New Zealand Prime Minister John Key found himself in hot water Thursday after joking about an indigenous tribe eating him for dinner.
Key has been at loggerheads with a Maori tribe, the Tuhoe, over negotiations to settle their grievances over land confiscations by European settlers in the 19th century.
During a speech to a tourism conference, Key joked about having dinner with the neighboring Ngati Porou tribe, or iwi.
“The good news is that I was having dinner with Ngati Porou as opposed to their neighboring iwi which is Tuhoe, in which case I would have been dinner, which wouldn’t have been quite so attractive,” Key said.
A settlement negotiator with the Tuhoe tribe, Tamati Kruger, told Radio New Zealand the joke was in poor taste.
“I’m just astounded that the prime minister can make light of what we regard as a very, very serious situation (over the negotiations),” Kruger said.
“I don’t think it’s becoming at all of a prime minister.”
An MP for the Maori Party, which supports Key’s government and has two leaders serving as government ministers, said the joke was unfortunate.
“Well the first thing to say is, it’s probably correct, and the second thing is (it’s) probably not wise in the current climate,” said Te Ururoa Flavell.
Cannibalism remains a sensitive subject in New Zealand, where Maori warriors sometimes ate their defeated enemies until the practice died out in the mid-19th century, according to historians.(AFP)
紐西蘭總理約翰•凱伊上週四笑稱某原住民部落吃他當晚餐,結果禍從口出。
凱伊為了安撫塔霍族毛利人對十九世紀歐洲殖民者「強行徵收」土地的不滿情緒,多次與之協商,期間爭執不斷。
凱伊在一場觀光研討會上致詞時,拿與波魯族共進晚餐的事來開玩笑。
凱伊說:「還好我是和波魯族共進晚餐,要是跟他們隔壁的塔霍族一起的話,我就成盤中佳餚了。」
負責和塔霍族協商的塔馬提•克魯格向紐西蘭電台表示,這玩笑開得很不得體。
克魯格說:「總理竟用輕蔑的態度來看待協商這等極為嚴肅的大事,我真的相當錯愕。」
「我認為此舉有失總理身分。」
支持凱伊政府、先後有兩位黨魁出任政府部門首長的毛利黨有議員表示,對這起事件感到遺憾。
特•烏魯洛阿•費拉佛議員說:「首先,這玩笑說的或許是事實。其次,在當前的氛圍下,這麼做可能是不智之舉。」
吃人肉這件事在紐西蘭仍是敏感話題。據歷史學家表示,紐西蘭毛利勇士有時會吃掉手下敗將的習慣,直到十九世紀中期才消失。(法新社�翻譯:林倩如)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110