FOOD
Stinky tofu tops survey
Stinky tofu has been voted the most popular food in Taipei’s night markets in an online survey released on Saturday by the Taipei City Market Administration Office. The survey asked participants to choose their 10 favorite foods sold at Taipei’s night markets from a list of 33 items, collecting 17,000 votes. Stinky tofu topped the list with 1,482 votes, followed by oyster omelette with 1,279 votes and fried chicken fillet with 1,025 votes, according to the survey. Rounding out the top 10 were popcorn chicken, bubble tea, sweet potato balls, pork ribs stewed with Chinese medicinal herbs, tofu pudding, oyster vermicelli with pig intestines and steak. Stinky tofu, noted for its strong odor and taste, is tofu marinated in brine made from fermented milk, vegetables and meat.
TRAVEL
Canada raises program quota
More Taiwanese would be able to participate in working holiday programs in Canada this year after the nation raised its quota for Taiwanese participants from 1,000 to 1,200, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The Canadian government raised the quota for the remainder of this year due to an enthusiastic response, the ministry said in a press release, adding that Taiwanese interested in the program can still submit applications. The working holiday agreement between the two nations took effect in 2010. Under the program, people aged from 18 to 35 from the two nations can travel and work in the other nation for up to one year.
SOCIETY
Alian radio to go on air
The first nationwide Aboriginal radio station is to start broadcasting tomorrow, airing content in 16 Aboriginal languages. The Alian 96.3 radio station, operated by the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation, is to feature 15 programs on a wide range of topics, including music and entertainment, cooking, social care, tourism, parental education, arts, sports and healthcare, according to the foundation’s Web site. The radio station will work with voice actors and Aboriginal language teachers, the foundation said. Alian means “good friends” in Paiwan, the foundation said, expressing hope that the radio station will become “good friends” with Taiwanese, spur conversations about Aboriginal issues and promote the Aboriginal cultures. The station is expected to reach more than 90 percent of the nation’s Aboriginal villages and more than 70 percent of its Aboriginal population.
CRIME
Soldiers pass heroin test
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office has decided not to press charges of drug use against 10 soldiers and officers stationed at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base after they tested negative for heroin. The prosecutors are trying to find the source of 53 packages of amphetamines found in different parts of the base in February, the office said yesterday. The packages were scattered over a 2km stretch on the base, the office said. Following the find, the Ministry of National Defense ordered all 2,555 soldiers and officers stationed on the base to undergo urine tests for drugs. Ten people tested positive for heroin, but they denied using the drug. Prosecutors collected hair samples for an advanced examination at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, which found no trace of heroin in the samples. The institute said the positive results could be caused by a cold medicine.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry