Andreeva in DubaiAFP, DUBAI, United Arab EmiratesElena Rybakina on Wednesday was the latest player to join the exodus at the Dubai Open as she retired from her match, while Amanda Anisimova and Mirra Andreeva both won to set up a quarter-final meeting. Amanda Anisimova of the US returns to Indonesia’s Janice Tjen in their Dubai Championships women’s singles match in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. Photo: ReutersRuzic, who in the first round eliminated 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu, has reached the first WTA 1000 quarter-final of her career. There she was to meet defending champion Andreeva, who defeated Jaqueline Cristian 7-5, 6-3. “Honestly, I feel my game was really far from perfect today,” Andreeva said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
Colombia endures deadly poll campaign
Indigenous leader Esneyder Gomez Salamanca, center, candidate for a Peace Seat in Congress, speaks during a campaign rally in El Playon, department of Cauca, Colombia, on Thursday last week. AFP recently followed Gomez as he trudged village to village along muddy roads, trying to win the votes of indigenous communities. “The risk is constant,” Gomez said, adding that in the decade-and-a-half since Colombia’s biggest armed groups signed a peace deal, peace remains elusive. The main faction of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) laid down arms, but dissident factions did not. This must stop.”The area will be a test of whether Colombia’s elections can be free, fair and safe across the whole country.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
China trips rose last year, but still down from 2019
China trips rose last year, but still down from 2019Staff writer, with CNAThe number of trips made by Taiwanese travelers to China rose 16.86 percent year-on-year last year, but remained nearly 20 percent below pre-COVID-19 levels, Ministry of Transportation and Communications data showed. Taiwanese travelers made 3.24 million visits to China last year, and although an increase from 2024, the figure was still 19.94 percent lower than in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. A woman poses with red lanterns hanging from a tree at a park in Beijing on Jan. 24 last year. Photo: ReutersTravel to China has been under an “orange” alert — when the Mainland Affairs Council advises the public to avoid nonessential travel — since June 27, 2024. Taiwan’s travel advisory system for China consists of four levels: “gray” (reminder), “yellow” (exercise caution), “orange” (avoid nonessential travel) and “red” (do not travel).
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
Penghu County head’s condition improving after surgery: Hospital
Penghu County head’s condition improving after surgery: HospitalStaff writer, with CNAThe condition of Penghu County Commissioner Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復) is continuing to improve following emergency surgery after he was flown from Penghu to Kaohsiung with a brain bleed on Tuesday, a doctor responsible for treating Chen said yesterday. The 70-year-old member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost his footing while walking downstairs and hit his head on the ground on Tuesday during a public event in Penghu County. After his heart stopped and he lost consciousness, Chen was rushed to the National Defense Medical University Tri- Service General Hospital Penghu Branch. Penghu County Commissioner Chen Kuang-fu, center, hands out Lunar New Year red envelopes to children in Magong City on Tuesday. Liao Wei-chuan (廖維專), director of KVGH’s Department of Neurosurgery, said Thursday that Chen’s condition has improved following emergency surgery performed after he was admitted to the hospital.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
Vietnam airlines sign US contracts worth US$36.9bn
Vietnam airlines sign US contracts worth US$36.9bnAFP, WASHINGTONThree Vietnamese airlines announced nearly US$37 billion in purchases on Wednesday, in a series of contracts signed with US aerospace companies. A Vietnam Airlines aircraft lands at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Dec. 26 last year. Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air announced yesterday that they have signed a series of contracts with US aerospace companies worth a total of US$14.4 billion, including US$8.1 billion in orders to Boeing. The agreement creates “a solid foundation for our ambition to become a leading airline by 2030,” Vietnam Airlines chairman Dang Ngoc Hoa said in the statement. Around US$960 million remaining will go towards leasing six Boeing 737 series aircraft from Griffin Global Asset Management LLC.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
Indonesian, US firms sign trade, investment deals
Indonesian, US firms sign trade, investment deals‘VERY OPTIMISTIC’: Prabowo said the deals, part of a broader pact to be signed with Trump, aim to reduce Indonesia’s trade surplus with the USReuters, WASHINGTON and JAKARTAIndonesian and US companies on Wednesday signed deals worth US$38.4 billion ahead of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s meeting with US President Donald Trump to sign a final trade pact, the Indonesian government said in a statement. The 11 deals, signed at a dinner for Prabowo hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce, were for partnerships in mining, energy, agribusiness, textiles, furniture and technology sectors, according to the statement. Photo: AFPPrabowo said the deals were among the implementing agreements to the US-Indonesian trade deal that he was due to sign with Trump after press time last night, adding it would help reduce Indonesia’s trade surplus with the US. The council said Indonesia would also buy 1 million tonnes of wheat this year and up to 5 million tonnes by 2030. USABC valued Indonesia’s purchases of soybeans at US$685 million, wheat at US$1.25 billion, cotton at US$122 million and an additional purchase of US shredded worn clothing for recycling at US$200 million.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
Swiss watch exports slump after short US rebound
Swiss watch exports slump after short US reboundBloombergSwiss watch exports resumed their long slump last month after a brief respite the previous month triggered by the easing of US tariffs. Exports fell 3.6 percent last month from a year earlier to 1.9 billion Swiss francs (US$2.5 billion), the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said yesterday. Watches made by Swiss manufacturer Tissot are displayed in Bern, Switzerland, on Aug. 8 last year. There was a 14 percent contraction in exports of watches made from precious metals, that was not offset by a 16 percent increase for bimetallic watches. Elsewhere, exports to France soared 37 percent, but the Singapore and UK markets turned negative, according to the federation’s data.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
China’s policies cause waste, damage, IMF warns
China’s policies cause waste, damage, IMF warnsCONSUMPTION: IMF directors urged forceful Chinese reforms, fiscal stimulus, and macroeconomic support to rebuild consumer confidence and transform growthBloombergThe IMF faulted China’s economic policies for causing waste at home and damage abroad and called for a reorientation by Beijing to embrace a model based on domestic consumer spending. “Reorienting China’s growth model requires significant cultural and economic policy transformation,” the IMF directors said. IMF executive directors called for “greater exchange rate flexibility,” while Zhang said Beijing’s currency policy is “clear and consistent,” relying on market forces to play “a decisive role.”China also took issue with IMF staff estimates of the scale and wastefulness of Beijing’s industrial policies. That reliance has “triggered overcapacity concerns, which ultimately can motivate trade actions from partners and put China’s exports at risk,” the report said. “Empirical evidence suggests that deflationary pressures are in part related to the demand slump, including from the protracted property sector correction,” the IMF said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC
UEFA to investigate alleged racist abuse of Vinicius
UEFA to investigate alleged racist abuse of ViniciusAFP, PARISUEFA on Wednesday said that it would “investigate allegations of discriminatory behavior” after Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior accused SL Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of racially abusing him during a UEFA Champions League match in Lisbon. Tuesday’s first leg of the playoff was stopped for 10 minutes after Vinicius complained to French referee Francois Letexier about the alleged abuse following a confrontation between him and Prestianni. Real Madrid`s Vinicius Junior with Benfica coach Jose Mourinho as the match was stopped due to racist chants. Photo: ReutersAfter arguing with Prestianni, Vinicius ran over to the referee and told him he had been called mono, the Spanish word for monkey, by the Argentine midfielder. “Focusing on Vinicius Jr’s goal celebration or the history of the club, instead of acknowledging the report, is a form of gaslighting.
Source:Taipei Times
February 19, 2026 16:09 UTC