World
Taiwanese train for war after year of crises
Taichung, Taiwan – The noise from the jet engines reverberates throughout Taichung, drowning out the sounds from the congested visitors and persevering with development as a squadron of F-16 fighters roars previous the rooftops of town’s skyscrapers.
The planes shortly disappear behind the sunshine cowl of smog that usually shrouds the horizon round Taiwan’s second-largest metropolis. The fighter jets are heading in direction of the ocean within the west the place a gaggle of Chinese language navy plane has penetrated the Taiwanese air defence identification zone (ADIZ) within the Taiwan Strait.
When United States Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2, tensions between the self-ruled island and China reached boiling level and Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its personal, within the months since has despatched its navy jets deeper and deeper into Taiwan’s ADIZ.
Chef and former soldier Hsin Track, 27, has stopped on the road trying in direction of the hazy horizon for a glimpse of the F-16s. She shouldn’t be bothered by the roaring of the jet engines above Taichung.
Quite the opposite.
“I really feel extra reassured seeing that our fighters are able to cease the Chinese language advances into our airspace,” she stated.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Hsin Track has been satisfied China, which has not dominated out using power to take management of the island, will do the identical with Taiwan.
She believes it’s not simply Taiwan’s air power that must be able to counter China.
“All Taiwanese should be prepared.”
The specter of struggle
Hsin Track is way from the one one apprehensive about China’s plans for Taiwan.
Polls present that each cross-strait consultants and Taiwanese individuals share the identical concern.
The US Division of Protection in its annual China Army Energy Report launched in November labeled China as “probably the most consequential and systemic problem to nationwide safety and to a free and open worldwide system”.
Fang-Yu Chen is an assistant professor at Soochow College in Taipei, researching the political relations between Taiwan, China and the US. In keeping with him, the rising unease surrounding China will be attributed to the more and more heavy-handed Chinese language method directed at Taiwan.
“Chinese language intimidation of Taiwan rose markedly following the Taiwanese presidential election in 2016 and has elevated since to succeed in a fruits to date this yr, with the huge navy workout routines that passed off round Taiwan following Nancy Pelosi’s go to in early August,” stated Fang-Yu Chen.
“On the similar time, the undermining of Hong Kong’s free system in 2019 and 2020 in addition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has proven the Taiwanese that sure occasions that beforehand have been believed to be unthinkable can really occur.”
Fearing the unthinkable, non-public Taiwanese organisations and actors have taken issues into their very own fingers by way of getting ready Taiwan for struggle.
Considered one of these is the controversial enterprise tycoon, Robert Tsao.
Tsao is an outspoken China hawk who usually criticises the Chinese language Communist Get together’s conduct in direction of Taiwan in harsh phrases and recurrently accuses Taiwanese politicians of being too weak on China.
Main as much as the Taiwanese native elections final month, which resulted in a powerful defeat for the ruling Democratic Progressive Get together (DPP), he went as far as to warn that victory for the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) celebration might impede efforts to acquire superior weapons for Taiwan’s defence from the US.
However Tsao has not at all times been a China hawk.
He really renounced his Taiwanese citizenship in 2011 and moved to Singapore in protest when Taiwanese authorities laws prevented his semiconductor firm, United Microelectronics Company (UMC), from investing in China. At the moment, he was additionally an advocate for Taiwanese unification with China beneath the best circumstances.
Altering attitudes
The tycoon’s case reveals how a lot the mindset in direction of China has modified for a lot of Taiwanese over the previous 10 years – from an earlier concentrate on enterprise and peaceable integration to a gift one among decoupling and combatting coercion.
Throughout a press convention in early September, Tsao introduced he had regained his Taiwanese citizenship. On the similar time, he pledged to donate three billion Taiwanese {dollars} ($100.17 million) to bolster Taiwan’s defences as a response to the navy drills the earlier month which had successfully surrounded the island.
A part of the donation went to the civil defence coaching group, Kuma Academy, based by tutorial Puma Shen and activist Ho Cheng-Hui – two different non-public people taking steps to arrange Taiwan for struggle.
Via Kuma Academy, Shen and Ho provide non-public courses with theoretical and sensible classes that educate members fundamental abilities similar to the right way to fight on-line misinformation, the right way to determine a Chinese language soldier, the right way to carry out first help and the right way to staunch bleeding.
“The navy repeatedly carries out workout routines to practise a defence of Taiwan ought to a Chinese language assault happen however most Taiwanese civilians don’t know the way what to anticipate or what to do ought to such an assault materialise,” Ho defined to Al Jazeera.
