■ Business
South parks promoted
The Southern Taiwan Science-based Industrial Park hosted a reception on Saturday in Pasadena, California, to introduce the Luchu Industrial Park and Tainan Industrial Park to prospective American and Chinese-American investors. Tai Chien (戴謙), director general of the Southern Taiwan Science-based Industrial Park Administration, said at the reception that many foreign high-tech companies, including those specializing in communication technology, biological technology, optoelectronics, aerospace, and precision machinery, have set up their production bases in the two parks. The total output from the two parks totalled NT$103.1 billion (US$3.04 billion) last year and is expected to reach NT$150 billion this year. Both parks are close to an airport and a harbor, and have modern infrastructure, he said. The park delegation is scheduled to visit Houston, Chicago and San Francisco in the next few days.
■ Society
Confucius' birthday marked
The 2,553 birth anniversary of Confucius was commemorated at Confucian temples around the country with traditional ceremonies, dancing, eulogy readings and incense and silk burning. The ceremony at the Confucius Temple in Taipei started at 6am with the beating of drums. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), as the chief executive official of the city, served as the ceremony's chief official, while the 77th-generation descendant of the ancient sage, Kung Teh-cheng (孔德成), was also present. A similar ceremony at the Confucius Temple in Taichung attracted nearly 2,000 visitors this year. Confucius was born in 551BC in present-day Shantung Province. While his teachings have had a great influence on Chinese philosophy, his ideal of equilibrium in education made him a foremost educator in Chinese history. His anniversary of his birth is commemorated as Teachers' Day to mark the great achievements of the dedicated educator, who had accepted some 3,000 students during his life.
■ Election
New York group to help Lien
An association was established Saturday in New York to help Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and his running mate, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), win the March presidential election. Nearly 1,000 overseas Chinese leaders and guests from the greater New York area attended the inaugural ceremony. Several leaders of the KMT, PFP and New Party came from Taipei to attend the ceremony. In his recorded video speech to the meeting, Lien said the election will have a strong impact on the future of Taiwan.
■ Sports
Taiwan wins second gold
Chinese Taipei yesterday won its second gold medal in the men's division at the 16th World Taekwondo Championship being held in Germany, according to the Chinese Taipei Amateur Taekwondo Association. Huang Chih-hsiung (黃志雄) grabbed a gold medal in the bantam-weight division after defeating his Spanish rival 5-3, becoming Taiwan's first athlete to win gold twice at the world championship. Chinese Taipei's Chu Mu-yien (朱木炎) also won a gold for Taiwan after beating his Iranian opponent in the men's flyweight division last Friday. The Chinese Taipei taekwondo team has so far captured three medals, including a bronze won by Lin Wen-cheng (林文正) in the men's heavyweight division, at the world championship, which opened last Thursday.
■ Defense
Defense firm wins contract
Taiwan has awarded Lockheed Martin a lucrative military communications contract that could be worth more than US$2 billion, US officials said yesterday. The contract to provide an umbrella communications system for the navy, army and air force is initially worth US$27.6 million, but contains options that could total US$2.15 billion, they said. "The program is mainly a datalink effort ... The project will improve Taiwan's overall common tactical picture," said a US Department of Defense source. "This contract contains options which, if exercised, would bring the total cumulative value of this contract to US$2.15 billion ... [It] is a significant step and could shape Taiwan's future for many years to come. [The cost range of]US$27.5 million to US$2.1 billion is a fairly wide range and gives you some hint of the possibilities ahead," a US government source told Jane's Defence Weekly. Under a subcontract, US-based Gibbs and Cox Inc will be responsible for designing electronic systems for Cheng Kung-class guided missile frigates, Jane's said.
■ Crime
Alleged smuggler arrested
Four Taiwanese men were arrested yesterday for trying to smuggle 6.5kg of amphetamine from Vietnam, airport police said. Police found the drugs worth some NT$40 million (US$1.18 million) in the bottom of a handbag when the men arrived at CKS International Airport from Vietnam early yesterday, officials said. The alleged ringleader, identified only by his surname, Wu, reportedly told police the other three men were paid NT$60,000 each to bring in the drugs.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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:
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
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