Driver’s test offered in several languages
Taipei City’s Motor Vehicles Office is offering its written test in several languages to accommodate expatriates and new immigrants. The office offers written tests in Mandarin, English, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai and Cambodian. To allow alternative testing, the office also built a database of pre-recorded spoken questions in different languages. The alternative testing is available in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, English, Japanese, and Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai and Cambodian. Details about the English-language test are available at: www.mvo.taipei.gov.tw/cgi-bin/SM_themePro?page=461d9c5e. A list of sample questions from the foreign language testing database is available at www.mvo.taipei.gov.tw/cgi-bin/SM_themePro?page=461f1ead.
More information about the exam is available from the 1999 Citizen Call Center at (02) 2720-8889.
Mykonos founder dies
Long-time Taipei resident Michael Stephen Waldor, who brought Greek food to Taipei with a string of Mykonos restaurants beginning in 1993, died in Pattaya, Thailand, where he had a second home, on Oct. 10. The 61-year-old Waldor, known as Mickey or Mike Waldorf to his loyal clientele, had been battling pancreatic cancer since being diagnosed on Oct. 8 last year. The New York native first came to Taipei in April 1985 to work for Asia World Hotel after working on cruise liners and passenger ships for 22 years, mostly in the Mediterranean area, as a catering manager. Those years at sea served as an inspiration when he decided to leave the hotel industry to run his own restaurant, Mykonos, which he opened in a lane off Anhe Road in November 1993. Mykonos moved from its first location to the other side of Anhe and then to Lishui Road and is now in its fourth incarnation in a lane off Siwei Road. Waldorf also owned a Chinese restaurant in Athens for several years and the Cruise Ship Restaurant, which opened on Anhe in December 2003. He was famous for his authentic spanakopita and New York cheesecake, for his sense of humor and for always encouraging people to travel to Greece or try a cruise. He is survived by his partner of 23 years, Gino Lin.
TAS holds flea market, rummage for orphanage
Taipei American School’s (TAS) Orphanage Club will hold a Flea Market and Rummage Sale in the school’s lobby on Saturday, rain or shine. Items offered at the sale include clothing, household items, electronic appliances and furniture, TAS said in a press release. “The proceeds from the Flea Market will go to the Orphanage Club to provide funding for needy children and orphans in Taiwan [and] overseas,” it said. TAS is located at 800 Zhongshan N Road Sec 6, in Tianmu (天母). For more information, contact Richard Arnold at (02) 2873-9900 ext. 239, or Ms Koh at (02) 2874-0902.
AIT sponsors democracy challenge
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) has invited all budding filmmakers, democracy advocates and the general public to participate in the inaugural Democracy Video Challenge. Winners will enjoy an all-expenses paid trip to the US to meet prominent figures in the movie industry and democracy advocates. “We expect this competition will be well received and lively in Taiwan, not only because of Taiwan’s vibrant democracy, but also because of Taiwan’s creativity in filmmaking,” AIT Chief of Public Affairs Thomas Hodges said. The three-minute film must complete the phrase “democracy is.” Three semi-finalists from Taiwan will be chosen to compete in the regional finals and the ultimate winners will be selected by YouTube viewers worldwide. For more information on the contest rules, visit www.videochallenge.america.gov. All videos will be judged on artistic content, promotion of democracy and production values.
Grand Hyatt hosts St Andrew’s Ball on Saturday
The British Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the annual St Andrew’s Ball at the Grand Hyatt Taipei on Saturday. Traditionally a Scottish evening, the event is now held in more than 200 cities around the world. The ball in Taipei features a wine reception starting at 6pm, a seven-course dinner of traditional Scottish Fayre and a dance to Scottish music, followed by breakfast at 1am and “carriages” at 3am. The fee is NT$4,600 per seat and NT$44,000 per table of 10. More information is available on the British Chamber of Commerce Taipei Web site at www.bcctaipei.com/Events/20081101_SAB.htm, by e-mail at aurora.chien@bcctaipei.com or telephone on (02) 2547 1199.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
RSS