Taiwanese pop singer A-mei (
Dressed fashionably, A-mei spoke during a 15-second commercial, saying young people should say "no" loudly when offered cigarettes. Later on, A-mei told an interviewer that she doesn't smoke, and she called on youngsters not try the habit.
The commercial will soon be broadcast intensively in Taiwan.
According reports, China's own health commission has also contacted A-mei, requesting that she act as an anti-smoking icon for the Chinese people too.
A little Stuart Little story
You know that new movie playing in Taiwan now about a mouse named Stuart Little? Well, while Stuart Little is the pint-sized film hero who's having fun with his big-screen adventures, he's also the next bishop of the Episcopal Church of Northern Indiana in the US, according to recent reports.
But the Reverend Edward Stuart Little said his late father really was the original Stuart Little.
According to family legend, the reverend's newsman father was friends with the writer E.B. White in the 1930s and 1940s. White wrote the book about Stuart Little, which was the basis for the movie. Just why White christened his roadster-driving rodent after the senior Little remains a mystery.
``That's all I know,'' according to Little, 52, who was born two years after Stuart Little was published in the US in 1945.
The reverend said he remembers seeing a signed, first-edition of the children's book classic at his childhood home, ``but it's long gone. I own a copy now, but I went out and bought it.''
Reverend Little is to be ordained as bishop of the 6,000-member Northern Indiana diocese on March 18 -- by coincidence, the same day as Taiwan's presidential election.
Since the film came out, friends have given him a toy mouse dressed as a bishop, and one circulated a movie still of the mouse bearing the words: ``Hi, I'm Ed, your new bishop.''
``I'll probably save it all for my kids for when I'm in a nursing home,'' Little said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2