“We began Kuma with the goal of giving Taiwanese civilians some instruments that assist them act earlier than, throughout and after a possible navy engagement in Taiwan.”
Moreover, Ho hopes the courses will instil a way in Taiwanese those who countering China requires full mobilisation of the island’s total society.
“We don’t educate or encourage violence however we do educate individuals the right way to defend themselves and one another in order that if struggle breaks out, everybody is aware of that they’ve a component to play.”
‘Higher to be prepared’
In keeping with Soochow College’s Chen, demand from civilians for courses on struggle preparation has been rising. However till not too long ago, there have been few to select from.
Kuma Academy held its first coaching session in early September.
“After we open for on-line reserving to our courses as of late, solely a few hours cross earlier than we’re totally booked,” Ho stated.
Because of this, they’re planning to develop past their present base in Taipei to different large Taiwanese cities similar to Kaohsiung, Tainan and Taichung.
College scholar Yuchi Pao, 29, from Taichung, took half in Kuma Academy’s coaching in the beginning of November. She used to consider struggle was one thing that will by no means occur in her lifetime. However the persevering with struggle in Ukraine modified her notion.
“Because the Russian invasion [of Ukraine], I’ve felt that I ought to know extra about what I can do for Taiwan’s defence if struggle breaks out.”
After collaborating within the Kuma class, she says she feels extra conscious of the methods civilians can stand as much as potential pro-Chinese language on-line manipulation in addition to how she will help as a civilian in case of battle.
She thinks extra Taiwanese individuals ought to think about their very own readiness within the face of a possible Chinese language assault.
Again in Taichung, former soldier Hsin Track believes getting ready civilians for struggle shouldn’t be left to personal initiatives however ought to turn into a required civic responsibility for all Taiwanese.
The roar from the fighter jets is fading away and visitors commotion and development noise as soon as once more dominate Taichung’s soundscape.
However Hsin Track retains her gaze mounted within the path of the F-16s and the Taiwan Strait.
“It’s higher to be prepared for a struggle that by no means comes than to be unprepared for one which does,” she stated.
From crucial votes on nature and migration, to powerful speeches and hard debates: the year saw drama and upheaval in the Eurochamber
2024 was a year of change for the European Parliament, shaken up by the elections in July.
Beyond the vote, which significantly modified its composition and balance of powers, here are some moments to remember from this year.
1. Farmers’ protests reach Parliament
The beginning of 2025 was marked by massive protests of farmers across Europe, from Germany and France to Poland and Spain.
Among their targets were the EU’s commercial deal with Mercosur countries – at that time negotiations were still ongoing – and some European environmental policies affecting the agrifood sector.
On 1 February, a thousand farmers from several countries arrived in Brussels. After a night procession on their tractors, they occupied the square in front of the European Parliament for an entire day, burning hay, spreading manure and damaging the square.
2. ‘Stop being boring to defeat Putin’
One of the most powerful and evocative interventions in the European Parliament was Yulia Navalnaya’s in February. She took the floor in the hemicycle in Strasbourg days after her husband, Alexei Navalny, died under suspicious circumstances while imprisoned in Russia.
Navalnaya paid tribute to the opposition leader’s courage and attacked Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, receiving a general standing ovation from MEPs.
“If you really want to defeat Putin, you have to become an innovator. You have to stop being boring,” Navalnaya told MEPs.
“You cannot defeat him by thinking he is a man of principle who has morals and rules. He is not like that. And Alexei realised that a long time ago. You are not dealing with a politician but with a bloody monster.”
3. The final battle on Nature Restoration Law
The Nature Restoration Law, a proposal to gradually rehabilitate the EU’s land and sea areas degraded by climate change and human activity was one of the most contentious issues in the European Parliament in the final part of the legislature.
European People’s Party (EPP) began a full-throttle campaign to bring down the law, arguing it would imperil food production, increase retail prices and devastate the traditional livelihoods of farmers.
EPP talking points were backed by right-wing forces, but fully contested by progressive MEPs, environmental organisations, legal scholars and even multinationals, who said restoring nature was indispensable to maintain a prosperous economy and sustainable supply chains.
The EPP even pressed on with a controversial social media push, going as far as claiming the legislation would turn the city of Rovaniemi, where Santa Claus lives, into a forest.
In February, the Parliament eventually approved a watered-down version of the law with 329 votes in favour and 275 against. It entails the restoration of at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and of all ecosystems in need by 2050.
4. The long-sought vote on the major migration policy reform
In April 2024, the European Parliament approved the wide-reaching reform of the European Union’s migration and asylum policy almost four years after the European Commission had proposed it.
ADVERTISEMENTThe “Pact on migration and asylum” was supported by the three major Parliament groups: European People’s Party (EPP), Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and Renew Europe, albeit with some dissidents.
The right-wing parties, the Greens/EFA and the Left group voted against. The latter even protested outside Parliament before the vote, staging a “funeral for the right to asylum” that it claimed the new rules would usher in.
New rules foresee a solidarity mechanism to share the burdens of welcoming asylum seekers, through a redistribution among the member states which can be replaced with financial contributions. But they also entail stricter border controls and faster procedures for examining asylum requests and carrying out the repatriation of migrants. The Pact will be fully in force from mid-2026.
5. The Parliament backs abortion as an EU fundamental right
Even symbolic votes could cause hard clashes in the European Parliament. In April, the Chamber approved a resolution to include the right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
ADVERTISEMENTAs the topic is very divisive, the Parliament split. The resolution was approved with 336 votes in favour, 163 against, and 39 abstentions. The right-wing groups Identity and Democracy and European Conservatives and Reformists voted against, as did the majority of the centre-right conservative European People’s Party, the largest group of the Parliament.
However, the vote did not have a binding effect. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU requires the unanimous agreement of all member states to be changed. The rules for terminating pregnancy also fall within health legislation, which is the exclusive competence of EU countries.
6. The final rush before the European elections
Members of the European Parliament often run to the last available moment to approve important pieces of legislation. In its last session before the elections, the EP held 89 votes on legislative files, plus seven non-legislative resolutions, marking a record for the entire legislature.
Among them, there were the right-to-repair directive, a regulation to prohibit products made with forced labour on the Union market, new rules for digital platform workers, a bill on packaging reduction, and the first-ever European law against gender-based violence.
ADVERTISEMENT7. The ‘Venezuela majority’ in Europe
After the vote, the new European Parliament soon revealed its changed balance of powers, even if in a mostly symbolic vote. In September, the Strasbourg hemicycle voted to recognise Venezuela’s exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the “legitimate and democratically elected president”.
The resolution, which carried no legal weight, was backed by the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the right-wing nationalist European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the newly formed far-right Patriots for Europe, marking the first time in the new legislature that mainstream conservatives joined ranks with the more right-wing groups.
This alliance was renamed the “Venezuela majority”, following the subject of the vote, and resurfaced during the decision to award González and Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado the Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
8. Von der Leyen vs Orbán: showdown in the Parliament
The first October plenary session saw a fiery debate pitching European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen against Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, who took the stage in the European Parliament a few months after a controversial visit to Moscow made while Hungary occupied the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.
ADVERTISEMENTThe war in Ukraine was one of the bones of contention, with the Hungarian leader claiming that the EU had adopted a mistaken policy on the war and the Commission president launching a personal attack on him without mentioning his name: “There are still some who blame this war not on the invader but on the invaded.”
9. The unpopular approval of the European Commission
At the end of November, the European Parliament definitively approved the College of Commissioners led by Ursula von der Leyen. But while the vote on the Commission’s President herself in July was a success for von der Leyen, she could barely celebrate the approval of the College.
In November, only 370 MEPs voted in favour, representing 54% of all votes cast and 51% of the total number of members, 719.
Several defections came from among the centre-right European People’s Party, the centre-left Socialists and Democrats and the liberal Renew Europe, lowering support for the Commission, which was “saved” by the votes of part of the European Conservatives and Reformists and the Greens/EFA group.
ADVERTISEMENTIndeed, for one reason or another, only one in two lawmakers has endorsed the new College of Commissioners.
10. Weirdness and oddities in the Eurochamber
2024 also witnessed some surreal moments during the debates in the Parliament: a dog barking in the hemicycle, an Irish MEP insulting an Italian football club, and a Slovak MEP releasing a dove as a gesture of peace.
UPDATE, 12/25, 4:30 p.m. PT: Netflix said it will provide on-demand access to the full halftime performance of “Beyoncé Bowl” as a stand-alone special “later this week.” The 20-minute spectacle — her first live TV performance in four years — featured Post Malone, Shaboozey and her daughter Blue Ivy Carter to debut tracks from “Cowboy Carter” for the first time in a live setting.
