■ Education
Role models sought
Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) yesterday announced a campaign to find 100 outstanding public figures or successful businesspeople from various walks of life whose life stories could inspire students in their studies. Huang said students need more a diverse paradigm to emulate for their school careers in the light of the utilitarianism that has over-whelmed campuses. The 100 role models will travel nationwide to promote the idea of diligence. Wu Jing-jyi (吳靜吉), head of the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange presided over yesterday's news conference and announced that the Ministry of Interior, the National Youth Commission and the Council for Cultural Affairs will participate in the campaign.
■ Education
Dropouts face rejection
A survey released yesterday by the Humanistic Education Foundation (人本教育基金會) showed that the number of dropouts had reached 2,536 by the end of last month, while only 1,063 students returned to school during the past year. The rate of resumption of studies is only about 40 percent. The foundation said that about 70 percent of the drop-outs that social workers had helped return to school were then rejected by school authorities. Most schools do not welcome dropouts because they fear they will cause trouble to the other students. The foundation criticized this attitude and urged the Ministry of Education to enhance its supervision over the local schools to assure that dropouts have a right to resume their education.
■ Diplomacy
Tung pledges cooperation
Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) said Thursday that the territory will try to improve its economic and cultural relations with Taiwan. When asked in a press conference to comment on a proposal to establish a free trade area between Hong Kong and Taiwan, Tung said he was pleased to see that Taiwan and Hong Kong have improved their relations in trade, investment, and tourism in the past six years. He said his government will be pleased to do anything that will improve these relations.
■ Crime
Police nab forgers
The Taipei Police yesterday arrested a fraud suspect and seized more than 300 semi-finished counterfeit credit cards. The suspect, Chiu Hung-ming (丘宏銘), was arrested when he picked up an express air parcel containing the cards. A spokesman for the Taipei Police Criminal Investigation Bureau said that, according to a preliminary investigation, the semi-finished counterfeit cards and related data of the original card owners were sent from Hong Kong, but the original card owners are people of the US, the UK and Australia. The faked cards will be sent to foreign countries after being finished in Taiwan. The police are trying to track down other members of the counterfeiting gang, he added.
■ Crime
Taiwanese student killed
A Taiwanese student who was studying music in Russia was killed in Tanbvy, the representative office of Taiwan in Moscow confirmed yesterday, CNA reported. The news agency did not provide any personal details about the victim, such as name, age, sex, or whether the student was the victim of foul play or an accident. However, the office also confirmed that a suspect was arrested, CNA said.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
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