Tainan, Chiayi had more quakes this year: CWA
Tainan, Chiayi had more quakes this year: CWAWARMER YEAR: The average temperature in Taiwan was 24.53°C this year, the 12th-highest average temperature recorded in the nation since 1897, a CWA official saidBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterSignificantly more seismic activity was recorded in Tainan and Chiayi County this year following a major earthquake in Chiayi’s Dapu Township (大埔) in January, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency at a news conference reviewed this year’s significant weather and seismic events, and presented a general weather forecast for spring. Central Weather Administration Weather Forecast Center Director Huang Chun-hsi speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNAThis year, the center detected 62 such quakes centered in the two counties, 6.9 times more than the average, Wu said. It was the 12th-highest average temperature recorded in Taiwan since 1897, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:13 UTC
Taichung explosion defendants indicted
Taichung explosion defendants indictedSYSTEMIC FAILURES: Shin Kong Mitsukoshi’s negligence was serious and the defendants attempted to deflect responsibility after the deadly explosion, prosecutors saidStaff writer, with CNA, TAICHUNGProsecutors yesterday indicted 13 people, including a department store manager and contractors, over a deadly gas explosion at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang store in Taichung in February that killed five people and injured 35. Debris litters the ground outside the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang store in Taichung after an explosion on Feb. 13. The 13 defendants and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store Co (新光三越百貨) were indicted on charges including negligent homicide, negligent injury and contraventions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法). Shin Kong Mitsukoshi said it respects the prosecution’s decision and would cooperate fully with judicial proceedings. The Taichung store resumed operations on Sept. 27 after safety upgrades following a city government-ordered suspension.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:13 UTC
Opposition blocks defense budget
The Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) and the special defense bill, announced last month by President William Lai (賴清德), were again stopped from proceeding to the committee review stage. At the legislature in Taipei yesterday, lawmakers on the Procedure Committee vote on scheduling a special defense budget bill. The Procedure Committee is where bills are formally registered and it should not be used to block them, Shen said. Any strict oversight regarding the bill should be handled by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, he said. The KMT’s stance is to invest in military preparedness and peace, and the one blocking the defense budget is actually Lai, as he refuses to address the legislature and answer questions, KMT caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:13 UTC
Legislative Yuan passes bill targeting fraud
Legislative Yuan passes bill targeting fraudStaff writer, with CNAThe legislature yesterday passed amendments to increase penalties for fraud while offering sentence reductions for offenders who surrender and fully compensate victims. The amendments also lower the threshold for high-value fraud to NT$1 million (US$31,819) from NT$5 million. Photo: Taipei TimesFraud involving NT$1 million or more carries prison terms of three to 10 years and fines of up to NT$30 million, according to the amendments. The amendments also introduce a “luxury ban” clause targeting high-profile fraud cases. Courts may take into account extravagant or wasteful spending, such as purchasing luxury homes or vehicles, if it occurs before victims are fully compensated or settlement amounts are paid.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:13 UTC
Syphilis cases among Taiwan youth up 9%, CDC plans screening expansion
Syphilis cases among Taiwan youth up 9%, CDC plans screening expansionStaff Writer, with CNATaiwan saw declines in HIV and gonorrhea cases this year, but syphilis infections rose, with the sharpest increase among people aged 15-24, the country’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said at a press conference on Tuesday. From January to November, syphilis cases among those aged 15-24 increased 9 percent year-on-year, prompting the CDC to expand free screening services for young people starting next year. Centers for Disease Control officials hold a press conference in Taipei on Tuesday. In contrast, syphilis cases rose 2 percent to 9,072 nationwide. Among those aged 15-24, new cases increased from 1,587 to 1,722 over the same period, marking a 9 percent rise, the CDC said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:13 UTC
PLA fired 27 rockets: defense ministry
