CRIME
NIA celebrates culture ahead of International Migrants Day
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) announced last Wednesday that it would hold a series of activities to introduce the cultures of new immigrants, paving the way for International Migrants Day next month. Under the five-week program titled “Immigration Service and Multi-cultural Feast,” which will be held at NIA headquarters, each of the top six home countries of new immigrants will take turns hosting exhibitions displaying their arts, food and lifestyles, NIA officials said. Performances featuring each country’s traditional culture will be staged every Wednesday, it said. “Apart from the NT$300 million [US$9.09 million] spent on counseling for immigrants every year, the government is making additional efforts to help new immigrants integrate into our society, “ NIA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立?aid. Vietnam will be the first country featured, followed by Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Myanmar, and ending with China on Dec. 17. Hsieh said a large-scale activity would be staged on Dec. 18, which is International Migrants Day. The agency said there were currently 270,000 Chinese spouses of Taiwanese living in Taiwan and 140,000 other foreign spouses, mostly from Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia.
OPENING
European School plans annual Christmas Bazaar
The annual Taipei European School Christmas Bazaar will be held at the Shilin campus on Saturday from 11am to 5:30pm. The much-anticipated event will feature Christmas handicrafts and booths of delicious international food. Visitors can participate in raffles and other activities are planned such as the lighting of the Christmas tree. Part of the proceeds will be donated to local and international charities devoted to helping less fortunate children with their education. Parking is limited and all bazaar-goers are encouraged to take public transportation or taxi. The nearest MRT stop is Zhishan Station. For more information, check out www.taipeieuropeanschool.com.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
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