Taipei District Court announced its verdict today on former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and 10 others in a bribery case involving Jinghua City development. Ko faces charges including breach of duty, embezzlement, and breach of trust. If sentenced to over 10 years imprisonment, he will be disqualified from running for president or vice president in 2028.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that if Iran's government refuses to accept an agreement to end Middle East conflicts, President Trump is prepared to take strong measures against Iran. The statement reflects the US position in regional negotiations, emphasizing that failed talks would result in more forceful subsequent actions.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that President Trump will conduct a state visit to China on May 14-15. The visit represents high-level interaction between the two nations' leaders, with Chinese President Xi Jinping expected to make a reciprocal visit to Washington. The visit aims to strengthen bilateral relations and political dialogue between the United States and China.
SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, plans to submit its IPO prospectus to regulators this week or next, targeting a June listing. The company aims to raise over 75 billion dollars, exceeding previous estimates of 50 billion dollars, which would set a record for US IPO fundraising and surpass the combined total of all US IPOs from last year.
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are tightening oil supplies and affecting global energy markets. Analysts indicate that recovery of Persian Gulf energy production will take years, pushing up global inflation. Economists expect U.S. inflation rates may rise to 4%, while investors monitor U.S.-Iran diplomatic negotiations.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Brad Cooper stated that the United States has destroyed approximately two-thirds of Iran's missile and drone production facilities. Additionally, about 92% of Iran's large naval vessels have been damaged. Through a series of military operations, the US military has significantly impacted Iran's military production capacity.
US President Trump has told staff and allies he hopes to end the month-long military conflict with Iran within weeks to avoid prolonged warfare. Trump privately believes the conflict has entered its final phase and publicly set a four-to-six-week timeline for resolution. The White House is planning a Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing in mid-May and expects the conflict to end before then, though negotiations currently face obstacles.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy revealed to Reuters that US security guarantees are tied to peace agreement negotiations, involving Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. This occurs as the Trump administration prioritizes Iran affairs while increasing diplomatic pressure on Ukraine to end the four-year conflict that began with Russia's 2022 invasion.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps submitted a ceasefire agreement in the fourth week of conflict, demanding sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and establishing transit fee mechanisms. The proposal reflects hardline positions and involves control of a critical global energy transportation hub, becoming a key negotiation point.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt announced on the 25th that US President Donald Trump will visit China on May 14-15. This diplomatic visit aims to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. The specific agenda and topics for discussion will be further coordinated between both nations.
Taipei District Court announced its verdict today on former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and 10 others in a bribery case involving Jinghua City development. Ko faces charges including breach of duty, embezzlement, and breach of trust. If sentenced to over 10 years imprisonment, he will be disqualified from running for president or vice president in 2028.
Iran rejected the US 15-point peace proposal on Wednesday and simultaneously escalated military operations against Israel and Gulf countries. Iranian officials stated a negative response to the American proposal while presenting conditions including war reparations and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. Attacks included a fire at Kuwait International Airport, indicating continued escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that if Iran's government refuses to accept an agreement to end Middle East conflicts, President Trump is prepared to take strong measures against Iran. The statement reflects the US position in regional negotiations, emphasizing that failed talks would result in more forceful subsequent actions.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that President Trump will conduct a state visit to China on May 14-15. The visit represents high-level interaction between the two nations' leaders, with Chinese President Xi Jinping expected to make a reciprocal visit to Washington. The visit aims to strengthen bilateral relations and political dialogue between the United States and China.
The White House announced that President Trump will visit China on May 14-15 for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meeting, originally scheduled for late March or early April, was postponed by approximately six weeks due to U.S. military actions against Iran. Trump will be accompanied by First Lady Melania, and Xi is expected to make a reciprocal visit to Washington later this year.
Iran's conflict enters its fourth week with the Hormuz Strait effectively closed, blocking approximately 15-16 million barrels of crude oil daily from market entry. Persian Gulf refineries have halted operations due to attacks on critical energy infrastructure. BP's chief economist states this conflict's scale and market impact exceed any historical oil shock. Brent crude futures have risen approximately 40% since the conflict began.
Middle East conflict disrupts Persian Gulf oil exports, creating energy crisis across Asia. Japan sources 90% of imported oil from Middle East, Taiwan 80%, South Korea 70%, with Southeast Asian nations showing higher dependency rates, Philippines at 98%. Philippines declared energy emergency but maintains 45-day supply. Japan began releasing strategic oil reserves on the 26th to address the situation.
A Los Angeles court jury determined that Meta and Google YouTube must pay $6 million in damages to victims for app design flaws that led to internet addiction among minors. Meta will pay 70% of the settlement while YouTube pays 30%. The court found the companies' design practices contributed to psychological health issues in adolescents.
Ukrainian drones attacked two Russian oil terminals in the Baltic Sea—Primorsk and Ust-Luga—on March 22-23, causing fires visible from Finland. Industry sources estimate at least 40% of Russia's oil export capacity is affected. Both ports suspended crude oil and petroleum product loading on March 25, impacting global energy markets amid Middle East tensions.
The Hormuz Strait has experienced a dramatic decline in vessel traffic due to escalating Middle East tensions, with daily transits dropping approximately 95% compared to pre-conflict levels. Average daily passage has fallen to just 4 vessels from the normal 125, according to Clarkson data. JPMorgan Chase analysis indicates the strait's closure has reduced global daily oil supply by 16 million barrels, with economic impacts persisting even after pipeline diversions and strategic reserve releases.
The geopolitical situation in the Strait of Hormuz poses systemic risks to the global economy beyond crude oil. Disruptions in petrochemical and natural gas supplies could impact textiles, fertilizers, and semiconductors, triggering imported inflation and threatening real economic stability across multiple sectors.
Middle East conflict has caused extensive damage to liquefied natural gas production lines, refineries, and critical energy facilities. According to Rystad Energy assessment, repair costs could exceed $25 billion. Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City's S4 and S6 LNG production lines declared force majeure due to damage, reducing capacity by 17% and annual output by 12.8 million tons, with full recovery expected to take 5 years. Reconstruction spending will primarily focus on engineering and construction sectors.
European Central Bank President Lagarde stated that the ECB is prepared to raise interest rates if necessary to maintain stable inflation expectations, even if eurozone inflation is viewed as a temporary phenomenon. She indicated the central bank may make modest policy adjustments if inflation shows significant overshooting. Eurozone inflation rose to 1.9% in February, reflecting the ECB's heightened vigilance toward inflation risks.
SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, plans to submit its IPO prospectus to regulators this week or next, targeting a June listing. The company aims to raise over 75 billion dollars, exceeding previous estimates of 50 billion dollars, which would set a record for US IPO fundraising and surpass the combined total of all US IPOs from last year.
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are tightening oil supplies and affecting global energy markets. Analysts indicate that recovery of Persian Gulf energy production will take years, pushing up global inflation. Economists expect U.S. inflation rates may rise to 4%, while investors monitor U.S.-Iran diplomatic negotiations.
Ai2 released MolmoWeb, an open-source visual web agent system built on the Molmo 2 multimodal model family, offering 4B and 8B model sizes. The system provides public access to model weights, training data, agent and inference code, and evaluation tools. MolmoWeb supports self-hosting and can execute browser actions like clicking, typing, and scrolling based on task instructions and webpage screenshots.
Premier Cho Jung-tai attended the inauguration ceremony of Taiwan Micron's Tung-Lo facility in Miaoli County. The government pledged to create a favorable investment environment and expand power sources to ensure stable electricity supply and abundant renewable energy. Micron will develop high-performance and high-bandwidth memory technology in Taiwan, deepening cooperation with local industries and strengthening Taiwan's semiconductor competitiveness globally.
A large-scale study reveals that cardiovascular disease patients who received the shingles vaccine showed significantly lower rates of serious cardiac events within one year compared to unvaccinated patients, with risk reduction approaching fifty percent. The findings suggest the vaccine may provide additional health benefits beyond shingles prevention for patients with existing heart disease.
American Battery Factory announced long-term supply agreements with multiple energy storage system providers. The company's LFP battery manufacturing facility in Arizona will accelerate production to meet growing energy storage demand. This development reflects the expansion of domestic US battery manufacturing capacity in response to market growth.
Google has unveiled TurboQuant, a new KV cache compression technique that reduces memory usage to one-sixth of original requirements. Similar to NVIDIA's previously published KVTC compression method, this technology optimizes inference efficiency for large language models. By improving quantization methods, TurboQuant maintains model performance while significantly reducing memory demands, potentially lowering deployment costs and improving AI model operational efficiency.
