England start Six Nations with a thrashing of Wales
England start Six Nations with a thrashing of WalesAFP, LONDONJamie George was proud of England’s dynamic start to the Six Nations after they thrashed Wales 48-7 at Twickenham, England, on Saturday ahead of next week’s trip to Edinburgh. England, without a Six Nations title since 2020, are to face a Scotland side smarting from an 18-15 opening loss to Italy in Rome. England’s Henry Arundell, right, goes to score a try against Wales in London on Saturday. Wales captain Dewi Lake, one of four Welsh players sent to the sin-bin, made no attempt to sugar-coat his side’s 12th straight Six Nations defeat. Wales on Sunday host a France side fresh from an impressive 36-14 win over Ireland, with thousands of tickets still unsold for the Cardiff clash.
Source:Taipei Times
February 08, 2026 16:06 UTC
Trump refuses to apologize for clip
“I didn’t make a mistake,” Trump said on Air Force One late on Friday when asked if he would apologize for the post. US President Donald Trump talks to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday. “A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down,” a White House official said. “No one believes this cover up from the White House, especially since they originally defended this post,” she wrote.
Source:Taipei Times
February 08, 2026 16:06 UTC
‘Washington Post’ CEO leaves after sweeping job cuts
‘Washington Post’ CEO leaves after sweeping job cutsAFP, WASHINGTONThe Washington Post on Saturday said its CEO and publisher Will Lewis was leaving effective immediately, just days after the storied newspaper owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made drastic job cuts that angered readers. Lewis, who is English, has been replaced by Jeff D’Onofrio, a former CEO of social media platform Tumblr who had joined the Post as chief financial officer last year, the paper announced. Then-Washington Post CEO and publisher Will Lewis poses for a photograph in Washington on Nov. 5, 2023. Sports, graphics and local news departments were sharply scaled back and the paper’s daily podcast, Post Reports, was suspended, local media reported. Bezos, one of the world’s richest people, and Lewis have come under scrutiny for intervening directly in the paper’s editorial processes.
Source:Taipei Times
February 08, 2026 16:06 UTC
India open T20 with win
India open T20 with winAFP, MUMBAI, IndiaA sparkling unbeaten 84 from India captain Suryakumar Yadav and three wickets from late call-up Mohammed Siraj in Mumbai on Saturday helped India avoid a shock defeat to the US as they opened their defense of the T20 World Cup. India were in trouble at 77-6 before Suryakumar took them to a competitive 161-9 at a packed Wankhede stadium and won by 29 runs as the US could only muster 132-8 in reply. I knew if I bat till the end, I can make a difference.”India’s Mohammed Siraj, left, celebrates the wicket of the US’ Andries Gous during their T20 World Cup cricket match in Mumbai, India, on Saturday. A 58-run fourth-wicket partnership between Milind Kumar and Sanjay Krishnamurthi gave the US a chance of pulling off a stunning win. India had reached a steady 45-1 when Ishan Kishan slapped Shadley van Schalkwyk to Kumar at mid-off to spark a mini-collapse.
Source:Taipei Times
February 08, 2026 16:06 UTC
Notes from Central Taiwan: Time for US to act on Taiwan defense budget
HARDBALLUS official criticism of the pro-China parties over the defense budget, both direct and indirect, is commonly reported in the media. Predictably, the defense budget was discussed. Another failure of the US criticisms is the isolation of the defense budget from the rest of the KMT/TPP coalition’s attacks on governance. Nor am I requesting that the US government seize the assets of KMT politicians and their families. It should not come as cheap retaliation for the failure of the current KMT and TPP to pass the defense budget.
Source:Taipei Times
February 08, 2026 16:06 UTC
Brazil’s cinema industry seizes its moment in the limelight
An image released by Neon shows Wagner Moura in a scene from The Secret Agent. Photo: Neon via APDirected by Kleber Mendonca Filho, The Secret Agent is a political thriller infused with magical realism. It has been nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Actor for Wagner Moura and Best Casting. The film won Brazil its first Oscar — for best international feature film. The Secret Agent first earned plaudits at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won for best director and Wagner Moura won best actor.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC
Trump fuels EU push to cut cord with US tech
European Commissioner for Digital and Frontier Technologies Henna Virkkunen speaks at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday last week. Virkkunen is in March to unveil a major “tech sovereignty” package covering cloud, artificial intelligence and chips — areas where the EU hopes to build greater autonomy. “Digital technologies are no longer neutral tools,” European Digital SME Alliance’s secretary general, Sebastiano Toffaletti, told reporters. France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands teamed up last year in a push to create common European digital infrastructure, steered by the European Commission. Zach Meyers of CERRE, a Brussels-based think tank, warns the EU must be clear about what “tech sovereignty” is meant to achieve.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC
Cambodians lament Thailand’s border gains
Cambodians lament Thailand’s border gainsAFP, Thailand-Cambodia borderA sign hanging from a rusty ice-green shipping container installed by Thai forces on what they say is the border with Cambodia reads: “Cambodian citizens are strictly prohibited from entering this area.”On opposite sides of the makeshift barricade, fronted by coils of barbed wire, Cambodians lamented their lost homes and livelihoods as Thailand’s military showed off its gains. Thai forces took control of several patches of disputed land along the border during fighting last year, which could amount to several square kilometers in total. The neighboring countries’ century-old border conflict stems from a dispute over the French colonial-era demarcation of their 800km frontier. Thai flags flapped in the breeze and barbed wire lay scattered in Klong Paeng, another border village on the Thai military trip. Thailand welcomed Cambodian refugees to the border area after the Khmer Rouge regime fell in 1979.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC
EDITORIAL: Squaring the security circle
EDITORIAL: Squaring the security circleIn a Taipei Times editorial published almost three years ago (“Macron goes off-piste,” April 13, 2023, page 8), French President Emmanuel Macron was criticized for comments he made immediately after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing. This is not to say that the conclusions of the 2023 editorial should be dismissed entirely, but we can use the present reality as a measure of how much things have changed. Much of what Carney expressed so eloquently was on the minds of many other world leaders. Still, Carney’s trip to Beijing, even if he were aware of the contradiction, certainly gave Xi his PR boost, as did Starmer’s and Macron’s. To square the national security circle, Taiwan relies on the hard power of the US and on the soft power of like-minded middle powers that would stand with it, stop pretending and name realities.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC
Cuba announces urgent energy-saving measures
Protesters hold a Cuban flag during a demonstration outside the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Friday. US President Donald Trump also signed an executive order last week allowing his country to impose tariffs on countries selling oil to Havana. Mexico, which has been supplying Cuba with oil since 2023, would stop doing so, Trump said. The oil shortages have threatened to plunge Cuba into complete darkness, with power plants struggling to keep the lights on. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said his country was willing to hold talks with the US, but not under pressure.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC
Rare public appearance
Final batch of M1A2T tanks to be delivered soon, source saysThe manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC
Taiwan must pass defense budget
Taiwan must pass defense budgetBy Yuichiro Kakutani, Allen Zhang 張安倫For years, the US has been urging Taiwan to increase defense spending amid mounting threats from an increasingly capable China hell-bent on “unification.” Nevertheless, this month Taiwanese legislators moved to block a critical increase in the defense budget. In November last year, President William Lai (賴清德) was applauded for announcing a special defense budget of US$40 billion. Lai correctly understands this dynamic, which is why he noted earlier this month that a failure to pass his special defense budget “could lead the international community to misunderstand Taiwan’s determination to defend itself.” Given the stakes, the Legislative Yuan should reconsider and pass the full defense budget. South Korea’s proposed defense budget is 7.5 percent higher than last year’s, while the Philippines continued to boost its defense capabilities. The US government has emphasized the importance of passing the special defense budget for months.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC
US influencer shares ‘another’ Africa on tour
US influencer shares ‘another’ Africa on tourIShowSpeed’s African tour is breaking through outdated views of the continent, boosting its international presence to a new generation and attracting new visitorsAFP, COTONOU, BeninIShowSpeed, a 21-year-old African-American influencer, has raced a cheetah, leapt with Maasai warriors and drawn huge crowds in a month-long tour of Africa that has also busted cliches about the continent. Photo: AFPHe hit 50 million YouTube subscribers last month, Rolling Stone magazine named him the Most Influential Creator of last year and Forbes estimates his net worth at US$20 million. “He shows another Africa, an Africa on the move, modernising, eager to achieve great things. In Lagos, Nigeria’s megacity of about 20 million inhabitants, the influencer celebrated his birthday as well as hitting 50 million subscribers on YouTube. As his Africa tour drew to a close recently, the streamer planned to take a DNA test which he hoped would reveal his origins on the continent.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC
China overturns Canadian’s sentence
Schellenberg’s lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo (張東碩), yesterday confirmed China’s Supreme People’s Court struck down the sentence. Canadian Robert Schellenberg, center, attends his trial in Dalian, China, on Jan. 14, 2019. Photo: Intermediate People’s Court of Dalian via ReutersThat arrest infuriated Beijing, which detained two Canadians — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — on espionage charges that Ottawa condemned as retaliatory. GAC did not comment on whether diplomacy during Carney’s visit impacted the Chinese court decision. Zhang said Carney’s visit raised his hopes that the Chinese court would announce a relatively positive outcome for his client.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC
Foreign-run domestic politics
Foreign-run domestic politicsBy Howard Shen 沈正浩In the past 72 hours, US Senators Roger Wicker, Dan Sullivan and Ruben Gallego took to social media to publicly rebuke the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over the defense budget. The narrative fed to our allies claims the opposition is slashing the defense budget to kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party. Last year, under a KMT-plurality legislature, Taiwan passed a record-breaking national defense budget of NT$471 billion (US$14.7 billion). Had the KMT intended to sabotage Taiwan’s security, that record-high budget would never even have left the committee room. By name-dropping the KMT, these senators have unwittingly assisted the Lai administration’s strategy of foreign-managed domestic politics.
Source:Taipei Times
February 07, 2026 17:29 UTC