Apple plans extreme sports watch with larger screen and metal casingBloombergApple Inc plans its largest smartwatch display to date, with a bigger battery and a rugged metal casing, as part of the upcoming Apple Watch geared toward extreme sports athletes, people with knowledge of the plans said. The rugged version of the Apple Watch is to feature a screen that measures about 5cm diagonally, while a new Apple Watch Series 8 is to retain the 4.8cm diagonal screen size of Series 7. A planned update to the low-end Apple Watch SE is also to retain its screen size. A person tries on an Apple Watch at one of the company’s stores in Sydney on March 18. First released in 2015, the Apple Watch has become a key piece of the company’s hardware lineup.

NATO creates new space for TaiwanBy Joseph Tse-hei Lee 李榭熙The Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as tensions in the Taiwan Strait, dominated the agenda of last week’s NATO summit in Madrid. As NATO has the Indo-Pacific region in its radar, it is paying closer attention to Taiwan’s security needs. In reality, many Indo-Pacific states are craving the attention of great powers, and the benefits and resources that might come from such interactions. Because the Indo-Pacific region is far away from launching its singular security framework like NATO, Taiwan should pursue a wide range of bilateral defense initiatives. While working with the US and NATO to improve its national defense capability, Taiwan could still partner with other Indo-Pacific powers to consolidate its sovereign status and global recognition.

Chunghwa Express staff launch strike over wagesBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterChunghwa Express Co employees yesterday began a nationwide strike after failing to secure a raise following two years of negotiations with the company’s management. The first group of workers to strike were from the company’s offices in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City and Yilan County, the Chunghwa Express Workers’ Union said. The delivery firm, which is a subsidiary of state-run Chunghwa Post, receives most of its revenue from delivering checks and other paperwork for local financial institutions. Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times“Because of the strike, our clients must deliver the paperwork themselves,” Chunghwa Express chairman Huang Cheng-chung (黃振忠). Profits generated by Chunghwa Express should not be used to feed the “fat cats,” retired management from Chunghwa Post who have stakes in the delivery firm, it said.

EDITORIAL: Tech must be made to pay for newsIn a research report published earlier this year, a National Taiwan University academic issued a “wake-up call” about the state of the news media’s dwindling revenues. By contrast, 2020 saw NT$48.26 billion of online media ad volume, creating what Lin called an “avalanche of losses” for newspapers. News remuneration legislation is favored by many governments, starting with the European Copyright Directive passed by the EU in 2019, requiring platforms to pay publishers for content aggregated on their sites. Google especially has complied with the rules wherever necessary, signing deals with hundreds of media companies to pay for rights to display their news content. It is only fair that tech giants share their spoils, which hopefully would be the first step toward reinvigorating a stagnant industry.

FootballRonaldo wants to escape from Manchester UnitedCristiano Ronaldo wants to leave Manchester United this summer if the English Premier League club receives the appropriate offer, reports said Saturday. United finished 6th in the league, missed the UEFA Champions League qualification and won the Ballon d’Or five times. This Ballon d’Or has a contract period and one year of options left and may play in the Europa League. Manchester United categorically claims that Ronaldo has not been put up for sale. England struggled on the second day of the rain in the series decision test at Edgbaston, England.

In group interactions, children with better memory also have greater social skills. From the researchers’ findings, preschool children with better memory do have an advantage. The teacher suspected that he was a “slow student.”Teachers might often categorize students with poor memory as slow learners. Especially given the low birthrate today, when all children are precious to their parents, teachers have an even greater responsibility. The classroom must be a friendly learning environment, not “killing fields” for students thought to be “slow.” This is the classroom management ability teachers must possess.

US President Joe Biden last month signed into law the Ocean Shipping Reform Act as part of efforts to fight inflation. The PC sector has performed brilliantly since the outbreak of COVID-19 due to work-from-home and remote-learning trends. The PC sector’s decline has affected supply chains, including the flat-panel display, power IC and PC hardware segments. They have also been paying attention to actions taken by central banks to address rising food and energy prices. The current market correction is of course worth great attention, but for investors, the underlying macro challenges and cyclical changes facing local industries and enterprises are even more of an issue worthy of pondering.

Tellez hits his fifth home run in five gamesAP, PITTSBURGH, PennsylvaniaRowdy Tellez on Friday homered for the fifth time in five games, and drove in five runs, while Corbin Burnes took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 19-2. Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez hits a three-run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during their MLB game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Friday. Tellez also had a two-run double in the fourth to push the Brewers’ lead to 9-0. The ball hit the top of the fence, bounced off a railing and back onto the field. “I got tagged out at second base by Javy Baez” on home run No.

