CRIME
Tourist tries public suicide
A Chinese tourist was rushed to a hospital yesterday after he tried to commit suicide in front of the Presidential Office building, police said. The 35-year-old man stood on Ketagalan Boulevard, produced a knife and started stabbing himself in the head, shouting: “I want to die,” police said.
The man, surnamed Chen (陳), was visiting Taipei with a tour group, the authorities said after conducting their initial investigation. His motive, mental health status and other details were not immediately available.
ENTERTAINMENT
Chinese film rising: Ang Lee
Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (李安) yesterday said that Chinese-language cinema could earn more revenue than Hollywood in 10 years’ time, without broadening its appeal. Lee made the remarks ahead of the Golden Horse Film Awards. The 50th edition of the annual awards ceremony is to take place on Nov. 23 in Taipei. “I think in 10 years’ time, maybe our market will be bigger than the Hollywood market. Things will come naturally,” said the Taiwanese director, who will chair the jury for this year’s festival. “It’s important that we keep doing it. It will have ups and downs, but eventually it will pay back.” Industry analysts have predicted that China — which collected an estimated US$2.8 billion in box office earnings last year, compared with Hollywood’s US$10.8 billion — will become the world’s dominant film market by 2020, if its current rate of growth is sustained.
ENTERTAINMENT
Locals win animation prize
A film by young Taiwanese animators won the best animation award at the New York Los Angeles (NYLA) International Film Festival last month, Ling Tung University, their alma mater, said on Monday. It was the first time that an animation by Taiwanese students won the best animation award at the festival, according to the university. The short animation, titled Blessing (庇主), was the graduation project of Chen Wei-jhih (陳威志), Chuang Tsai-jung (莊采融), Lin Chih-ju (林芝如) and Huang Shuo-ping (黃碩平). It was inspired by a traditional boat-burning festival held to expel plague demons. The 3D animation, which took the foursome one-and-a-half years of university to complete, is about a young boy who has the power to decide the fate of his village. The festival is a biannual event that takes place in New York and Los Angeles.
HEALTH
Contact lenses on the rise
The nation’s contact lens market grew over the first nine months of the year, spurred by the improving quality of eye care providers and a more discerning public, market research firm GfK Group said. Taiwanese consumers have spent US$127 million on contact lenses so far this year up to September, the firm said. The increased efforts on behalf of optometrists and lens manufacturers to educate the public about eye care and what the latest technology can do to solve vision problems have greatly increased consumer awareness of the eyewear options available to them, the firm said. South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore also saw growth in their respective contact lens markets, with Malaysia registering the biggest increase at 15 percent. Also driving the growth is a shift in consumer mentality, as people become less price conscious and shift toward the more expensive toric and silicone hydrogel lenses, GfK Group said.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
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