'He was showing me who's boss. It was surreal because there were speakers playing panpipe [music], there was a disco light rotating, and we were both wearing these felt caps that you wear to keep your heads cool.

I'm going to go to hell. She's telling me that I'm the devil. 'I've had glimpses of memories my whole life of her pushing me under bath water — like holding me under and I couldn't breathe,' she told People. 'I'm in this house of horrors.

Liu said he looked forward to Taiwan's industry, government and academia developing "more concrete, constructive measures" on industrial policies related to innovation, research, talent education and retention "to maintain Taiwan's most critical semiconductor industry advantages".

Which brings us to the sorry state of China today, where 35 months since the first reported discovery of Covid, the Chinese people remain subjected to torturous, draconian and, quite frankly, dangerous restrictions on their day to day lives.

While the chips sector is already bracing for waning demand as red-hot inflation squeezes spending, Taiwan faces a tougher situation - sandwiched between its largest export market China and its main international backer and arms supplier, the United States - especially as Beijing steps up military pressure to force Taipei to accept Chinese sovereignty claims.

Taiwan is a major producer of chips used in everything from cars, smartphones to data centres and fighter jets, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) is the world's largest contract chipmaker and Asia's most valuable listed firm.

Not to mention the blindingly obvious fact that if China hadn't tried to cover up the outbreak of Covid-19 in the first place, most likely unintentionally leaked from a lab, then the world wouldn't have faced the peril of the past two years in the first place.

Against all odds, given the ferocity of the authorities to crack down on even the slightest hint of civil unrest, brave Chinese freedom fighters are hitting the streets in Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'An, Urumqi, Nanjing and Wuhan, Covid's Ground Zero, shouting: ‘Down with the Chinese Communist Party!

'Firefighters are using two of the Brigade's new 32-metre turntable ladders and a 64-metre turntable ladder (the tallest in Europe) at the scene as water towers, to get water on to the building externally.

Perhaps it's hard for our leaders to condemn China on Zero Covid, as it would be an acknowledgement that they too massively overreacted to the threat of the virus for far too long, damning us to the economic hellscape where we now find ourselves.

Then there's the outrageous claim made by Scotland's nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon, whose main pandemic adviser Devi Sridhar was a telegenic Zero Covid zealot, that her nation only failed to stamp out the virus because of pesky English folk crossing the non-existent border.

Raw vegan who hasn't used shampoo in SIX YEARS laughs off... The student who's allergic to SEX: Woman, 18, reveals how... Women's groups and mothers blast new hit BBC drama This Is... Mother who admits she 'judges' parents of overweight...

While Liu did not make direct mention of it, the sweeping set of export controls announced by the United States this month, aimed at slowing China's progress in advanced chip manufacturing, is expected to also impact Taiwanese chipmakers.

Kate Harrison has been the vicar at St Mark's Church since 2015, and posted a heartbreaking message on Twitter in the early hours of Friday, simply saying 'I'm broken.' She also asked for prayers to be sent to her community, saying that the building is 'horrifically damaged'.

Like Jacinda Ardern who treated New Zealand as a prison island, banning her hapless citizens from leaving or returning for over two years, and Justin Trudeau, who removed the basic human rights of Canadians who exercised their right to bodily autonomy.

In the end, most folk in the West were able to ignore months of damaging scaremongering government propaganda to realise that policies associated with Zero Covid have very little to do with a virus and everything to do with control.

The Western leaders who advocated - or even attempted ­- such a policy in civilised and free societies should look at the carnage the authoritarian President Xi Jinping has unleashed on the good and long-suffering people of China, who have been pushed to the brink and are finally fighting back, then hold their heads in shame.

HSINCHU, Taiwan, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Rising Taiwan-China and U.S.-China tensions have brought "more serious" challenges for the semiconductor industry, the chairman of Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC said on Wednesday.

TSMC's dominance in making some of the world's most advanced chips for high-end customers such as Apple Inc and Qualcomm Inc has shielded it in recent quarters from the downturn flagged by chipmakers including Micron Technology Inc.

On the very day of the BBC incident and growing coverage of Xi's human rights outrage, new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will outline a soft on China policy of ‘robust pragmatism' in a speech in London tonight.