Seventeen missiles were fired from Pingtan from 9am, all of which fell into the sea off northern Taiwan in a PLA-designated drill zone, outside the contiguous zone, Hsieh said. A Mirage 2000 fighter lands at Hsinchu Air Base amid Chinese military exercises around Taiwan on Monday. That was the closest that PLA rockets have ever come to Taiwan proper in recent live-fire exercises, he added. Of the 71 aircraft, 35 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, he said. Glaser and Shattuck said that the PLA needs to conduct exercises in preparation for a potential invasion of Taiwan.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:13 UTC
Chinese watch missiles fly from Fujian’s Pingtan
Chinese watch missiles fly from Fujian’s PingtanAFP, PINGTAN, ChinaChinese tourists were milling around a small temple overlooking the glittering sea on an island near Taiwan yesterday when they heard thunderous booms from an islet in the distance. Rockets streaked across the clear blue sky over Pingtan, just 130km from Taiwan and near ongoing Chinese military drills around the nation. Chinese People’s Liberation Army rockets are launched from Pingtan island in China’s Fujian Province yesterday. “Looking from here, even if we can’t see it, it feels like we are really close,” said a woman surnamed Zhang, 59. Reporters saw two China Coast Guard ships in the waters near Pingtan yesterday, as well as two fighter jets and a military vessel the previous day.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:13 UTC
Ministry awaits scheduled visit by European group
Ministry awaits scheduled visit by European groupBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it welcomes a planned visit from Sunday to Friday next week of a delegation from the European Parliament. Eleven members of the European Parliament, led by Michael Gahler, chairman of the European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group, would be the first delegation from the parliament to visit Taiwan next year, Department of European Affairs Director Eric Huang (黃鈞耀) said. Member of the European Parliament Michael Gahler, chairman of the European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group, speaks at a news conference in Islamabad on July 28, 2018. “Serving as the chair of the European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group and cochair of the Formosa Club in Europe since the previous European Parliament term [2019 to last year], Gahler has been a long-standing supporter of Taiwan,” Huang said. Gahler has been dedicated to promoting parliamentary exchanges between Taiwan and the EU, and assisting Taiwan to expand its network of supporters within the European Parliament, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:13 UTC
Taiwan’s military highlights Chinese disinformation during large-scale drill
Taiwan’s military highlights Chinese disinformation during large-scale drillStaff Writer, with CNATaiwan’s military on Tuesday warned the public about a wave of Chinese disinformation circulating online amid Beijing’s ongoing large-scale military exercise around the island, urging people not to fall for false claims aimed at undermining public morale. The MND has been monitoring Chinese disinformation and issuing clarifications where necessary, Chu said. Although drone activity was detected during the exercise, none entered Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which extends 24 nautical miles (44.4 kilometers) from the coastline, Hsieh said. Earlier in the day, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) urged the public in a social media post to be mindful of disinformation accompanying the exercise. “At this critical moment, unity between the military and civilians in countering misinformation and disinformation constitutes the strongest defense of our democratic homeland,” Lai wrote.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:12 UTC
Exercises force the cancelation of 36 domestic flights
Exercises force the cancelation of 36 domestic flightsBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterChina’s military exercises in the Taiwan Strait forced 36 domestic flights to be canceled, while some international flights could not transit in Taiwan, the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. People at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport walk under a board showing flight details amid Chinese military drills around Taiwan yesterday. As of midday yesterday, no international flights had been canceled, although some canceled stopovers in Taiwan, CAA data showed. It coordinated with airlines to add 10 extra flights on the Kinmen route after the drills ends, including originally scheduled flights that were delayed, it said. As a result, 26 delayed flights on the Kinmen route would take off after the exercises conclude, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:12 UTC
Labor law changes passed
