KMT filing malfeasance against Constitutional CourtBy Liu Wan-lin and Chen Cheng-yu / Staff reportersThe Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said yesterday it is filing malfeasance charges against the Constitutional Court and its five justices. The Constitutional Court on Friday ruled that opposition-backed amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed by the Legislative Yuan last year were unconstitutional, as they contravene due legislative process and separation of powers. The Legislative Yuan in December last year passed amendments stipulating that no fewer than 10 grand justices must take part in deliberations of the Constitutional Court, and at least nine grand justices must agree to declare a law unconstitutional. “The Constitutional Court session was therefore held illegally, and the ruling is, of course, illegal,” it added. The five are no longer qualified to be called justices of the Constitutional Court, Huang said, describing them as “green judicial tyrants” and accusing them of contravening Article 124 of the Criminal Code regarding wrongful judgements.

METRO RAMPAGE:Precinct chief addresses public concerns over stabbing responseStaff writer, with CNAThe head of a local police precinct yesterday addressed public concerns over why some officers responding to Friday’s deadly attacks in Taipei were not armed, saying decisions were made under extreme uncertainty and time pressure. Armed police keep watch at a busy shopping area yesterday in Taipei near the crime scene of Friday’s knife attack. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei TimesDespite this, the off-duty officers did not hesitate and ran to the scene on foot to help protect the public, Lee said. Lee also asked the public and media to show understanding and support, saying police officers face unpredictable danger every day. “Every police officer has the same courage and the same desire to protect the public,” Lee said, becoming visibly emotional and at times choking back tears.

Jake Paul reports double broken jaw and on liquidsAP, MIAMIJake Paul’s jaw was broken in two places in his loss to former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in Miami on Friday. Joshua scored a sixth-round knockout victory over Paul, who posted on Saturday an X-ray of his damaged jaw. “Double broken jaw,” the YouTuber wrote on Instagram. “Gotta eat liquids for 7 days.”Joshua ended the heavyweight bout with a powerful punch to Paul’s jaw, sending the American to the canvas for the fourth and final time. Paul weighed in at 98kg, and Joshua at 110kg.

This is US President Donald Trump’s second arms sale to Taiwan during his second term. US President Donald Trump gestures as he makes an announcement about lowering the cost of drug prices in Washington on Dec. 19. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinThe weapons in this package are significantly different from those that Taipei had tended to procure before, such as advanced models of fighter jets and warships. “This package is full of weapons that will make a Chinese [landing] on Taiwan difficult to execute and sustain,” retired US Navy rear admiral Mark Montgomery said. The Nikkei Asia report also quoted an anonymous US government source, saying there are two major reasons for Taiwan’s shift in priorities.

METRO RAMPAGE: Japanese tourist recounts efforts to save knife victimBy Lin Chih-yi / Staff reporter, with CNATourist Kouta Kinoshita said he felt helpless as he attempted to staunch the bleeding of a man stabbed in Taipei during a deadly rampage on Friday that left four people dead. Kouta Kinoshita films himself from the scene of a knife attack in Taipei on Friday. In an emergency, no tools are needed, just “apply direct pressure to the wound with your hands,” Kao said. As direct pressure might involve contact with the injured person’s blood, use a piece of clothing, such as a scarf or similar item, to apply pressure, Kao said. A tourniquet can be tied above the wound to stop blood flow when arteries are damaged, he said.

Court reverses earlier ruling to clear way for Musk’s US$56bn pay packageAFP, NEW YORKA Delaware appeals court on Friday cleared the way for businessman Elon Musk to receive a long-contested US$56 billion Tesla Inc pay package, reversing an earlier judgement in the protracted case. The decision by the Delaware Supreme Court rejected a pair of judgments by Delaware Court of Chancery Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick and sets the stage for the world’s richest person to get another windfall. In a pair of rulings last year, McCormick invalidated the 2018 package, which once loomed as historically large, but have since been eclipsed by the tech tycoon’s most recent Tesla package. In a statement posted online on Friday, attorneys representing Tesla shareholders said they were considering next steps. Tesla shareholders on Nov. 6 easily approved the latest package, which is tied to a number of performance and valuation targets.

Gasoline, diesel prices to drop by NT$0.4 per literBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterGasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.4 per liter this week, after international crude oil prices last week fell for the second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The release of weak economic data from China also added pressure to oil prices, they said, adding that concerns about excess supply continue to cloud the market’s outlook after oil prices had fallen more than 20 percent this year. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures — the US oil gauge — dropped 1.36 percent to US$56.66 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Google, Apple warn staff on US visas not to travel abroadReutersAlphabet Inc’s Google and Apple Inc have advised some employees on US work visas to avoid international travel due to delays of up to 12 months for visa stamping appointments at embassies, Business Insider reported on Friday, citing internal memos. Google’s logo at a company research facility in Mountain View, California, is pictured on May 13. Photo: ReutersGoogle and Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The administration of US President Donald Trump this month announced increased vetting of applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, including screening social media accounts. In September, Alphabet had strongly advised its employees to avoid international travel and urged H-1B visa holders to remain in the US, according to an e-mail seen by Reuters.

