Critical tech list to help stop leaks
Critical tech list to help stop leaksSafeguarding security: The National Science and Technology Council is to release a list of core technologies to stop technical know-how leakage to ChinaBy Lisa Wang / Staff ReporterThe National Science and Technology Council is slated to reveal a critical technologies list soon to safeguard Taiwan’s technological competitive edges and national security in the wake of the US’ warning about mounting risk from China, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said yesterday. “The National Science and Technology Council is to release the list regarding critical technologies soon. Taiwan is to impose severe curbs on those technologies,” Wang said. Photo: CNAThe ministry has recognized foundry, semiconductor packaging and testing, as well as LCD technologies as some of the nation’s critical technologies with strategic importance. Semiconductors, agriculture, aerospace, and information and communications technology are expected to be on the list, National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told Nikkei Asia earlier this week.
Source:Taipei Times
October 06, 2023 21:38 UTC
Norway’s Jon Fosse wins Nobel Prize in Literature
Norway’s Jon Fosse wins Nobel Prize in LiteratureAP, STOCKHOLMNorwegian writer Jon Fosse won the Nobel Prize in Literature yesterday, for plays and prose that “give voice to the unsayable,” the Swedish Academy said. Nobel literature committee chair Anders Olsson said Fosse’s work is rooted “in the language and nature of his Norwegian background.”Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse poses for a photo at the Norwegian Theater in Oslo on Sept. 6, 2019. Photo:AFPSwedish Academy permanent secretary Mats Malm, who announced the prize, reached Fosse by telephone to inform him of the win. Ernaux was just the 17th woman among the 119 Nobel literature laureates. The literature prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers, as well as being too male-dominated.
Source:Taipei Times
October 06, 2023 12:47 UTC
State-of-the-art Taiwanese VR headset impresses at Van Gogh exhibit
State-of-the-art Taiwanese VR headset impresses at Van Gogh exhibitAFP, PARISAI Vincent Van Gogh is patient but unimpressed by yet another question about his chopped-off ear. The artificial intelligence Van Gogh appears on a video screen at the end of a blockbuster exhibition at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. Van Gogh shot himself with a rusty pistol in 1890 aged 37. Photo: APBut the AI Vincent is surprisingly well-versed in 21st century therapy-speak. Asked about his favorite color, AI Vincent is very certain (yellow).
Source:Taipei Times
October 06, 2023 06:25 UTC
AI of the tiger: Tiny camera ‘protects’ predator — and people
AI of the tiger: Tiny camera ‘protects’ predator — and peopleAFP, PARISTiger populations are on the rise in the jungles of India and Nepal and the predators are roaming ever closer to villages, sparking a race among conservationists to find ways of avoiding conflict. A team of experts in May last year install an AI-enabled cameras in the forest corridor between Kanha Tiger Reserve and Pench Tiger Reserve near Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh, India. A close up in May last year of a tiger in the forest corridor between Kanha Tiger Reserve and Pench Tiger Reserve near Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh, India. Researchers in Gabon are using AI to sift their camera trap images and are now trying a warning system for elephants. “In most cases, AI species identification is still in its infancy,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 05, 2023 21:34 UTC
Floods kill 14, as more than 100 are missing in India
Floods kill 14, as more than 100 are missing in IndiaAP, NEW DELHIRescue workers were searching for more than 100 people yesterday after flash floods triggered by sudden heavy rainfall swamped several towns in northeastern India, killing at least 14 people, officials said. More than 2,000 people were rescued after Wednesday’s floods, the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority said in a statement, adding that state authorities set up 26 relief camps for more than 22,000 people impacted by the floods. The Press Trust of India news agency reported that 102 people were missing and cited state government officials as saying 14 people died in the floods. Nearly 50 people died in flash floods and landslides in August in nearby Himachal Pradesh state. In February 2021, flash floods killed nearly 200 people and washed away houses in Uttarakhand state in northern India.
Source:Taipei Times
October 05, 2023 21:06 UTC
KMT accuses government over National Day phrase
KMT accuses government over National Day phraseTAIWAN EVENTS: The DPP said that attempts to cancel Double Ten National Day celebrations were divisive and threatened to ‘tear apart the nation and its citizens’By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNAThe Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government is using Double Ten National Day to sow ideological division, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers said yesterday, calling on people to boycott state ceremonies. Their remarks came two days after former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he would not attend Double Ten National Day ceremonies to protest Taipei’s decision to call them “Taiwan National Day” events in English-language statements. An ice sculpture celebrating Double Ten National Day is pictured on Tuesday at festivities hosted by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Photo: CNAThe KMT urges patriotic civil servants and citizens who identify with the Republic of China (ROC) to refrain from taking part in this year’s Double Ten National Day ceremonies held by the Presidential Office, Lee told the news conference. “We are saddened at the remarks [from KMT colleagues], which cheapen the National Day celebrations by making them a tool to win elections,” DPP deputy secretary-general Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 05, 2023 03:27 UTC
Work, classes canceled for Koinu
Work, classes canceled for KoinuHEAVY WINDS: Level 13 winds on the Beaufort scale were recorded on Orchid Island, while authorities in Tainan reported that a temple structure had blown overBy Jake Chung and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writers, with CNAAll administrative regions except for Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan canceled work and classes for today, as eastern and southern Taiwan braced for the heaviest impact of Typhoon Koinu. A man takes a picture of waves breaking on the shore near Taitung County’s Fugang Harbor yesterday, as Typhoon Koinu approached. Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, ReutersAs of 8:30pm, Koinu was 118km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and was moving westward at 10kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 250km, the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, forecasters said. More than 100 international and domestic flights had been canceled, while ferry services to outlying islands were suspended.
Source:Taipei Times
October 04, 2023 18:19 UTC
EDITORIAL: Subs too vital to be politicized
Moreover, the submarine program is not yet a fait accompli. Taiwan for a long time has needed to supplement its modest fleet of Chien Lung-class (Sword Dragon) submarines purchased from the Netherlands in the 1980s. Former US president George W. Bush approved the sale of eight diesel-electric submarines, but KMT legislators stalled the budget review 69 times. Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) opposed purchasing submarines or initiating an indigenous program. There are legitimate reasons for members of the opposition to question the government’s indigenous submarine program.
Source:Taipei Times
October 04, 2023 18:19 UTC
EDITORIAL: A compromise Ma might accept
EDITORIAL: A compromise Ma might acceptFormer president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has made it known that he does not plan to attend the official Double Ten National Day commemoration on Tuesday next week. For them, commemorating Taiwan National Day on a day linked to the establishment of the ROC makes little sense. This would be the third year that the government has used the English name Taiwan National Day. The government could allot a different day to celebrate a Taiwan National Day, stop celebrating the ROC founding day or have both. Perhaps he would be more amenable to following Tsai’s formulation of what Taiwan is, and use the English title “ROC on Taiwan National Day.”
Source:Taipei Times
October 04, 2023 03:39 UTC
Taiwanese communist party trio indicted
Taiwanese communist party trio indictedAIDING CCP: Prosecutors are seeking strict sentences for Lin Te-wang and Cheng Chien-hsin, as they did not cooperate in a probe of their alleged work for ChinaBy Wang Ting-chuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted Taiwan People’s Communist Party Chairman Lin Te-wang (林德旺), along with party members Cheng Chien-hsin (鄭建炘) and Yu Sheng-hung (余聲洪), over alleged contraventions of the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) and asked the court to consider heavy penalties. Lin, who had been a Central Committee member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has traveled to China as a representative of Taiwanese businesspeople in China since 2007, investigators said. Taiwan People’s Communist Party chairman Lin Te-wang is pictured in an undated photograph. In a bid to elicit support from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for his businesses in China, Lin hosted multiple visits by CCP officials and was directed by Hu to involve himself in Taiwan’s elections to advance China’s “united front” efforts, the indictment said. Lin was also charged with planning to give NT$500 and the Chinese rapid antigen test kits to protesters mobilized by his party at rallies against Pelosi.
