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.
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
‘VERY DIRE’: This year’s drought, exacerbated by El Nino, is affecting 44 percent of Malawi’s crop area and up to 40 percent of its population of 20.4 million In the worst drought in southern Africa in a century, villagers in Malawi are digging for potentially poisonous wild yams to eat as their crops lie scorched in the fields. “Our situation is very dire, we are starving,” 76-year-old grandmother Manesi Levison said as she watched over a pot of bitter, orange wild yams that she says must cook for eight hours to remove the toxins. “Sometimes the kids go for two days without any food,” she said. Levison has 30 grandchildren under her care. Ten are huddled under the thatched roof of her home at Salima, near Lake Malawi, while she boils