Minneapolis shooting sparks uproar‘HORRIFIC’: ‘The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing. Alex Pretti, the man who was shot by a federal officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, is pictured in an undated photograph. A person holds a US flag during clashes between federal agents and community members at the scene where federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday. Public outrage was also rekindled earlier this week by the detention of a five-year-old boy as federal agents sought to arrest his father. The shooting comes a day after tens of thousands of people braved the cold to gather in downtown Minneapolis to voice opposition to the federal operation.

Trump threatens Canada with 100% tariff over dealAFP, WASHINGTONUS President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. US President Donald Trump, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney are pictured in a composite photograph. Trump last week posted an image on social media of a map with Canada — as well as Greenland and Venezuela — covered by the US flag. Canadian Minister of International Trade Dominic LeBlanc pushed back against Trump’s latest threat. “There is no pursuit of a free trade deal with China.

Retail ends nine-year growth streakCULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday scheduleStaff writer, with CNATaiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. A woman looks at a display of lucky cat dolls in Taipei’s Yongkang District on Dec. 29 last year. Retail fuel sales also dropped NT$14.3 billion, or 5.4 percent, last year due to falling international crude oil prices, the ministry said. Excluding sales in the auto and motorcycle sector, overall retail sales rose 1.5 percent year-on-year, Chen said.

The name of the Ministry of National Defense is pictured at the ministry in Taipei in an undated photograph. The systems are intended to enable rapid intelligence transmission in the early stages of a disaster and to resolve communication disruptions during response operations. The ministry said it also plans to increase variety by deploying multiple communication methods, including radios operating on various frequency bands, digital microwave systems, tactical assault kit related information and communications equipment. These systems could be rapidly deployed to remote areas to alleviate communication disruptions and establish rescue communication mechanisms, it added. The infrared thermal imaging systems and nationwide smart surveillance systems would be used around the clock by personnel at installation units, patrol zones, regional branches and CGA headquarters, the council said.

HK activist bemoans ‘long-arm’ actsBy Chen Yu-fu and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increased cross-border intimidation efforts against Hong Kongers in Taiwan over the past year, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Henry Tong (湯偉雄) said. “The criminal act was meant to be a scare tactic to intimidate Tong and other Hong Kongers in Taiwan. During Hong Kong’s legislative election campaign last year, he published several articles and urged Hong Kongers to boycott the vote, he said. This time, the vandalism was carried out by operatives who were allegedly dispatched directly from Hong Kong, he added. Hong Kong entities have also paid Taiwanese private detective firms to conduct surveillance, he said.

Pandas leaving Japan as China ties strainedReuters, TOKYOPanda fans yesterday flocked to the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo to say goodbye to its star attractions — two giant pandas, who will be sent back to China at the end of the month. The departure of four-year-old twins Xiao Xiao (曉曉) and Lei Lei (蕾蕾) would leave Japan panda-less for the first time since 1972, prompting thousands to apply for lottery-assigned tickets to say goodbye. “I’ve been coming since the parents of Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were here,” 54-year-old Machiko Seki said. Photo: AFPWhile their move to China has been planned for some time, the pandas’ coming absence has been viewed as a reflection of deteriorating Japan-China relations in the past few months. “Today, I didn’t win the lottery for the panda viewing, so I can’t see the pandas in person,” 49-year-old housewife Akiko Kawakami said.

Dollar-cost averaging, odd-lot trading hit new highsStaff writer, with CNAThe transaction value of small investment programs and odd-lot trading in Taiwan hit new highs last year, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE). Since measures allowing retail investors to buy and sell stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) through dollar-cost averaging mechanisms were introduced in 2017, investments made under dollar-cost averaging totaled NT$600 billion (US$19 billion) as of the end of last year, it said. A stock market graph on an electronic stock board is pictured at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei on Friday. Photo: CNAThe average monthly investment through dollar-cost averaging rose 25 percent last year from a year earlier, TWSE data showed. As for odd-lot trading, investors younger than 20 and those aged 21 to 30 made up 25.89 percent of participants, higher than the 16.35 percent share of the same age groups in non-odd-lot trading.

EDITORIAL: Understanding infiltrationA CTi News reporter surnamed Lin (林) was on Jan. 17 detained and held incommunicado by the Ciaotou Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly funneling money from China into bribes to entice active-duty and retired military personnel to hand over sensitive information. The prosecutors’ office said it executed search warrants on Lin, and nine active and retired military personnel, on Jan. 16. They detained Lin and five others incommunicado for alleged contraventions of the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) after questioning. News about Taiwanese — particularly military personnel — indicted on charges of involvement with Chinese infiltration and espionage is no longer rare in Taiwan. For someone like Lin to be detained for alleged involvement in Chinese infiltration is fairly rare.

