■EDUCATION
OCAC sponsors instructors
To accommodate the growing demand for teachers in the US, the Overseas Compatriots Affairs Commission (OCAC) plans to send three professional language instructors to the US to speak on teaching methods and related courses. The lectures will be held from July 17 to July 22 in New York and New Jersey, the commission said. The team will consist of a professor from Taipei Municipal University of Education, a lecturer from Chinese Cultural University and a teacher of literature from Donghu Junior High School. For more information, visit www.ocac.gov.tw.
■SOCIETY
Bastille Day on Saturday
In celebration of France’s National Day, the French Association in Taiwan is hosting the annual French Bastille Day-Grand Ball Fest on Saturday, featuring a live Latino band and other musical entertainment at the Huashan Culture Center in Taipei. The ball has become one of the association’s most highly anticipated events, with more than 500 people participating last year. This year’s celebration will also feature a food buffet and two bars. All party-goers will be invited to sing together the French national anthem, La Marseille. The party will take place this Saturday from 6:30pm to 2am on Sunday. The entrance fees are NT$200 for students, NT$250 for association members and NT$300 for non-members. Children under 12 can get in for free. For more information, check out www.taiwanaccueil.com.
■EDUCATION
City to give student grants
The Kaohsiung City Government approved a measure on Tuesday to grant a monthly stipend of NT$3,000 to qualified foreign students enrolled at the city’s universities and colleges starting next year. Tsai Ching-hua (蔡清華), director of the city’s Bureau of Education, said the bureau would first establish the number of foreign students studying in Kaohsiung’s institutes of higher learning before working out a budget for the scholarship program. He added the program next year would probably begin with 10 scholarships and that applications by foreign students from Kaohsiung’s sister cities would be given first consideration. Kaohsiung has 12 sister cities: Colorado Springs, Colorado; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Pusan, South Korea; Cebu, Philippines; Danang, Vietnam; Barranquilla, Colombia; Cartago, Costa Rica; Durban, South Africa; Blantyre, Malawi; and Brisbane, Australia.
■ENVIRONMENT
Donor supports ad removal
The Taipei City Department of Environmental Protection has recently received a cash donation of NT$1.23 million (US$40,500) from a civic group requesting the money be spent on cleaning out tiny ads stuck on public facilities, such as street lights and utility poles. The donor, requesting anonymity, is a private foundation in Taichung, said Liang Hung-lang (梁宏郎), a department official, yesterday. Since April, the city government has implemented a scheme that awards city-employed cleaners and volunteers who help eliminate illegal street ads, Liang said. Workers have removed more than 100,000 ads a month, receiving a cash award of NT$100 for every 400 ads removed. The city employs 4,000 street sweepers at the environmental protection department and has 1,646 city volunteers that help in removing the ads that mar the city’s appearance, Liang said.
■TRANSPORTATION
Scooter safety event planned
A scooter safety awareness event will be held at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi New Life Square in Taipei’s Xinyi District on Saturday, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Transportation said yesterday. Among those scheduled to attend the event are entertainers “A-Ken” and the “Blackie’s Teenage Club Beauties,” the department said. Government statistics show that scooter riders account for more than half of all traffic injuries in Taipei City, with 40 percent to 50 percent of those injured being people under the age of 24. The figures indicate that there is an urgent need to strengthen the concept of scooter safety among young people, the department said. The event will also feature a lucky draw. Visitors will have a chance to win various prizes, including a limited-edition scooter, a Sony PlayStation Portable, and a GPS-enabled cellphone, the department said.
■ENERGY
Tainan lights turning green
Tainan City yesterday announced new measures to help conserve energy, including having regular light bulbs at the city’s historic sites replaced by power-saving bulbs or LED lights to cope with surging electricity rates. City Government officials said the lights at the Tainan City Cultural Center and Koxinga’s Shrine had already been replaced earlier this year. City officials said they have applied to the Tourism Bureau for NT$5 million (US$163,930) to be used in the energy-conservation project. Once they receive the money, they will be able to replace the lights at all of the city’s historic sites, the officials said. The city’s historical sites are lit up until 10pm. City officials said that, to maintain the scenic quality of the city, the hours when the sites are lit up would not be shortened.
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
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
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
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