India’s women water warriors transform parched landsA volunteer network of around 1,000 women are working across Bundelkhand to rehabilitate and revive disappeared water sourcesBy Jalees ANDRABI / AFP, CHHATARPUR, IndiaAs the monsoon storms bear down on India, a dedicated group of women hope that after years of backbreaking labor, water shortages will no longer leave their village high and dry. Women on June 9 collect water from a well in Agrotha village, in Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh. “All our wells have dried up.”Three years ago, Rajput joined Jal Saheli (“Friends of Water”), a volunteer network of around 1,000 women working across Bundelkhand to rehabilitate and revive disappeared water sources. Rajput said their work had helped them retain monsoon rainwater for longer and revive half a dozen water bodies around their village. Photo: AFPThough not yet self-sufficient, Agrotha’s residents are no longer among the roughly 600 million Indians that a government think-tank says face acute water shortages daily.

Driven by sustained growth in aquaculture, global fisheries and aquatic farming together hauled in 214 million tonnes, the UN agency said in a report. The total first-sale value of 2020 production topped US$400 million, with US$265 million coming from aquaculture, a sector poised for further expansion. “The growth of fisheries and aquaculture is vital in our efforts to end global hunger and malnutrition,” said FAO director Qu Dongyu. Production of aquatic animals in 2020 — totaling 178 million tonnes — was evenly divided between fisheries and aquaculture, according to the FAO report. Asian countries were the source of 70 percent of the world’s fisheries and aquaculture of aquatic animals in 2020.

For the first stage, it has identified 19 plastic items that are not very useful, but have a high potential to become litter, making it illegal to produce, import, stock, distribute or sell them. A man carries flowers and vegetables in plastic bags at a market in Kolkata, India, yesterday. Photo: AFPSome disposable plastic bags would also be phased out and replaced with thicker ones. Thousands of other plastic products — such as bottles for water or soda or bags for snacks — are not covered by the ban. In 2020, more than 4.1 million tonnes of plastic waste was generated in India, data from the nation’s federal pollution watchdog said.

GM calls off India plant sale to Great WallReuters, NEW DELHI and SHANGHAIGeneral Motors (GM) yesterday said it had called off the sale of a shuttered Indian plant to China’s Great Wall Motor Ltd (長城汽車) after they failed to obtain regulatory approvals, amid a tougher stance by New Delhi toward investments from Beijing. GM struck a deal in January 2020 to sell the plant to Great Wall, with the Chinese SUV maker expected to pay up to US$300 million as part of a broader plan to invest US$1 billion to establish a presence in India’s growing auto market. This was part of a broader crackdown by India on businesses with Chinese links amid worsening diplomatic relations. This will also send Great Wall back to the drawing board on its plans to enter India, which it considered an important part of its global strategy to break into new markets like Latin America, Thailand and Brazil. Last year, Great Wall reallocated to Brazil a portion of its US$1 billion investment earmarked for India and reassigned some of its staff after delays in winning government approvals.

Gabon’s issuance of carbon credits to be world’s largestBloombergGabon, the second-most forested nation after Suriname, aims to create 187 million carbon credits, almost half of which could be sold on the offsets market in what would be the single largest issuance in history. Photo: AFPThe carbon credits “will probably come on to market just before COP27,” White said, referring to the UN climate change conference scheduled for November in Egypt. Ninety million credits will be sold, and “non-market” mechanisms will be used for the balance, he said. Carbon credits are tokens representing 1 tonne of climate-warming carbon dioxide that is reduced, removed or not added to the atmosphere, and companies use them to offset their own emissions. Credits can be traded on the international market for carbon production rights, or firms can invest in projects to produce credits themselves.

EDITORIAL: Ko Wen-je: Political chameleonPeople are speculating about Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) next move, given that his final term as mayor ends at the end of the year. This is the only way to transform Taiwan into a united country, instead of a nation plagued by deep political fissures, he said. Becoming Taipei mayor has often been regarded as a stepping stone to the presidency, as in the case of former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Ko has been considered a political chameleon, shifting his position from the green camp to the white camp and now to a white-tinged-with-red affiliation. He then introduced a new party into Taiwan’s political arena, intending the TPP to transcend the DPP and the KMT.

China destroys education in TibetBy Tenzing DhamdulAn April circular by the Chinese Ministry of Education on student admission criteria at Tibetan universities has been harrowing and discriminating to say the least. The initial attack on the Tibetan education system began during the Cultural Revolution, when the monastic system, recognized as the cornerstone of Tibet’s education system, was wiped out in terms of its physical structure and personnel. The end of the Cultural Revolution set the stage for the renaissance of Tibetan education. Beijing implemented a bilingual education policy in Tibet and other occupied regions (or, as Beijing calls them, “minority regions”). Chinese interference with the Tibetan education system has gained pace since Xi took office.