■ Society
Aboriginal volunteers leave
Seven Aboriginal college and graduate students will head to Thailand today to engage
in volunteer service in tribal villages and refugee camps
in the Thai-Myanmar border area, the Chinese Association for Human Rights (CAHR) said yesterday. It is the first time that the organization has arranged such a trip. CAHR president Hsu Wen-pin (許文彬) said the dispatch of the volunteers is part of the group's efforts to encourage young Aborigines to take part in international humanitarian relief work and expand their international perspective. During the 11-day visit, Hsu said, the group will hold seminars with Aboriginal inhabitants in the Thailand-Myanmar border region on subjects related to indigenous peoples and minority ethnic groups. The group will also visit remote tribal towns, Hsu said, adding that it will share the nation's experience in promoting indigenous culture.
■ Education
Youth camp opens
The King Car Education Foundation and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission announced the beginning of its "2004 Overseas Chinese Youth -- ABC Schwietzer English Teaching Camp" yesterday in Taipei. The camp, which seeks to bring American-born Taiwanese to remote areas of the country to teach English, will run from Monday through Aug. 14 in two schools in Chiayi and Hualien. Organizers stressed that they hoped the camp would facilitate a culture and language exchange between the students and volunteer teachers, while giving
student teachers a chance
to give back to their mother
culture. The teachers were
mostly recruited from
the commission's recent "Overseas Compatriot Youth Summer Formosa Study Tour to Taiwan." While over 100 students applied to teach in the camps, said foundation general director Morgan Sun (孫慶國), there were only room for 24. He said it was planning a one-year teaching program for overseas Taiwanese next January.
■ Diplomacy
Village opened in Paraguay
The Luque Village, a Taiwanese-funded residential complex for low-income families in Paraguay, was inaugurated on Thursday in Asuncion, with Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte presiding over the ceremony. Ambassador Yen Pin-fan (顏秉璠) and other members of the diplomatic corps attended the inauguration ceremony. Duarte said he has delivered on his campaign promise of using Taiwan-donated funds to built housing units for low-income families. He said he will continue to build housing units with Taiwanese funds during his tenure to benefit impoverished people. Yen said the inauguration of
the village epitomizes
the transparency in the Paraguayan government's
use of Taiwanese donations
and the solidity of relations between the two countries. Yen said Taiwan will continue to help Paraguay improve the living conditions of its people.
■ Diplomacy
Yu to visit Latin America
Premier Yu Shyi-kun will be President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) special envoy at the inauguration ceremony of Dominican President-elect Leonel Fernandez Reyna, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Yu will depart on Aug. 12. The premier will transit in Los Angeles and arrive in the Dominican Republic on Aug. 14. Yu
will also visit Honduras
and Nicaragua, two of
the nation's other allies in
Latin America. He will stop
over in New York on his
way back to Taipei. His delegation is scheduled to return here on Aug. 25. A number of top government officials will accompany Yu in the delegation.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS