Taiwan scrambles to see off 27-plane Chinese incursionMONITORED BY JETS: Chinese aircraft included Y-20 aerial refueling aircraft, suggesting that China refueled its short-range jets during flightBy Ben Blanchard / Reuters, TAIPEIThe air force scrambled again yesterday to warn away 27 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the Ministry of National Defense said, the latest increase in tensions across the sensitive Taiwan Strait. Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by China’s air force near the nation, often in the southwestern part of its ADIZ, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). A Chinese Y-20 aircraft performs maneuvers during the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, on Nov. 12, 2014. Photo: BloombergThe latest Chinese mission included 18 fighter jets plus five nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, as well as, unusually, a Y-20 aerial refueling aircraft, the ministry said. Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn away the Chinese aircraft, while missile systems were deployed to monitor them, the ministry said.

Indian anti-money laundering agency summons Amazon: ‘Economic Times’BloombergAn Indian government agency has summoned Amazon.com Inc’s top management in the country, along with officials from Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL), to question them about a botched deal, the Economic Times reported. “We are in receipt of summons issued by the ED in connection with the Future Group,” an Amazon spokesperson told the newspaper. “As we have just received the summons, we are examining it and will respond within the given time frame.”The Future Group did not respond to a request by the Economic Times for comment. The Indian government has asked Starlink Internet Services of Elon Musk’s rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) to comply with the country’s regulatory framework before offering its satellite-based Internet services. “The same is also evident from the Web site of Starlink (www.starlink.com), wherein satellite-based Internet services can be booked by users in the Indian territory,” it said.

Lithuanian delegation lands in Taiwan‘BADGE OF HONOR’: Lithuanian lawmaker Dovile Sakaliene, who is on China’s travel ban list, said delegation members joked that they would be joining her on it soonStaff writer, with CNAA delegation led by the chairman of the Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with Taiwan yesterday arrived in Taipei to participate in a conference on democracy later this week. The group, led by Matas Maldeikis, a Lithuanian lawmaker and an outspoken critic of China, touched down at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 6:18am yesterday. A delegation of Lithuanian lawmakers led by Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with Taiwan chairman Matas Maldeikis, fifth right, are welcomed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials after touching down at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning. Another member of the delegation, Lithuanian lawmaker Dovile Sakaliene, said she expected the Taiwan trip to be “inspiring,” as Lithuania knows how it feels to be next to the neighbor of “a large authoritarian regime.”The Baltic state is near Russia, while Taiwan is just across the Strait from China. You yesterday welcomed the delegation upon their arrival, saying that Taiwan opens its arms to all partners who love freedom and democracy.

Italy, Portugal drawn in same bracketAP, GENEVA, SwitzerlandNext year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar is sure to be without either Italy or Portugal after the current and previous European champions were drawn into the same qualifying playoff bracket on Friday, meaning that at least one will fail to qualify for the tournament. At a ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday, Italy are drawn for their spot in the European playoffs for next year’s FIFA World Cup. At a ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday, Portugal are drawn for their spot in the European playoffs for next year’s FIFA World Cup. Photo: ReutersCristiano Ronaldo has led Portugal to every World Cup since 2006 and this might be his last attempt at winning international soccer’s biggest trophy. “It’s not worth thinking about” Italy, Portugal coach Fernando Santos said.

European shares see worst fall in a year on virus woesReutersEuropean stocks posted their worst session in more than year on Friday, as reports of a newly identified and possibly vaccine-resistant SARS-CoV-2 variant stoked fears of a fresh hit to global economy and drove investors out of riskier assets. Cyclical-heavy European stock markets have already been under stress this week as a resurgence in COVID-19 cases prompted new restrictions in several countries. Oil and gas producers dropped 4.3 percent, while miners tumbled 3.5 percent as oil and metal prices lost ground as reports of the new virus variant fueled economic slowdown worries. The virus scare prompted eurozone money markets to scale back bets of a rate hike from the European Central Bank next year. Odds of a 10 basis point rate hike in December next year almost halved from a full 100 percent earlier this week.

Nation’s first photography book in Hailu dialect chronicles the history of JhudongBy Liao Hsu-ju and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerLee Tseng-chang (李增昌), a 95-year-old photographer and chronicler of the history of Hsinchu County’s Jhudong Township (竹東), is soon to publish the country’s first photography book in the Hailu (海陸) dialect of the Hakka language. The book titled Child Laborer, Hsinchu Glass Co., Jhudong, and Lee Tseng-chang (少年工．新玻．竹東．李增昌), consists of 400 images taken by Lee, as well as essays on the history of the township’s Hakka community, Lee’s coauthor, Ku Shao-chi (古少騏), said on Friday. The book received funding under the Ministry of Culture’s program to promote books written in local languages spoken in Taiwan that are not Mandarin. Hakka photographer Lee Tseng-chang, left, and writer Ku Shao-chi stand together in Hsinchu County on Friday holding copies of a book they coauthored. To ensure the accuracy of the text, Ku cross-referenced Lee’s photographs and verbal accounts with historical documents and interviews with living witnesses, she said.

Omicron variant poses reinfection risk, CECC saysBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe WHO has warned that the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 might reinfect people who had recovered from COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Photo: Annabelle Chih, REUTERSCenters for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, yesterday said that preliminary evidence suggests that the Omicron variant increases the risk of reinfection. Drugmakers Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE have announced that they would update their COVID-19 vaccine with regard to the new variant and produce a new jab within 100 days, Chen said. If the firms succeed, the CECC would seek to acquire their updated vaccine, Chen said, adding that the process leading to an emergency use authorization would take time. As of Friday, Taiwan’s first-dose vaccination rate had reached 77.59 percent and its full vaccination rate was 53.3 percent, the CECC said.

