■Diplomacy
Yu meets Singaporean envoy
Premier Yu Shyi-kun received Singapore Trade Office in Taipei Director Ker Sin Tze (柯新治) yesterday and called for the signing of a free trade agreement with the city-state. Yu also called on Singapore to help Taiwan join ASEAN and Ker agreed to convey Taipei's hope to his government. Yu attributed Taiwan's rising unemployment problem to an overall economic decline that has pushed many traditional businesses to relocate to China.The government is seeking to lower the 5.1 percent unemployment rate by providing vocational training, launching public works and increasing domestic demand in an attempt to stimulate the economy, Yu said. Ker, who recently assumed his post, said he is willing to provide Singapore's experience in fighting unemployment and expressed his hope of furthering bilateral substantive exchanges.
■ Technology
Kaohsiung tops Net survey
Kaohsiung City has the highest Internet penetration rate in the nation, at 73.1 percent, according to the results of a survey released yesterday. The survey shows that 9.53 million people in Taiwan had used Internet as of September, 53.8 percent of whom were male. While the Internet penetration rates in 12 cities and counties stood at more than 50 percent, Kaohsiung took the lead with 73.1 percent of the population having used the Internet, followed by Taipei with a ratio of 72.2 percent. A breakdown of Internet users by age shows that 34.4 percent belonged to the 15 to 24 age group, 28.1 percent to the 25 to 34 group, 28.6 percent to the 35 to 49 group, 8.4 percent to the 50 to 64 group and only 0.5 percent over 65. Among household users, 63.4 percent had broadband or ADSL facilities. Households with Internet access spent an average NT$705 per month surfing.
■ Society
Chen praises draftees
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) received a group of alternative service draftees headed overseas yesterday and encouraged them to follow in their predecessors' footsteps by making greater contributions to the international community. Describing draftees who serve overseas as Taiwan's pride, Chen said he was pleased to see that the "Taiwan spirit" is being passed on through these children of Taiwan who use their hands and know-how for devoted service in poor countries. He also presented a national flag to the group and asked them to promote the values of democracy, freedom and human rights in their host countries. "The people of Taiwan and I, myself, admire your contribution and high morals," he said. "As a member of the global village, Taiwan should play its divine role by assisting poorer countries, whether in Africa or other parts of the world."
■ Diplomacy
US soldiers get medals
Taiwan's representative office in the US presented medals to 28 retired US military servicemen on Wednesday in recognition of their direct or indirect assistance in defending Taiwan between 1950 and the 1970s. Representative Chen Chien-jen (程建人) conferred the medals on behalf of the government in a ceremony in Washington. Among those honored was retired general Alfred Gray, a former Marine Corps commander. Gray said he still remembers vividly the courage and fortitude shown by the people of Taiwan in pursuing freedom during his service in Taiwan 46 years ago. Another recipient, Lloyd Evans, said the assistance offered by the US during that period was not only useful in military terms but also helpful to Taiwan's economic and democratic development.
Agencies
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching