■Health
Be vigilant against SARS
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday he is pleased to see the World Trade Organization (WHO) lift its travel warning against Taiwan over SARS concerns. Nevertheless, Chen reminded the public that continued vigilance is needed to avoid a resurgence of the potentially deadly disease. "We should not be complacent at this time. We should not let down our guard. We should continue precautions to have our nation moved from the WHO's list of areas with local SARS transmissions as early as possible," Chen said.
■ Science
Taiwan's design wins silver
A delegation of theater technicians from Taiwan won a silver medal at the 10th International Exhibition of Stenography and Theater Architecture that took place in the Czech Republic capital of Prague from June 7 to 11. Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Minister of Culture Pavel Dostal attended the opening ceremony of the event, one of the most prestigious international exhibits of theater design. Dostal also visited the Taiwan Pavilion and gave a thumbs up to the design submitted by the Taiwanese artists. Organized by the Czech Theater Institute with the support of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the exhibition has been held every four years for more than 30 years.
■ Travel
UK lifts Taiwan advisory
Britain has removed a travel advisory to Taiwan following the World Health Organization (WHO) decision to lift its advisory. A notice of the lifting has been posted on the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office Web site reads. The British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) in Taipei has advised British citizens in Taiwan to continue to avoid visiting hospitals, where the vast majority of SARS infections in this country have occurred. The office also said that it was "business as usual" for visitors to the UK from Taiwan.
■ Education
Nursing schools worried
The Department of Technological and Vocational Education is considering allowing colleges of nursing to hold a second student enrollment in September, should the number of registrants fail to meet the target, a Ministry of Education official said yesterday. The official said that since the outbreak of SARS, many medical personnel, especially nurses in particular, have become victims of the disease. The official said that presidents of several junior colleges of nursing have expressed their anxieties that the epidemic may have discouraged youngsters from a nursing career, thus causing a decline of new registrants.
■ Education
Taiwan signs deal with LSE
Taiwan is to assist the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in strengthening its research on Taiwan-related subjects under a new five-year cooperative program. Representative to the UK Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) signed the cooperative agreement with LSE president Tony Giddens on Tuesday on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Under the terms of the agreement, Taiwan will help the school establish a Chinese-language social sciences databank and the two sides will organize academic forums and scholar exchanges. Hundreds of Chinese books donated by Taiwan have been shipped to London.
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