On May 9, Taiwanese and Tibetan married couples held up signs with slogans such as “Please don’t break up my family, grant my Tibetan husband the right of abode” and “Evil law, a Mother’s Day spent weeping,” in a protest outside the Executive Yuan. Accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Chen Chieh-ju and Tien Chiu-chin, they urged the government to annul its policy of writing “no right of abode” on visas that are issued to Tibetans, and to give Tibetan spouses in Taiwan a permanent right of residency. The Cabinet responded by saying that an interagency meeting would be held within a month to discuss how the issue is to be resolved.
Tien says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims it is not a discriminatory policy, and that the reason Tibetans in exile cannot be granted the right of abode, despite being married to a Taiwanese citizen, is that they come to Taiwan using “Yellow Books,” which are basically travel visas issued by the Indian government.
One Tibetan spouse who attended the protest said that being unable to apply for residency status, having to leave the country every six months, being unable to work and not having health insurance, on top of having to spend NT$60,000 on travel expenses and processing fees every time he has to leave, is a heavy burden for his family.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
多位高舉著「請不要拆散我家,請給藏夫居留權」、「惡法刁難、哭泣的母親節」等標語的台藏聯姻家庭成員,五月九日在民進黨立委陳節如、田秋堇等人陪同下至行政院陳情,要求政府取消在藏人簽證註記「不得改辦居留」的規定,讓藏人配偶可以在台長期居留。政院則允諾一個月內召開跨部會議討論如何解決這項問題。
田秋堇指出,外交部指稱流亡海外藏人所持的是印度政府核發的「黃皮書」,屬於「旅行簽證」,即使與台灣人結婚,仍無法給予藏人居留權,根本是歧視性規定。
到場陳情的藏人配偶指出,在台不能辦居留,每隔半年就要出境,無法工作,也沒有健保,每次離台的旅費與手續費就要新台幣六萬元,造成家庭的沉重負擔。
(自由時報記者黃維助)
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