First female leader of Church of England confirmed
First female leader of Church of England confirmedReuters and AP, LONDONSarah Mullally was officially confirmed on Wednesday as the first woman to lead the Church of England as Archbishop of Canterbury in a traditional ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Dame Sarah Mullally listens during her Confirmation of Election ceremony, legally confirming her as the Archbishop of Canterbury, at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on Wednesday. Photo: ReutersThe British monarch has served as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England since Henry VIII split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. As the lengthy process came to a close and her election was confirmed, Mullally stood and faced the congregation to loud applause. She will also have to confront concerns that the Church of England has not done enough to stamp out the sexual abuse scandals that have dogged it for more than a decade.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
China executes 11 linked to Myanmar scam center
China executes 11 linked to Myanmar scam centerAFP, BEIJINGChina executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Burmese police hand over five telecom and Internet fraud suspects to Chinese police at Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar, on Aug. 26, 2023. Photo: Chinese embassy in Myanmar / Xinhua news agency / APThose conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. Fraud operations centered in Myanmar’s border regions have extracted billions of dollars from around the world through phone and Internet scams. The September rulings that resulted in yesterday’s executions also included death sentences with two-year reprieves to five other individuals.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
Turkey offers to mediate for Iran
Turkey offers to mediate for IranMIRROR STRATEGY: Iran’s foreign minister appeared to match Trump’s language, including the use of capital letters, in writing that Iran was open to a deal on nuclear talksAFP, ISTANBUL, TurkeyTurkey would offer to mediate between Washington and Tehran during a visit by Iran’s foreign minister today, officials said yesterday, as Ankara considers reinforcing security along its border should the dispute escalate. The visit by Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi comes after US President Donald Trump threatened a military strike on Iran over its deadly protest crackdown earlier this month. Iran is ready to negotiate on the nuclear file again,” Fidan had told al-Jazeera television. “If the United States attacks Iran and the regime falls, Turkey is planning additional measures to reinforce border security,” said the official, who also requested anonymity. “Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable NUCLEAR DEAL — on equal footing, and free from coercion, threats, and intimidation — which ensures Iran’s rights to PEACEFUL nuclear technology, and guarantees NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS,” Araghchi wrote on X.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
ICE debate could trigger shutdown
If those are not met, Democrats say they are prepared to block the wide-ranging spending bill, denying Republicans the votes they need to pass it and triggering a shutdown at midnight tonight. Pretti, an intensive care nurse, was killed on Saturday by federal agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo: AFPThe White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment made early yesterday morning. There were some signs of possible progress as the White House has appeared open to trying to strike a deal with Democrats to avert a shutdown. “At its best, America serves as a haven of individual liberties in a world too often full of tyranny and cruelty.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
Risks of conditional security promises
Risks of conditional security promisesBy LeonardFong-sheng Wang 王鳳生Recently, remarks by US officials have drawn attention in Taiwan for linking security assurances to levels of investment and the relocation of semiconductor production capacity. However, when security assurances are articulated in conditional terms, they begin to resemble negotiated outcomes rather than stable institutional commitments. A security relationship framed as contingent on meeting specific industrial demands risks recasting Taiwan from an indispensable strategic partner into a supplier required to continually “pay” for protection. Proposals to shift a significant share of semiconductor production capacity overseas might be defended on grounds of risk management from the standpoint of individual firms. The question is not whether risks should be diversified, but whether decisionmaking authority and technological accumulation are being transferred along with production capacity.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
Careful, it’s ’slippy’ out
Saudi Arabia’s UAE ‘mudslinging’ threatens new crisisPRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
After a year of Trump, pivot to PRC gathers pace
“They basically said: ‘Look, you’ve got a massive trade partner in the US that’s become a little more uncertain. During Carney’s visit the two nations signed an economic deal to tear down trade barriers and forge a new strategic relationship. Carney described China as “a more predictable and reliable partner.”However, China is not alone in eyeing new trade pacts to de-risk from the US. “Many of these countries harbor deep concerns about China’s approach to trade, its use of economic coercion, and unresolved maritime and historical disputes,” Kim said. “In the current moment, China may appear more restrained or pragmatic when compared with the Trump administration’s extreme rhetoric and actions, but Beijing’s actual behavior has not been especially reassuring.”