Source:Taipei Times
October 03, 2023 21:40 UTC
Nations backtracking on English
However, over the past decade, their once diverse foreign language education has gradually become an English-oriented one. As English and these countries’ languages — except Finnish — are all Germanic, derived from Proto-Germanic, it is much easier for their populace to learn English than others. At this point in the Netherlands, 23 percent of undergraduate courses are taught only in English, with 12 percent offered in English or Dutch. The group said that most teachers’ English could only be called “Globish” — a broken English of poor quality — which would only lower the quality of classes and lead higher education catastrophically astray. Recent studies conducted in northern Europe on all-English education also confirmed that teaching in poor-quality English only results in undesirable outcomes.
Source:Taipei Times
October 03, 2023 21:40 UTC
Exhibit puts age of humans on display
The scene, part of a video played on a giant screen in a dark room, is an installation from the “Anthropocene” exhibition at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. A woman stands in front of Uralkali Potash Mine #4 by Edward Burtynsky at the “Anthropocene” exhibition at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts on Tuesday, Sept. 26. The result is a striking time-lapse video showing vibrant corals fading away as symbiotic algae crucial to the corals is wiped out. A video installation displays piles of elephant tusks and rhino horns burning at the “Anthropocene” exhibition at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts on Tuesday, Sept. 26. Photo: Doruk SarginThe adjoining room houses the video installation showing the burning tusks and rhino horns.
Source:Taipei Times
October 03, 2023 15:39 UTC
Hou sows doubt in KMT on US trip
The reason for this doubt is because what Hou appears to have promised in the US vastly differs from the KMT approach of years past. If the party falls in line with Hou’s strategy and completely overhauls its foreign policy, then the candidate would have a better chance of keeping his campaign promises. The KMT is always holding Hou back, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The issue has been a hot potato for the KMT, let alone an easy question for Hou. Inside sources say that former KMT chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) originally proposed a “4Ds strategy” to Hou — defense, dialogue, democracy and deterrence.
Source:Taipei Times
October 02, 2023 21:42 UTC
Taiwanese bag three more golds at Asian Games
Taiwanese bag three more golds at Asian GamesStaff writer, with CNATaiwanese athletes yesterday bagged three more gold medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, with wins in the men’s and women’s 3,000m speedskating relay and the men’s individual 1,000m canoe event. Taiwan’s Chao Tsu-cheng, left, and Chen Yan-cheng compete in the Asian Games men’s speedskating 3,000m relay G1 final in Hangzhou, China, yesterday. Taiwan’s Lai Kuan-chieh celebrates after winning the Asian Games men’s canoe single 1,000m final in Wenzhou, China, yesterday. The victory kept Taiwan’s streak alive of medaling in every Asian Games softball competition since the sport became an official Asian Games event in 1990. This year marks the first time the Asian Games have featured e-sports competitions.
Source:Taipei Times
October 02, 2023 21:42 UTC
Air denial, combat ability are key, MAC report says
Air denial, combat ability are key, MAC report saysCOAXING TACTICS: Beijing is enticing Taiwanese by providing opportunities to study in China, but this is simply a tactic for peaceful unification, the report saidBy Chen Yu-fu / Staff reporterPreservation of combat capabilities and air denial strategy are key countermeasures Taiwan can take against China’s military unification agenda, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. To counter the CCP, Taiwan has to preserve its combat capabilities and leverage asymmetric warfare strategy, it said. It also pushes for peaceful unification by extending economic benefits to Taiwanese businesses and introducing other preferential policies, it said. As for the “unification by force” strategy, China might face challenges such as sluggish economic growth and national development issues, the report said. In response to the CCP’s peaceful and military tactics, the government should bolster regulatory, mental, strategic and military preparedness, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 02, 2023 16:09 UTC