Apple has partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to develop a new AI framework. Research demonstrates that the framework's smaller model achieves higher accuracy in image description tasks compared to models ten times larger, highlighting the importance of optimized model design for improving AI efficiency on edge devices.
NASA announced a strategic shift in its Artemis program, discontinuing the planned Lunar Gateway space station in lunar orbit and redirecting resources toward establishing a lunar surface base as humanity's first permanent extraterrestrial settlement. The upcoming Artemis 2 mission will conduct crewed lunar flyby operations, laying the groundwork for subsequent lunar surface base construction efforts.
Meta is providing stock options linked to company valuation to senior executives, marking the first time since its 2012 IPO. The program conditions rewards on achieving a 9 trillion dollar market valuation within five years, aiming to retain talent and accelerate artificial intelligence development. This reflects intensifying competition for AI talent in the technology industry.
UK semiconductor company Arm Holdings announced its first self-designed chip targeting data center AI inference applications. Market response was positive, with stock price jumping 20% on Wednesday. The company projects the chip will generate 15 billion dollars in revenue by 2031, contributing to total annual revenue of 250 billion dollars, marking a significant shift in its business model.
Elon Musk announced the Terafab project to manufacture AI chips with annual production capacity of 1 terawatt, jointly driven by Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. Tesla is recruiting senior engineers with over 10 years of experience in Hsinchu, Taiwan, with more than 100 applicants to date.
F5 disclosed six vulnerabilities affecting Nginx web server and released patches. The most critical is CVE-2026-32647 with CVSS score 7.8, caused by an out-of-bounds read issue in the ngx_http_mp4_module. Attackers can exploit specially crafted MP4 files to trigger memory errors, potentially causing service disruption or arbitrary code execution. Systems without updates face security risks.
Security firm Sansec discovered a PolyShell vulnerability affecting Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source. Adobe has only patched preview version 2.4.9-alpha3, leaving production versions unprotected. With exploitation methods already circulating publicly, the vulnerability has been widely used in attacks within days, impacting over half of Magento platforms. Website administrators must take immediate protective action.
Trivy, an open-source scanning tool developed by Aqua Security, suffered a supply chain attack on March 19. Attackers exploited a GitHub Actions misconfiguration in late February to steal privileged access tokens, impacting over 1000 SaaS environments. Security researchers are conducting preliminary investigations to assess the full scope of the compromise.
Fraud rings are using AI technology to create fake photos and videos of government officials on social media platforms to solicit investments. The Financial Supervisory Commission clarifies that government officials never privately recommend financial products or share insider information. The FSC removed 35,000 fraudulent advertisements in 2025 and urges the public to be vigilant against schemes requesting transfers to personal accounts.
Taiwan officials reported that false online claims allege Middle East conflicts have disrupted natural gas supplies, threatening Taiwan's reserves. Authorities warn such misinformation could trigger public panic and undermine government credibility. Officials are monitoring the spread of these false claims across social media platforms.
A criminal group impersonated Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission by forging official announcements with counterfeit seals and the chairman's signature, claiming victims must prepay taxes to withdraw investment profits. The scam defrauded over 30 million New Taiwan dollars from multiple victims, including a retired civil servant who lost 800 million NT in retirement funds. The Criminal Investigation Bureau is actively investigating the case.
Cardiologist Dr. Yang Chih-chun reports that more than 80% of sudden deaths during sleep are related to cardiovascular system problems. Severe snoring may indicate potential health risks and warrants medical attention. Doctors recommend that individuals experiencing significant snoring symptoms seek timely medical evaluation to prevent cardiovascular-related sleep sudden death risks.
HBO announced its Harry Potter series adaptation will premiere its first season on Christmas 2026. The production will follow a one-season-per-book format, with plans to complete the entire series over ten years. The team emphasizes greater fidelity to source material details and has released new cast information and promotional images.
Sarah Mullally, 63, was formally installed as Archbishop of Canterbury on the 25th, becoming the first woman to lead the Church of England and serve as spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion in over 1,400 years. A former cancer care nurse, her appointment breaks gender barriers, though she inherits a church grappling with sexual abuse scandal aftermath and serious doctrinal divisions.
Taiwan pitcher Kai-Wei Teng has been confirmed on the Houston Astros' 26-man roster for the 2026 MLB opening day, facing the Angels tomorrow. This marks the second Taiwanese player to make an MLB opening day roster since Zhang Yu-chen in 2023, representing a significant milestone for Taiwanese baseball.
Taipei District Court announced its verdict today on former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and 10 others in a bribery case involving Jinghua City development. Ko faces charges including breach of duty, embezzlement, and breach of trust. If sentenced to over 10 years imprisonment, he will be disqualified from running for president or vice president in 2028.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that if Iran's government refuses to accept an agreement to end Middle East conflicts, President Trump is prepared to take strong measures against Iran. The statement reflects the US position in regional negotiations, emphasizing that failed talks would result in more forceful subsequent actions.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that President Trump will conduct a state visit to China on May 14-15. The visit represents high-level interaction between the two nations' leaders, with Chinese President Xi Jinping expected to make a reciprocal visit to Washington. The visit aims to strengthen bilateral relations and political dialogue between the United States and China.
SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, plans to submit its IPO prospectus to regulators this week or next, targeting a June listing. The company aims to raise over 75 billion dollars, exceeding previous estimates of 50 billion dollars, which would set a record for US IPO fundraising and surpass the combined total of all US IPOs from last year.
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are tightening oil supplies and affecting global energy markets. Analysts indicate that recovery of Persian Gulf energy production will take years, pushing up global inflation. Economists expect U.S. inflation rates may rise to 4%, while investors monitor U.S.-Iran diplomatic negotiations.
Iran rejected the US 15-point peace proposal on Wednesday and simultaneously escalated military operations against Israel and Gulf countries. Iranian officials stated a negative response to the American proposal while presenting conditions including war reparations and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. Attacks included a fire at Kuwait International Airport, indicating continued escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
The White House announced that President Trump will visit China on May 14-15 for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meeting, originally scheduled for late March or early April, was postponed by approximately six weeks due to U.S. military actions against Iran. Trump will be accompanied by First Lady Melania, and Xi is expected to make a reciprocal visit to Washington later this year.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Brad Cooper stated that the United States has destroyed approximately two-thirds of Iran's missile and drone production facilities. Additionally, about 92% of Iran's large naval vessels have been damaged. Through a series of military operations, the US military has significantly impacted Iran's military production capacity.
US President Trump has told staff and allies he hopes to end the month-long military conflict with Iran within weeks to avoid prolonged warfare. Trump privately believes the conflict has entered its final phase and publicly set a four-to-six-week timeline for resolution. The White House is planning a Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing in mid-May and expects the conflict to end before then, though negotiations currently face obstacles.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy revealed to Reuters that US security guarantees are tied to peace agreement negotiations, involving Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. This occurs as the Trump administration prioritizes Iran affairs while increasing diplomatic pressure on Ukraine to end the four-year conflict that began with Russia's 2022 invasion.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps submitted a ceasefire agreement in the fourth week of conflict, demanding sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and establishing transit fee mechanisms. The proposal reflects hardline positions and involves control of a critical global energy transportation hub, becoming a key negotiation point.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt announced on the 25th that US President Donald Trump will visit China on May 14-15. This diplomatic visit aims to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. The specific agenda and topics for discussion will be further coordinated between both nations.
Ukrainian drones attacked two Russian oil terminals in the Baltic Sea—Primorsk and Ust-Luga—on March 22-23, causing fires visible from Finland. Industry sources estimate at least 40% of Russia's oil export capacity is affected. Both ports suspended crude oil and petroleum product loading on March 25, impacting global energy markets amid Middle East tensions.
The Hormuz Strait has experienced a dramatic decline in vessel traffic due to escalating Middle East tensions, with daily transits dropping approximately 95% compared to pre-conflict levels. Average daily passage has fallen to just 4 vessels from the normal 125, according to Clarkson data. JPMorgan Chase analysis indicates the strait's closure has reduced global daily oil supply by 16 million barrels, with economic impacts persisting even after pipeline diversions and strategic reserve releases.
The geopolitical situation in the Strait of Hormuz poses systemic risks to the global economy beyond crude oil. Disruptions in petrochemical and natural gas supplies could impact textiles, fertilizers, and semiconductors, triggering imported inflation and threatening real economic stability across multiple sectors.
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths among Taiwanese. Early-stage lung cancer typically presents no obvious symptoms, and patients often seek medical care only when experiencing persistent cough, chest tightness, or breathing difficulties, by which time the disease has often progressed to advanced stages. Doctors recommend that two high-risk groups undergo regular screening using low-dose computed tomography to detect early-stage lung lesions.