■ Politics
Lu invites Lions to assembly
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) invited the International Association of Lions Clubs yesterday to attend an international conference in June. Lu extended the invitation to the 2003 Democratic Pacific Assembly to Tae-Sup Lee, the South Korean first vice president of the International Association of Lions Clubs, Lu extended the invitation. The assembly will be held June 20 and Lu said she hopes Lee will use his influence to encourage Lions Clubs in the Pacific area to attend the event. Lu is the lead organizer of the event. Heads of state and legislature as well as leaders of business and non-governmental organizations have been invited to join the assembly, Lu said.
■ Environment
Study tracks dolphins
An investigation into the species of whales and dolphins and their locations in Kenting National Park has recorded for the first time the movement patterns of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins that appear in the park's South Bay at regular intervals. Kenting National Park Headquarters officials said that every year between June and August, it is possible to stand on the park's Maopitou promontory and observe the dolphins with the naked eye. The dolphins are a favorite with aquariums around the world and used to be caught in great numbers to be trained to perform. This, coupled with the degradation of their habitats in sea areas near Taiwan, has contributed to a gradual decline in their numbers, demonstrating the need for preservation of the species. Kenting National Park Headquarters has commissioned a foundation to do a one-year research project on the number, movement patterns, locations and migratory routes of the mammals to serve as a reference for ecotourism.
■ Politics
DPP to hold meet with LDP
DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said yesterday that the party will sponsor a symposium with Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) this year to discuss political and economic issues. He made the announcement while attending the opening ceremony of a Japanese language class at the DPP's headquarters. Chang noted that he visited Japan last July to promote high-level exchanges of officials and added that bilateral substantive relations are close. He said the DPP held a symposium with the Japan Democratic Party last year and details for a similar one with the LDP this year are still under discussion.
■ Education
UK scholarships on offer
The British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) has announced the establishment of a new scholarship program expected to benefit up to 10 Taiwanese this year. The international technology scholarship scheme, entitled "BTCO Enterprise Fellowships," is aimed at enabling applicants to pursue one-year of study in the UK, BTCO said in press release. Taiwan is one of 10 countries targeted by the new scheme, which is financed by Trade Partner UK. The managing contractor for the scheme is the Center for Scientific Enterprises Ltd, a joint venture between London Business School and University College of London. Information on the scholarships can be obtained on the Internet (http://cselondon.com/ctes) and applicants should submit their documents to the BTCO by March 14.
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