■Maritime
Boat owner looks for crew
The owner of a fishing boat that caught fire in Philippine waters last Friday offered a NT$3 million (US$86,207) cash award yesterday for help leading to the discovery of the six crewmen who were aboard the ill-fated ship. The 100-tonne Haishuntsai was operating in waters near the Philippines Dec. 13 when it caught fire. At the time, its six crew members reportedly managed to flee via a life boat and were later rescued by a merchant vessel. But their whereabouts since that time has become a mystery. The Kaohsiung and Pingtung fishery radio stations have broadcast the story of the Haishuntsai vessel, which was based in Kaohsiung's Chichin district in southern Taiwan, over the past few days, urging fishing boats operating in the nearby region to assist in searching for the missing crew.
■ Diplomacy
Chen receives African kids
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday received a group of African children who have been in Taiwan for a concert tour at the Presidential Office. Chen offered a warm welcome to the 77 children from Congo, Malawi and South Africa, respectively, and wished them good health and happiness. The children, who arrived in Taiwan last Wednesday, are leaving for home today. Chen also took the opportunity to express his respect and appreciation to World Vision Taiwan (WVT), sponsor of the children's visit and for the long-term devotion and contributions that the organization has made. Since their arrival in Taiwan, the children have joined children of the Rukai and the Puyuma Aboriginal tribes -- in concerts held in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. Noting that life is particularly hard in Malawi due to poverty, a WVT official said the organization has donated NT$20 million (US$574,713) annually since 1995 to help families in the southeastern African country. The WVT is now assisting in building five elementary schools in the Katimbira region in central Malawi.
■ Politics
Soong to visit Singapore
PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) is scheduled to visit Singapore and other Southeast Asian nations during a trip that will begin today. Soong said that his trip is aimed at observing how Southeast Asian countries are dealing with the emerging economic power of China. "I will review their strategies, reflect on how to adjust Taiwan's economy and use my findings as references for formulating future policies," he said. A Chinese-language newspaper said yesterday that if all goes according to plan, Soong will also visit Vietnam and Malaysia and perhaps South Korea and Japan.
■ Politics
Lien gives radio interview
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said yesterday he does not have any concrete plans to visit China. Lien made the remarks during an interview on the Voice of America radio program that will be broadcast to Chinese listeners in the near future. Lien said he will visit China when such a visit can bring about positive effects on relations across the Taiwan Strait. "I'm not opposed to visiting the mainland, but such a visit would be made only when it is conducive to Taiwan's national interests, the well-being of the people of Taiwan and cross-strait rapprochement," Lien said. "I'll not visit the mainland for purposes other than the above-mentioned ones." He also said that opening direct cross-strait trade, mail and transportation links is critical to Taiwan's bid to become a regional business hub.
■ Crime
Lu admirer charged
An admirer of Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday was indicted on the charge of coercion and intimidation while collecting debts. Tung Nien-tai (董念台), founder of ResuCredit Services, sent four employees to forcibly collect debts from four of his customers using intimidation and threatening language. The indictment added that Tung's men damaged belongings in the offices of the customers and threatened policemen who came arrived on the scene. Tung's four employees were charged with of coercion, intimidation, criminal damage and interference with public functions. In December last year, Tung proposed to the vice president in a 24-sedan motorcade on its way to the presidential office. The 52-year-old Tung said he wanted to ask 58-year-old Lu to marry him because they were both single and shared similar interests. The credit agency boss hires ex-convicts and AIDS patients to collect debt for clients in the belief they will scare people into paying up.
■ Crime
Japanese man found dead
A Japanese businessman working in Tainan was found dead yesterday morning in the courtyard of his apartment, police said. Officers said they received reports at around 7:30am that there was a headless corpse lying near the swimming pool in the courtyard of an apartment complex. They later found the head of the body belonging to H. Shimizu, 43, who came to Taiwan last year to serve as the president of an automobile parts company in Yungkang, Tainan County. Initial investigations suggested that Shimizu fell to his death from his 19th-floor apartment.
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
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
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