Blogging competition opens next month
All English bloggers in Taiwan are encouraged to compete in the first-ever Taiwan Blog Award sponsored by Taiwanderful, an English community Web site that aims to promote Taiwan and its culture. Only Taiwan-based blogs registered at the Taiwanderful blog directory are eligible to participate. Interested bloggers must register with Taiwanderful by next Tuesday. Awards will be given out in several categories, including Best Education, Best General, Best “Other,” Best Personal, Best Photography, Best Politics, Best Religion, Best Travel and Best Video-Podcast blog. The awards will be based on voting by visitors to the Taiwanderful Web site next month. Visitors can cast one vote per blog but can vote for as many of the blogs as they like. The results will be announced on Nov. 1. For more information, visit:
www.taiwanderful.net/blog/taiwan-best-blog-awards-2008.
Taichung offers job guide for immigrants
The Taichung City Government has published a manual for new immigrants, primarily foreign spouses, to help them seek employment. The Versatile Manual for New Residents to Find Jobs is printed in five languages — Chinese with the zhuyin phonetic system, English, Bahasa, Thai and Vietnamese, Chen Yu-yi (陳裕益), deputy director of the city’s Bureau of Labor Affairs, said last Wednesday. The manual features three protagonists from different countries in various situations to help explain the government’s laws, regulations and services. The 15-chapter manual also includes information on the legal working rights of foreign spouses and how to deal with labor-management disputes. Five thousand copies of e-book discs in Chinese with the zhuyin phonetic system will be available through Taichung’s new immigrant centers and district offices or by calling (04) 2228-9111, ext 3309, or (04) 2229-1731.
Community Services Center hosts annual fundraising dinner
The Community Services Center (CSC) is welcoming everyone to join its annual charity auction dinner, which will be held on Friday, Oct. 17, in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei. Up for auction are a wide variety of items, including an exclusive dinner for 20 guests at the Grand Hyatt Residence, fine antiques, artwork and Persian rugs, exotic vacation packages, golf clubs and more. There will be a champagne reception followed by a sumptuous five-course dinner. Tickets are available for NT$3,000 per person or NT$30,000 for a table of 10. All proceeds from the event will be used to help the CSC provide vital services to the expatriate community in Taiwan. For more information, contact Robyn or Grace at the CSC: (02) 2836-8134.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique