Compiled by CHARLES RAMENDRAN and C. ARUNO
A 12-YEAR-OLD boy in China’s Anwei province lost two fingers after a freak accident caused the firecracker in his hand to explode, Sin Chew Daily reported.
This happened on Feb 2, on the fifth day of Chinese New Year.
Footage of the incident showed the boy having fun playing with a sparkler, a type of hand-held firework that burns slowly while emitting bright sparks.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang and the adults immediately rushed to check on him.
When they saw what remained of his right hand, they rushed him to the hospital.
It was believed that the boy was holding an unlit firecracker in his right hand along with the sparkler during the incident.
Sparks from the sparkler were believed to have ignited the firecracker, causing the explosion.
According to the boy’s aunt, the boy lost his right thumb and index finger in the accident and has to undergo surgery to save the other three fingers on his right hand.
> The number of Malaysians pursuing tertiary education in Taiwan is estimated to have fallen below 10,000 last year, the daily also reported.
According to statistics released by Taiwan’s Education Ministry, there were 13,091 Malaysians studying in Taiwan in 2018 but the number had dropped by 22% to only 10,097 students in 2023.
Those from Vietnam and Indonesia have outnumbered Malaysians, with the ministry recording 18,930 and 10,100 students from the two respective countries in 2023.
While the final count for last year has yet to be released, it is expected that the number would have dropped to below 10,000 as there were less than 3,000 new students in 2024.
To attract more Malaysian students, the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Malaysia is offering bursaries up to RM11,000 as well as scholarships up to RM145,000.
The Federation of Alumni Association of Taiwan Universities Malaysia is also putting in efforts to halt the decline by attempting to recruit students from all over Malaysia.
“We don’t dare say we want to increase the number of students in Taiwan, but at least it should not fall anymore,” a spokesperson from the federation said.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a, it denotes a separate news item.