For aging Japan, a cooker that makes chicken soft as butterBy Takashi Mochizuki and Yuki Furukawa / BloombergThe US$410 DeliSofter pot looks much like the rice cookers ubiquitous in Japanese households and it does prepare rice in 24 minutes. However, this invention of two Panasonic Corp engineers is designed to do more and help people with swallowing difficulties. A person uses a potato chip to cut a piece of fried chicken cooked in the DeliSofter during a demonstration at the Gifmo Co office in Kyoto, Japan, on Nov 9. Panasonic spun off Gifmo in 2019 to address that growing market, targeting a food segment estimated to surpass ￥200 billion (US$1.7 billion) in Japan alone by 2025. “So many who had encouraged us turned away and ordered us to stop working on the project,” Ogawa said.

Taiwanese-led fraud operation busted in TurkeyGLOBALLY INVOLVED: Prosecutors in Taichung are reviewing evidence seized in the raid, in which 27 Taiwanese were detained, an official saidBy Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNATurkish authorities on Friday detained 27 Taiwanese in a raid on an alleged human trafficking and Internet fraud ring, multiple Turkish media outlets reported. State-run TRT Haber TV reported that the raid in the port city of Bodrum was carried out by local authorities assisted by a Taiwanese law enforcement agency. A Turkish national flag is pictured on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 16. Photo: BloombergMost of the suspects are Taiwanese, the news site said, adding that they were allegedly involved in international criminal operations. Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office Deputy Chief Prosecutor Cho Chun-chung (卓俊忠) yesterday said that his office and the National Police Agency have been working with Turkish law enforcement officials on the case.

UMC settles with Micron in court in tech theft caseBloombergUnited Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) and Micron Technology Inc yesterday said they have settled a civil lawsuit in which the US memorychip maker accused the Taiwanese company of stealing and leaking its intellectual property to a Chinese partner. The logo of US memorychip maker Micron Technology is pictured at its booth at an industrial fair in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 14, 2015. The case concerned an allegedly illegal transfer of Micron’s memory designs in a chip manufacturing deal between UMC and Jinjiang-based Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co (福建晉華). Following the move, Micron said that it would continue to seek “full restitution” from UMC in a separate civil lawsuit, the statement said. Chen, who had been president at Micron Taiwan and was made senior vice president at UMC, brokered a deal with Fujian Jinhua to develop DRAM technology for the Chinese firm.

President Tsai Ing-wen, right, looks on as US Representative Mark Takano speaks to the media at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday. “Our commitment to Taiwan is rock solid and has remained steadfast as the ties between us have deepened. Taiwan is a democratic success story, a reliable partner and a force for good in the world,” he added. Takano said he was hopeful that travel to Taiwan by US policymakers would become “business as usual again,” as the COVID-19 pandemic gradually wanes. The American Institute in Taiwan said that US representatives Nancy Mace, Colin Allred, Elissa Slotkin and Sara Jacobs were also part of the trip to Taiwan.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the agency responsible for data security in the country, has directed Didi to work out precise details, subject to government approval, they said. A logo of Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing is pictured at its headquarters in Beijing on July 2. Regulators in China have asked Didi Global to delist from US bourses. Photo: AFPProposals under consideration include a straight-up privatization or a share float in Hong Kong followed by a delisting from the US, the people said. Even if Didi shifts its listing to Hong Kong, it will have to address the data security concerns that have drawn scrutiny from regulators.

Tsai mulls information and national security affairs at hacker conferenceBy Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNATaiwan is committed to being a trusted link in the global chain of information security and technology industries, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday. Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei TimesThe National Security Council has been asked to update its information security strategy by the end of December, Tsai said. The new strategy would involve public-private cooperation, developing an information security industry, cultivating expertise, establishing a department of digital development under the central government and implementing information security in the six core strategic industries, she said. The planned Cyber Security Center of Excellence would train a generation of information security experts to help execute the government’s vision, she said. Tsai said that the hacker community has been indispensable in providing impetus to the administration’s information security policy.

Taiwan’s table tennis ace Lin advances in HoustonBy Benjamin Bowser / Staff ReporterTaiwanese table tennis ace Lin Yun-ju on Wednesday handily downed Sweden’s Jon Persson 4-0 to advance to the round-of-32 at the World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston, Texas. Lin was yesterday to play South Korea’s Lim Jong-hoon. Taiwan’s Cheng Hsien-tzu serves against Margaryta Pesotska of Ukraine during their women’s singles match at the World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday. 8 Cheng I-ching beat England’s Tin-Tin Ho 4-0 to advance to the round-of-32, where Cheng was yesterday to play Amy Wang of the US. Taiwan’s Cheng I-ching returns against England’s Tin-Tin Ho during their women’s singles match at the World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday.

Highways & Byways: Unexpected finds in the hills of KaohsiungThe ‘grave of a headless female,’ Taiwan Temple of Heaven and an aqueduct are among the delights of this road trip by motorcycleBy Steven Crook / Contributing reporterMy goals were straightforward. Before reaching Provincial Highway 28, I got to enjoy some views of the moon-like badlands for which Tianliao is famous. Taiwan Temple of Heaven imitates one of China’s most famous religious buildings. Looking across the Kaoping River from the third floor of Taiwan Temple of Heaven. I climbed the stairs to the third floor of the Taiwan Temple of Heaven for another look across the river.