People with streamlined ears that require new identification card photographs need no longer resort to the embarassing method of buttressing their unassuming appendages with cotton wads or toothpicks to meet legal requirements.
In a move likely to be welcomed by people who are shy or finicky about their appearance, the Ministry of the Interior yesterday promised to loosen the identification standards for photos on ID cards.
"We hope local household registration offices won't be overly strict in carrying out the measure," said Jair Lan-pin (
If the person has small ears, Jair said it is a unique feature of the individual and that the person should not have to make their modest auricles more visible in the picture.
But it was more bad news for people who preferred to hide their ears altogether. If a person has long hair, it is only acceptable for one-third of the ears to be covered, Jair said.
"Hey, we have human rights, too!" joked one individual, whose ears were obscured by her hair.
She characterized her ears as "large," but preferred not to be identified, citing aesthetic concerns.
Jair made the remarks in response to a request made by Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Yin Ling-ying (
Yin said her office has received many complaints from her constituents, who said that the photographs they used to apply for their new ID cards were rejected by local household registration offices. This forced the constituents to spend an added NT$350 to have another photograph taken.
"It has caused a lot of inconvenience and complaints," Yin said. "I demand the interior ministry immediately relax the identification criteria."
Wu Chung-ping (
Min Tsung-hsien (
Among the other orginal restrictions that applied to the photos was one that said a person cannot show his or her teeth.
The ministry yesterday issued a statement saying that people could bare their pearly whites if they so chose.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS