■ War in Iraq
Students begin protests
A student group began anti-war activities on Wednesday in front of National Taiwan University. Su Shan-suan (蘇珊玄), a member of the Anti-Imperialism Student Organization of Taiwan, said that the group will lead anti-war activities every day from 5pm to 7pm. The activities will include speeches, seminars and the handing out of anti-war fliers. Su, a student of Shih Hsin University, said that her organization was formed by students from various universities and colleges. She said the activities are designed to raise awareness of people in Taiwan. After collecting anti-war signatures in the streets for several days, Su said that she discovered that people in this country have a better understanding of international affairs then they had previously thought.
■ War in Iraq
Rice to be sent as aid
The Council of Agriculture will donate 5,000 tonnes of rice as part of a humanitarian aid package for Iraq, a council official announced on Wednesday. Council Vice Chairman Lee Chien-chuan (李建全) said the council made the decision to send the rice after being informed of food shortages in some areas of the war-torn country. The 5,000 tonnes of rice has a market value of about NT$100 million (US$2.89 million), he said. Lee said that the government donates some 100,000 tonnes of rice every year as part of its humanitarian aid to other countries.
■ Crime
Police seize pirated discs
A factory producing counterfeit discs in Taipin, Taichung County was uncovered by police Wednesday. Acting on a tip-off, police raided the factory and found two packing machines and 190,000 forged video compact discs and audio compact discs, with a street value of more than NT$67 million (US$1.94 million). Four persons working at the factory were referred to prosecutors for investigation. Also on Wednesday, police in Sanhsia, Taipei County, seized 130,000 pornographic video discs in an uninhabited house.
■ Education
Hakka institute to be created
Lian Ho University plans to set up a graduate research institute for Hakka culture in August, university president Chin Tsung-shune (金重勳) told the Taipei Times yesterday. Based in Maio Li, the 4,300-student university has so far received NT$10 million in funds from the Council for Hakka Affairs to set up the institute -- the second in the country. Last year, Chung Li's National Central University set up a similar institute. Lian Ho University plans to set up two graduate schools in the institute, a school of Hakka language and history, and a second school to examine the development and renaissance of the Hakka community in Taiwan.
■ Trade
British official to visit
British Minister for Small Business Nigel Griffiths is slated to reach Taipei tomorrow for a four-day visit in what is seen as an attempt to boost London-Taipei business partnership, the British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) said yesterday. Griffiths' visit comes a week ahead of the annual meeting of the Taiwan Britain Business Council, which is scheduled to take place in Taipei on April 8 at the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, the BTCO said in a press release. Griffiths is slated to meet with Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義), officials at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, according to the BTCO.
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