EARLIER:
Beyoncé will light up the Houston night on Christmas with a halftime performance during the Ravens-Texans game on Netflix. To watch it, you’ll have to tune in live on Dec. 25 — otherwise, you’ll have only a few hours to catch the replay on Netflix.
Queen Bey’s Xmas performance will feature her first live performances of songs from “Cowboy Carter.” She’ll take the stage in her hometown during halftime of the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans matchup at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Netflix, as part of its accelerating push into live sports, snagged global rights to the NFL’s two Christmas Day 2024 games: the Kansas City Chiefs at the Pittsburgh Steelers (starting at 1 p.m. ET), followed by the Ravens-Texans game (4:30 p.m. ET).
Under Netflix’s agreement with the NFL, in the U.S., the two Christmas games expire three hours after the livestream ends (meaning Beyoncé’s performance and the Ravens-Texans game will no longer be available to rewatch on Netflix as of around 11 p.m. ET). Outside the U.S., the games expire on Netflix 24 hours after the livestream ends. The NFL livestreams will include ad breaks, even for Netflix subscribers on no-ads plans.
Few details are available for Beyoncé’s Christmas halftime show, but according to Netflix she is expected to bring along some “special guests” who are featured on “Cowboy Carter.” She’s a veteran of two Super Bowls: Beyoncé was the halftime performer for the 2013 game in New Orleans, which featured a Destiny’s Child reunion; and in 2016, she sang “Formation” when Coldplay was the headliner act.
On Christmas Day, Netflix’s pregame coverage will kick off at 11 a.m. ET, from NFL Network’s studios in L.A. and Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. The streamer has tapped Mariah Carey to deliver a recorded performance of her record-breaking holiday hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” before both of the day’s two games.
If you missed the window for Netflix’s NFL livestreams, you still have the chance to catch the reruns. As it stands right now, NFL Network is scheduled to re-air Ravens-Texans on Wednesday, Dec. 25, at 11:30 p.m. ET and Thursday, Dec. 26, at 5 a.m. ET. The channel will re-air Chiefs-Steelers on Dec. 25 at 8:30 p.m. ET and Dec. 26 at 2 a.m. ET. There is the possibility for additional re-airs but portions of the NFL Network’s programming schedule are still being determined. In addition, replays of both games will be available with NFL+ Premium ($14.99/month) in the U.S. and via DAZN internationally.
Note also that the two Netflix Christmas Day games will air on broadcast TV in the competing teams’ local markets and will be available live on U.S. mobile devices with an NFL+ subscription.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy excoriated Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday for launching attacks against energy infrastructure on Christmas Day.
Zelenskyy suggested the attacks were “inhumane,” but said they would not ruin Christmas.
“Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhumane? Over 70 missiles, including ballistic ones, and more than a hundred attack drones. The targets are our energy infrastructure. They continue to fight for a blackout in Ukraine,” he declared in a post on X.
The Russian Defence Ministry acknowledged a “massive strike” on its part, saying it hit energy facilities that supported Ukraine’s “military-industrial complex,” Reuters reported.
“The aim of the strike was achieved. All facilities have been hit,” the ministry said.
RUSSIA BATTERS UKRAINE POWER GRID AMID RISING CONCERN PUTIN COULD ORDER BALLISTIC MISSILE ATTACK THIS WEEKEND
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks with the media during the European Council Meeting in Brussels on Thursday. (Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)
Strikes against Ukrainian fuel and energy sources involved 78 air, ground and sea-launched missiles, in addition to 106 Shaheds and other kinds of drones, Ukraine’s air force claimed, according to The Associated Press.
“Unfortunately, there have been hits. As of now, there are power outages in several regions. Power engineers are working to restore power supply as soon as possible,” Zelenskyy noted.
Still, the Ukrainian leader declared that “Russian evil will not break Ukraine and will not spoil Christmas.”
US CITIZEN IMPRISONED IN RUSSIA GIVEN NEW 15-YEAR SENTENCE IN WAKE OF ESPIONAGE CONVICTION
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on Thursday. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.S. has provided billions of dollars’ worth of aid to help Ukraine fight the Russian onslaught that erupted in 2022, but Americans and their congressional representatives have been divided regarding whether the U.S. should continue supplying aid to Ukraine.
President-elect Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, has called for a cease-fire and negotiations.
TRUMP MEETS WITH MACRON, ZELENSKYY AHEAD OF NOTRE DAME REOPENING CEREMONY IN PARIS
President-elect Trump looks on during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix on Sunday. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
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In a post on Truth Social this month, Trump declared that “Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness. They have ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians. There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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