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
Germany to harden critical infrastructure amid Russia fears
Germany to harden critical infrastructure amid Russia fearsAFP, BERLINGermany plans to better protect its critical infrastructure as surging tensions with Russia stoke fears of sabotage attacks and other national security threats. Proposed legislation would require power utilities, water companies and even some supermarket chains to reduce their vulnerability to terrorism, industrial accidents, natural disasters and public health emergencies. Maintenance personnel in Berlin on Jan. 6 work on the site of a Jan. 3 arson attack on high-voltage cables. Photo: AFPThe measures cover facilities that provide critical services to more than 500,000 people in sectors including energy, water, food, health, transportation, information technology, telecommunications, financial services and waste disposal. “The left-wing extremist attack on the Berlin power grid and all the many other attacks — both small and large — in recent months have shown that we simply have to protect our critical infrastructure better,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
Retirees could help in health crisis
Retirees could help in health crisisBy Hsieh Min-hsien 謝旻憲Taiwan’s long-term care system has fallen into a structural paradox. After the rollout of the “Long-term Care 2.0” program in 2017, care personnel numbers rose from 25,000 to approximately 100,000, but have stagnated over the past three years. Taiwan’s roughly 370 senior learning centers have already built capacity in health promotion and community engagement programs. Approximately 166,000 people participated in senior learning programs in 2023. The long-term care sector crisis has never been about beds, but about staff.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
Taiwan-US ties grow under Trump
Taiwan has the opportunity to build a closer bilateral relationship with the US through mutually beneficial trade exchanges and high-tech industrial cooperation. This would not only contribute to Taiwan’s economic growth, but also strengthen Taiwan-US strategic ties, thus enhancing Taiwan’s capacity to safeguard itself while resisting China. As Trump began his second term, he promoted policies aimed at making the US great again. On the domestic front, Trump strengthened US manufacturing, created jobs and boosted economic growth. This Taiwan-US trade agreement tightly links security relations with economic and trade interests.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
From Burnham to PRC, avoiding hard choices is Starmer doctrine
From Burnham to PRC, avoiding hard choices is Starmer doctrineWhether at home or abroad, the British prime minister’s pattern of ducking difficult arguments and calling it pragmatism is the sameBy Rafael Behr / The GuardianThere comes a point in a prime minister’s career when foreign travel offers respite from domestic trouble. Next comes the phase where missions overseas feel dangerous because plotters can organize more openly against absent leaders. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in transit between those two zones of decline. Starmer justifiably thinks the first visit by a UK prime minister to China since 2018 is a bigger deal than some story about weaponization of the party rulebook to block a potential challenger. Starmer dismisses the call for “performative” condemnations that would achieve only loss of influence with a superpower.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC
Cabinet eyes tougher penalties for deepfakes
Cabinet eyes tougher penalties for deepfakesMORE TIME: Under the bills, the statute of limitations for reporting child sexual abuse would not begin until the victim turns 20, providing them more time to report itBy Jonathan Chin and Hollie Younger / Staff writersThe Executive Yuan yesterday proposed amendments to the Criminal Code that would toughen penalties for disseminating deepfakes and other types of defamation online. The draft act would increase the penalty for defamation, or offenses against the reputation of another to NT$100,000, up from NT$15,000. The penalty for public defamation and public defamation with violence, which includes slapping, would increase to as much as NT$60,000 and NT$100,000 respectively, compared with NT$9,000 and NT$15,000. The draft amendments would also delay the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse until the victim turns 20. The statute of limitations is intended to maintain legal stability and urge law enforcement to fulfill their duty to prosecute, the Ministry of Justice said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:15 UTC
Academia Sinica unveils 20-qubit quantum computer
Academia Sinica unveils 20-qubit quantum computerBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterAcademia Sinica yesterday unveiled its 20-quantum-bit (qubit) superconducting quantum computer, a milestone in the nation’s quantum research since introducing its 5-qubit computer in 2023. “With the development of the 20-qubit superconducting quantum computer, Taiwan is officially at the starting point of the large-scale quantum chip fabrication process,” Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said in a statement. Taiwan’s domestically developed 20-quantum-bit superconducting quantum computer is pictured in an undated photograph. The 20-qubit quantum computer project was started last year by first creating high-quality superconducting qubits using an 8-inch wafer fabrication platform, it said. Chen Chii-tung (陳啟東), executive director of Academia Sinica’s Thematic Center for Quantum Computer, said that a practical quantum computer requires high-quality, large-scale qubits to realize its full functionality.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:15 UTC
Starmer and Xi hail reset, with help from AstraZeneca
Starmer and Xi hail reset, with help from AstraZenecaReuters and AP, BEIJINGBritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday hailed a reset of ties, pledging to build an economic partnership with deals including a major investment by AstraZeneca that they said would benefit both countries. Relations have deteriorated over allegations of Chinese spying in the UK, China’s support for Russia in Moscow’s war on Ukraine and the crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday. However, he also said the closer ties would enable the UK to engage in “frank dialogue” when there was disagreement. State-run China Central Television said Xi had stressed, without mentioning the US directly, that “major powers” must adhere to international law or the world would regress into a “jungle.”
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:15 UTC
Philippines touts rule of law at ASEAN
Philippines touts rule of law at ASEANAP, CEBU, PhilippinesSoutheast Asian countries should steadfastly maintain restraint and adhere to international law as acts of aggression across Asia and “unilateral actions” elsewhere in the world threaten the rules-based global order, Manila’s top diplomat said yesterday. ASEAN also does not recognize the Burmese elections that ended this month, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Theresa Lazaro said. Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Theresa Lazaro speaks at a news conference during an ASEAN meeting in Cebu, Philippines, yesterday. Calling out China and the US, among the largest trading and defense partners of ASEAN members, has been a dilemma and diplomatic tightrope. “These realities underscore the interim importance of ASEAN’s time-honored principles of restraint, dialogue and adherence to international law in seeking to preserve peace and stability to our peoples,” she said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 29, 2026 17:15 UTC