University students break up via text
University students break up via textVIOLENCE RISK: Breakups can lead to violent outcomes if not handled well, a foundation member warned, as 18 percent of respondents said they would retaliateBy Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNAMost university students break up with a partner over text message, while both sides tend to evade communication, a survey by the Good Shepherd Welfare Foundation found yesterday, as it warned that improper communication increases the chance of conflict. The foundation administered two separate surveys — one to people who initiated a breakup and another to those who were broken up with. Among initiators, 41 percent broke the news by texting, while 32 percent met face-to-face, the foundation said in a news release. Triggered by the stressful situation, it is common for one side to avoid while the other pursues answers, Ting said. First, couples should take stock of their feelings and reasoning to ease any feelings of shock or panic, she said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 10, 2023 06:41 UTC
Fishermen use smartphones to map a vanishing way of life
So now the fishermen of southern India are learning a whole new skill: mapping their ancient land by app — plot by precious plot — to stop industry from swallowing life on the lagoon. He pointed out the holes left by the government’s latest coastal maps, blank spaces he said are villages brimming with life. With a new government zoning map three months off, Raji fears his industry and whole way of life will become the next black hole of Lake Pulicat. Around the creek, wooden boats and loinclothed fishermen wade through sludgy waters surrounded by foundries, thermal power plants and ship yards. Watching the sun set over Pulicat lake, fisherman Dayalan D is a convert to new technology to preserve his old way of life.
Source:Taipei Times
August 09, 2023 21:36 UTC
Soldier hiked 3km to reach parents sheltering at a hut
Soldier hiked 3km to reach parents sheltering at a hutStaff writer, with cnaA soldier in Nantou County hiked through landslides and flooding to bring supplies to his parents who had been sheltering at a mountain hut since Typhoon Khanun closed roads in the area. Shih Chih-wei (施芷崴) and his special forces associates trekked 3km to reach the hut in rural Renai Township (仁愛), the Military News Agency said. Shih’s parents, who are farmers living in an indigenous community, were harvesting crops when Typhoon Khanun brought rain to the area, the agency said. Army soldier Shih Chih-wei, right, poses for a photograph with his father on Tuesday. With Shih’s parents now well-stocked with supplies, the rescue team decided it would be safer for the two farmers to continue sheltering at the hut until the roads open again, the reports said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 09, 2023 18:52 UTC
Trump is bad news for Taiwan
Trump is bad news for TaiwanBy Linus Chiou 邱士哲Despite the three criminal indictments he is facing, former US president Donald Trump is actively campaigning for the presidency: By all accounts, his campaign is going well in parts of the Republican base. A New York Times poll published on July 31 found that 54 percent of Republican voters would support Trump if the election for the party’s presidential nominee were held today. For instance, in an interview with Fox News, Trump accused Taiwan of taking away semiconductor business from the US and said that Washington should have imposed tariffs on Taiwan. Nevertheless, some Republicans remain skeptical about supporting Kyiv, seeing the Ukraine war as a result of NATO’s expansionism. Trump believes that he could end the war in one day by pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the negotiation table.
Source:Taipei Times
August 09, 2023 16:46 UTC
The KMT, Ukraine and stories of elephants
The KMT, Ukraine and stories of elephantsBy Teng Hon-yuan 鄧鴻源In the jungle of a southeast Asian country, an elephant calf fell into a deep well. The mother elephant was deeply upset and agitated. The mother elephant was afraid they would drown, so she got into the well and held the baby elephants above the water. The KMT also said that some Taiwanese were stupid enough to support Ukraine. If Taiwanese had not offered Ukraine assistance, who would help when it is in trouble?
Source:Taipei Times
August 08, 2023 21:45 UTC
TTL raises the prices of Taiwan Beer, cigarettes
TTL raises the prices of Taiwan Beer, cigarettesStaff writer, with CNATaiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (TTL) yesterday said that it has increased the recommended retail price of Taiwan Beer and its own-brand cigarettes due to rising raw material costs. TTL said it had raised the recommended retail price of Taiwan Beer products — Gold Label, Classic and 18 Days Draft — by NT$5 (US$0.16) per bottle or can, effective from Tuesday last week. In addition, the recommended retail price of TTL cigarettes has been raised by between NT$5 and NT$10 per pack, the state-owned company said. Cans of Classic Taiwan Beer are pictured in Taichung in an undated photograph. The latest price hike comes two months after TTL raised the price of kegs and bottles of Taiwan Beer products by 1 to 2 percent for large wholesalers and by 3 to 7 percent for small wholesalers.
Source:Taipei Times
August 08, 2023 18:36 UTC
July officially hottest month on record
July officially hottest month on recordbreaking point: The concern is not how hot it was last month, but that the record would soon be broken, and people have yet to adapt to this type of life, a scientist saidAPNow that July’s sizzling numbers are all in, the European climate monitoring organization made it official: Last month was Earth’s hottest month on record by a wide margin. It was so warm that Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization made the unusual early announcement that it was likely the hottest month days before it ended. “It’s a stunning record and makes it quite clearly the warmest month on Earth in 10,000 years,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany. And before the Holocene started there was an ice age, so it would be logical to even say this is the warmest record for 120,000 years, he said. “We should not care about July because it’s a record, but because it won’t be a record for long,” Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 08, 2023 16:59 UTC
Union blasts TPP over sexy ‘flight attendants’ dance
Union blasts TPP over sexy ‘flight attendants’ danceStaff writer, with CNAThe Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday accused the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) of “sexualizing and objectifying” female flight attendants with a dance routine at a campaign event for party chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Sunday. It called on Ko and TPP Taipei City Councilor Chang Chih-hau (張志豪), a former pilot who helped arrange the performance, to apologize for the dance, which it said compounded the difficulties and sexism faced by female flight attendants. Dancers perform at a campaign event for Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je in Taipei on Saturday. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei TimesThe union said that airlines made the sexualization and objectification of female flight attendants “a selling point” by forcing cabin crew to wear impractical and tight-fitting uniforms that are designed to be revealing. TPP spokeswoman Lin Tzu-yu (林子宇) said her party respects all vocations, as well as the professional judgement of the dancers involved in the performance.
Source:Taipei Times
August 07, 2023 21:41 UTC
The wages of local corruption
Quite a few township mayors and elected officials across Taiwan have been prosecuted and sentenced for taking bribes or for obtaining fees fraudulently. Local governments are charged with executing a wide range of tasks, with nearly every project related to public construction, welfare and the economy. A local government official was once criticized for frequently authorizing the excavation of roads to install or repair pipes. Local officials find it difficult to get elected without being involved in factions, money, favors and connections. The crackdown on corruption is only an afterthought, while the solution to the problem lies in the moral insistence on “rejecting corruption.” If elected officials could abide by the law and act fairly and honestly, they would be able to achieve great political outcomes and a clean government.
Source:Taipei Times
August 07, 2023 21:38 UTC
Monster movie
Japan to part fund TSMC plantSUBSIDY: Whether the government would pay for half of the second TSMC plant would depend on what type of chips are to be made there, Yoshihiro Seki said The Japanese government is to pay for a significant part of a second Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) factory in southern Kumamoto Prefecture, leaders of the ruling party’s lawmaker coalition on chips said. Giving no support would be out of the question after the government pledged to shoulder half the cost of the first Kumamoto plant, said Akira Amari and Yoshihiro Seki, chairman and secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party’s group on semiconductors. Amari said about one-third of the cost is the norm for these types of projects, and the amount of support for the first was unusually large. The subsidies would
Source:Taipei Times
August 07, 2023 18:38 UTC
Agency warns farmers about risks of hot weather
Agency warns farmers about risks of hot weatherBy Chiu Chih-juo / Staff reporterHumid hot weather in summer has led health officials to issue a warning for farmers, stressing four points: “shielding sunlight, hydration, rest and being alert.”Taiwan has about 1 million farmers, whose average age is older than other workers and their bodies are less capable of cooling off, Health Promotion Administration (HPA) officials said. Currently Taiwan has experienced a rise in temperature by 1.6°C compared with 2021, while with the seasonal change summers became longer from 120 to 150 days on average, Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said. Health Promotion Administration officials and guests hold placards at a news conference in Taipei on July 20 publicizing heat-risk prevention measures for farmers. Studies at Academia Sinica indicated the correlation of the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index with cases of heat exhaustion, the HPA said. “My tiller, plow and rice harvester all have air-conditioner added, and when operating the rice transplanter, I cover up its top with canvas to shield myself from the sunlight and to avoid heat-related injuries,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 06, 2023 21:45 UTC
India delays shock curb on imports of laptops, tablets
India delays shock curb on imports of laptops, tabletsBloombergIndia on Friday backtracked on its sudden plan to curb laptop and tablet imports without a license, giving companies three months to secure the permits. India’s trade regulator surprised the world’s biggest PC makers when it made licenses mandatory for imports of electronics from small tablets to all-in-one PCs. Customers look at Apple Inc laptop computers at the Apple Saket store during its opening in New Delhi on April 20. However, on Friday, India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued a new order saying companies can import electronic goods such as laptops, tablets and other PCs without a license until Oct. 31. It is also part of a wider state push to boost local production and create a world-class tech manufacturing industry in India.
Source:Taipei Times
August 06, 2023 18:37 UTC
Olympic swimming test competition in Seine canceled due to pollution
Olympic swimming test competition in Seine canceled due to pollutionAFP, PARISThe pre-Olympics swimming test competition due to take place yesterday in the Seine in Paris was canceled due to pollution of the river, the international swimming federation said after analysis of the latest water samples. Following recent heavy rainfall, “water quality in the Seine has remained below acceptable standards for safeguarding swimmers’ health,” World Aquatics said in a statement yesterday. A crane yesterday dismantles a temporary venue to host a pre-Olympic swimming test competition on the Seine in Paris after the event was canceled due to pollution. Olympic open water swimming has frequently been hit by pollution concerns. The triathlon event in Sunderland served as the British leg of the World Triathlon Championship Series and coincided with the qualification period for the Paris Olympic Games.
Source:Taipei Times
August 06, 2023 18:35 UTC
ASEAN can help keep regional balance
ASEAN can help keep regional balanceBy Nigel Li 李澤霖Great power competition is expected to only continue to increase frictions along geopolitical fault lines. Caught between China and the US, no other regional organization recognizes this more acutely than ASEAN. “ASEAN centrality is not a panacea,” ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn said, but it is something that can be used to help deal with current and upcoming challenges. CRISIS MANAGEMENTThe problem remains that external powers might misunderstand the interests of ASEAN states. DIALOGUEDespite the challenges that Southeast Asian nations face, ASEAN continues to matter as it remains the key platform for regional cooperation.
Source:Taipei Times
August 05, 2023 21:42 UTC
Hou You-yi, Ko Wen-je cause stir at movie premiere
Hou You-yi, Ko Wen-je cause stir at movie premiereStaff writer, with CNANew Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), both candidates in next year’s presidential election, yesterday made a rare appearance together at the premiere of a documentary in Taipei. New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi, left, and Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je shake hands at a documentary premiere in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei TimesFollowing the screening, Hou, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nominee, said he was “touched” by Chiang’s efforts to pursue democracy in Taiwan. Ko — who has on more than one occasion expressed his admiration for Chiang and named his party after Chiang’s Taiwanese People’s Party, despite opposition from Chiang’s descendants — said he would “inherit” Chiang’s unfinished work. The premiere was held on the campus of the Blessed Imelda’s School in Taipei, where the cultural association was headquartered more than a century ago.
Source:Taipei Times
August 05, 2023 18:39 UTC