■ Politics
Anti-Chen rally in New York
More than 200 Taiwanese-Americans on Friday denounced the re-election of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), using the term "stolen presidency." The group held a protest near UN headquarters in New York, holding banners and posters that called for an inquiry into the assassination attempt against Chen and his running mate Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on the eve of the election. Chen's opponents accused him of staging the shooting in order to gain sympathy from voters. A statement handed out by the protesters said that the election was "unfair and anti-democratic." The demonstrators, who waved Taiwanese and US flags, held banners that said, "Taiwan Fraud Election," "Stolen Presidency in Taiwan" and "Liar, Liar, Liar A-bian (阿扁)." The lunch-hour protest ended without incident. The demonstrators claimed that more than 330,000 "invalid ballots" had been discovered since the recount began.
■ Diplomacy
US state backs WHA bid
The New York State Assembly unanimously passed a resolution in support of Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer, according to the head of a Taiwanese-American group. The resolution, which was passed Wednesday, recognizes contributions made by Taiwanese-Americans to the US, and recognizes their efforts to promote Taiwan's bid to join the WHA as an observer, said Wu Ming-kee, president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs. Copies of the resolution were sent to US President George W. Bush, the US Department of Health and Human Services and WHO headquarters in Geneva. The resolution was initiated by New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and co-signed by New York State Assembly members Richard Gottfried, Barry Grodenchik, Catherine Nolan and Earlene Hooper, Wu said.
■ Hakka affairs
League established
During an annual conference on Hakka college organizations, the establishment of the National Collegiate Hakka League (全國大學客家聯合會) was announced. The league aims to encourage exchanges of Hakka culture among universities and to plan intercollegiate Hakka events. More specifically, league representatives said that the league has three main goals: to encourage Hakka youth to embrace their heritage and introduce Hakka culture to non-Hakka people; to establish a forum for discussion of Hakka issues among colleges; and to pool the resources of Hakka associations and groups in universities nationwide. The founding of the league is the result of months of planning, research and consultation. The league is made up of students from National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University, National Chengchi University and Chinese Culture University, and encourages individuals with and without Hakka heritage to become members.
■ Earthquake
Temblor rattles Ilan
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale rocked northeastern Taiwan yesterday. No damage was reported. Central Weather Bureau officials said the epicenter of the quake was 18.8km east-northeast of the Ilan seismic station in Ilan County and originated 91.7km below the earth's surface. The quake, which occurred at 1:07pm, had an intensity of 3.0 in Newdou, Ilan County and Shihtang, Miaoli County; 2.0 in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Hualien counties; and 1.0 in Taipei City and Changhua.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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