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 conflictsAFP, RIYADHA 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. Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the smaller UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in conflicts including Yemen and Sudan, while also aligning with Israel. “There is a deep Saudi feeling that the United Arab Emirates has betrayed the strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia and is now stirring up crises within the Saudi strategic sphere of influence,” Saudi political analyst Soliman al-Okaily said. The UAE denied the claim, saying they were military facilities, but Abu Dhabi has mostly opted not to engage with the broader Saudi attacks. Abu Dhabi has long been accused of supporting the paramilitary force at war with the army, a claim it denies.

China looms over Japan’s electionsBy Wang Hung-jen 王宏仁Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Friday last week announced the dissolution of the Japanese House of Representatives. This is not only a calculation about political survival, it is a political response to pressure from China. When the answer is yes, Japan’s political system would ultimately choose to push forward with the policy rather than constrain itself in response to external pressure. Japan equips its prime minister with the constitutional authority to dissolve parliament and appeal directly to the electorate. Wang Hung-jen is a professor at National Cheng Kung University’s Department of Political Science and executive director of the Institute for National Policy Research.

34 Wu has now made it further in the Australian Open since she was knocked out in the third round in 2024. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz returns to Tommy Paul of the US during their men’s singles match at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday. On Saturday, Lin Yu-chen, 16, defeated American Carrie-Anne Hoo 7-6, 7-6 (12/10) in their junior girls’ singles opener. Alcaraz, who is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament, has never gone beyond the quarter-finals in Melbourne. If he can finally break his Australian duck he would become the youngest man in history to win a career Grand Slam of all four majors.

Gasoline to drop by NT$0.1, while diesel remains unchangedBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterCPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) are to lower domestic gasoline prices this week, but leave diesel prices unchanged from last week. In separate statements yesterday, state-run CPC and privately owned Formosa said that they would lower gasoline prices by NT$0.1 per liter, effective today, following price hikes of NT$0.8 per liter the previous week. CPC and Formosa gasoline prices are to fall to NT$27.1, NT$28.6 and NT$30.6 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to remain at NT$25.7 per liter at CPC stations and NT$25.5 at Formosa pumps. Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — last week rose 2.73 percent to settle at US$65.88 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures — the US oil benchmark — gained 2.92 percent to US$61.07 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Myanmar’s junta wraps election with ally set to triumphAFP, MANDALAY, MyanmarVoting concluded in Myanmar’s month-long election yesterday, with the dominant pro-military party on course for landslide victory in a junta-run poll critics say would only prolong the army’s grip on power. That ended in a 2021 military coup when democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi was detained, civil war broke out, and the country descended into humanitarian crisis. Burmese military chief Min Aung Hlaing, center, visits a polling station during the third and final phase of Myanmar’s general election in Mandalay yesterday. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing — who has not ruled out serving as president after the poll — toured voting stations in Mandalay, wearing civilian dress. “I don’t expect anything from this election,” a 34-year-old Yangon resident said earlier, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

“From 2015 to 2019, TSMC’s total water consumption surged by an astonishing 70 percent,” observed a 2024 Diplomat piece on TSMC’s water needs. Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei TimesOne goal of water policy for the semiconductor industry is to conceal its actual consumption. When this was revised in 2019-2020, semiconductor industry water consumption skyrocketed (review the quote from the Diplomat above). Many observers of the semiconductor industry view it, falsely, as a “silicon shield” that helps protect Taiwan. This mantra recasts semiconductor industry needs as national security needs, downgrading the competing needs of less powerful industries.

Expert warns of risks of adopting pets as therapyBy Chen Kuan-pei and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerHouse pets can provide a sense of companionship and stability for some people, but this is predicated on the owner having sufficient self-care skills and emotional stability, a therapist said, adding that otherwise, pet-keeping might become a source of pressure. A person strokes a cat in New Taipei City in an undated photograph. While keeping pets as a therapeutic measure is a good beginning, people diagnosed with these symptoms should have family help them through the initial stages, she said. If patients experience signs of self-harm, harming others, or have a tendency to lose control, they should consult doctors and accept treatment, and not raise pets, she said. Actual therapy must be established when one is psychologically stable, and other life forms should not be treated as a therapeutic tool, Chou said.