Labor law changes passedBy Lee Ching-hui and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNAThe Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the third reading of proposed amendments to the Labor Insurance Act (勞工保險條例) to institutionalize government funding support. Lawmakers hold placards to mark the passage of amendments to the Labor Insurance Act at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. The central government is required to allocate annual budgetary appropriations based on its fiscal capacity and the financial status of labor insurance, the proposed changes say. The Bureau of Labor Insurance may temporarily withhold benefits in such cases until all outstanding fees are settled, the proposed amendments say. The revisions stabilize the labor insurance fund from three directions to safeguard insured workers’ rights, Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:12 UTC
Building character in children through good works
Building character in children through good worksVolunteering with children can instill confidence in youngsters, teach social and problem-solving skills and provide unique ways for families to bondBy Cathy Bussewitz / AP, NEW YORKWhen Cami Teacoach’s son turned three she set out to find volunteer opportunities they could do together. Photo: APCONFIDENCE BOOSTERVolunteering with children can instill confidence in youngsters, teach social and problem-solving skills and provide unique ways for families to bond. Finding volunteer work to do as a family with young children can be challenging, but there are opportunities, if you persist. She also turned half of her son’s graduation party into a volunteer project assembling kits of bean soup. You get quality time, you’re raising your children with what feels like good values, and people benefit,” she said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 17:12 UTC
Micron Memory granted NT$4.7bn subsidy: ministry
Micron Memory granted NT$4.7bn subsidy: ministryBy Meryl Kao / Staff reporterMicron Memory Taiwan Co, a subsidiary of US memorychip maker Micron Technology Inc, has been granted a NT$4.7 billion (US$149.5 million) subsidy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs A+ Corporate Innovation and R&D Enhancement program, the ministry said yesterday. The US memorychip maker’s program aims to back the development of high-performance and high-bandwidth memory chips with a total budget of NT$11.75 billion, the ministry said. Aside from the government funding, Micron is to inject the remaining investment of NT$7.06 billion as the company applied to participate the government’s Global Innovation Partnership Program to deepen technology cooperation, a ministry official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. The Micron Technology Inc offices in San Jose, California, are pictured on Dec. 16. The project is to run until October 2028 and the ministry hopes to strengthen Taiwan’s technological capabilities in advanced memory through large-scale research and development investment, the official said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 16:58 UTC
Game helps Filipinos prepare for worst
Game helps Filipinos prepare for worstAFP, MANILAIn a library in the Philippines, a dice rattled on the surface of a board before coming to a stop, putting one of its players straight into the path of a powerful typhoon. The teenagers huddled around the table leapt into action, shouting instructions and acting out the correct strategies for just one of the potential catastrophes laid out in the board game Master of Disaster. People play Master of Disaster, a board game about disaster preparedness in Valenzuela, Philippines, on Monday. More than 10,000 editions of the game, aimed at players as young as nine years old, have been distributed across the archipelago nation. While conceding the evidence was so far anecdotal, Macatulad said he believed the game was bringing a “significant” improvement in its players’ disaster preparedness knowledge.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 16:56 UTC
MSI eyeing double-digit growth
MSI eyeing double-digit growthLOCAL ADVANTAGES: Micro-Star International Co is confident it would expand its share to 10 percent of Taiwan’s charging pile market next year from 7 to 8 percentBy Meryl Kao / Staff reporterMicro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星科技) yesterday said it is targeting a double-digit percentage revenue growth in its electric vehicle (EV) charging pile business next year, driven by the launch of new products and the rollout of its sales channel strategy over the past six months. The new product and the introduction of charging pile software developed by MSI and after-sales services are to be the main driving forces next year, Yeh said. The company entered the North American charging pile market in September with its previous wall-mounted EV charging pile model, the EV Premium, through Amazon.com Inc and Best Buy Co Inc sales channels, Yeh said. Aside from wall-mounted charging piles, MSI also launched a portable EV charger in April that is waterproof and dustproof, with the response proving positive, Yeh said. The wall-mounted and portable charging piles are expected to each account for about 50 percent of total charging pile revenue next year, she added.
Source:Taipei Times
December 30, 2025 16:56 UTC