An annual film festival featuring movies on peace-related subjects was launched yesterday in Taipei in the hope that the Taiwanese can learn something about the global immigration phenomenon.
The 2007 Peace Film Festival will screen 20 movies in Taipei, Hsinchu and Taichung until Oct. 19. The festival presents various viewpoints about immigration and conflicts among ethnic groups from different countries such as Taiwan, Israel, Turkey and Italy, said Chien Hsi-chieh, chief executive officer of the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan, the festival organizer.
The closing film, The Nyonya's Taste of Life, directed by Wen Chih-yi (
"Nyonya" is a Southeast Asian cuisine that is a mixture of Taiwanese and Malaysian food ingredients, symbolizing the co-existence of Taiwanese and new immigrants in Taiwan, Wen said.
Golden Door, the opening film, addresses the experience of an Italian immigrant family in the US.
"The world is experiencing the same immigration and conflicts of ethnic groups and Taiwan has a lot to learn. We have to learn how to treat new immigrants with respect and respect their basic human rights," said well-known director Hou Hsiao-hsien (
"If Taiwan could develop a complete system or mechanism that takes care of all the new immigrants and migrant workers, it would be the best diplomacy for our government," Hou said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
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Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about