An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998. A few weeks before the Bondi Beach attack, the pair returned to Sydney from a four-week trip to the southern Philippines that is now under investigation by detectives there and in Australia. They would usually leave their rooms only for two or three hours, with the longest excursion lasting eight hours, the Philippine national security service said. Clarke Jones, an Australian National University criminologist, said it was “very, very unusual” to have a father and son as suspected perpetrators. Jones, who has worked with violent offenders in the Philippines, said the alleged gunmen’s radicalization had apparently gone “under the radar” for years after the Australian intelligence probe.

Moore Threads unveils new AI chips after IPOCHINA RIVAL: The chips are positioned to compete with Nvidia’s Hopper and Blackwell products and would enable clusters connecting more than 100,000 chipsBloombergMoore Threads Technology Co (摩爾線程) introduced a new generation of chips aimed at reducing artificial intelligence (AI) developers’ dependence on Nvidia Corp’s hardware, just weeks after pulling off one of the most successful Chinese initial public offerings (IPOs) in years. “These products will significantly enhance world-class computing speed and capabilities that all developers aspire to,” Moore Threads CEO Zhang Jianzhong (張建中), a former Nvidia executive, said on Saturday at a company event in Beijing. The new technology, slated for mass production from next year, would enable clusters connecting more than 100,000 chips for AI training at data centers, Zhang added. Moore Threads started out earning revenue from gaming and visual rendering chips before pivoting to the accelerators vital to developing and running AI software. Moore Threads, which was blacklisted by the US in 2023, unveiled servers capable of linking tens of thousands of AI chips.

US Representative Brian Mast, the Republican chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, which oversees export controls, on Friday introduced a bill dubbed the AI Overwatch Act that would require the US Congress to be notified of AI chips sales to adversaries. Any processors equal to or higher in capabilities than Nvidia’s H20 would be subject to oversight, the draft bill says. The legislation would also require a certification that the chips would not be used for military, intelligence or surveillances purposes. Since the US first restricted sales of advanced AI chips in 2022, the idea of intentionally selling advanced chips to China has found scant support in Washington. I want to be convinced because I keep asking the question.”McCormick questioned the Trump administration’s argument that selling AI chips to China would slow the ability of Chinese chipmakers to gain in product performance and quality.

The PRC and its netizens, taking their cue from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are presenting Okinawa by mirroring the claims about Taiwan. Conversely, during the 1950s and 1960s, when the US governed Okinawa, Okinawan support for the reversion movement to revert Okinawa to Japanese control was widespread. Recall too that the Japanese islands to the east of Taiwan, Yoniguni, Ishigaki, and others, are governed as part of Okinawa prefecture. A conquest of Okinawa will likely result on PRC claims to any territory Okinawa once ruled, including the Amami-Oshima islands. Links between frontline Taiwan and Okinawa prefecture will get a boost this month with the opening of ferry services between Keelung and Ishigaki.

In Beijing’s repression of Tibetans in occupied Tibet and in exile, it extends its coercive practices to anyone bearing Tibetan cultural markers, regardless of citizenship. While such repression of Tibetans has been well documented — including by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy — transnational cultural repression of people with affinities to Tibetan identity is becoming increasingly applied to Indians. That constitutes a form of transnational cultural repression not limited to Tibetans, and extends to those perceived to be associated with Tibetan culture, even when they are legal citizens of sovereign states. Within Tibet, efforts to erode Tibetan cultural identity have included the establishment of colonial boarding schools aimed at severing children from their language, culture and traditions. While name changes in many societies are undertaken to improve social mobility, in this context, they are increasingly driven by the need to avoid cultural repression.

North Korea slams nuclear Japan as threat to humanityAFP, SEOULNorth Korea yesterday said that Japan’s nuclear ambitions “must be prevented at any cost,” after a Tokyo official reportedly suggested the country should possess atomic weapons. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, visits the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang with officials on Wednesday last week. “This is not a misstatement or a reckless assertion, but clearly reflects Japan’s long-cherished ambition for nuclear weaponization,” said the North Korean official, who was not named. In an address to the UN in September, North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Son-gyong said his country would never surrender its nuclear weapons. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has also said he is open to talks with Washington, provided Pyongyang is allowed to keep its nuclear arsenal.

Ex-HK head confession a warning for TaiwanBy John ChengFormer Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) has chosen a curious moment to speak candidly. Lai, in his view, was simply too influential, too dangerous and too effective to be left to the market. Hong Kong did not lose its freedoms suddenly in 2020. If this is the system some still urge Taiwan to trust, then Leung’s “confession” should be required reading, not as history, but as warning. John Cheng is a retired businessman from Hong Kong now living in Taiwan.