■ Health
Dengue fever discovered
The Center for Disease Control announced late Sunday that 11 cases of dengue fever had been found in the Natzu area of Kaohsiung City and another case had been reported in Kaohsiung County. The center has sprayed pesticides in the area and tried to clear stagnant pools of water. The center's Deputy Director Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said that recent rainfall and humid weather has aided the transmission of the disease. He said that as the weather turns colder, the situation will improve. The symptoms of dengue fever include headaches and sudden fever, as well as eye, joint and muscle pain. The center said there have been 37 imported cases of dengue fever this year and 64 indigenous cases, 51 of which were reported in March.
■ Dignitaries
Clinton trip set for November
Former US president Bill Clinton is expected to visit next month at the behest of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, the organization's director said yesterday. "We hope the reputation and influence of Clinton will help boost the nation's international exposure and status," Kao Ba-jack said. During his two-day stay Clinton is expected to deliver a speech on a topic of his choosing, Kao said, adding that the dates of the visit had not been finalized. Kao declined say how much Clinton would receive for his speech. A local newspaper said it was around US$200,000.
■ Defense
US military official visits
A top US military official is visiting Taiwan, an American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) official said yesterday. "John Allen will meet officials in charge of national defense and national security affairs," the official said, refusing to provide more details. Allen's predecessor Mary Tighe visited Taipei in March, becoming the highest-ranking US military official to visit since 1979. Tighe and her delegation reportedly evaluated Taiwan's anti-missile capability. Her visit was seen by military analysts as a US effort to get Taiwan to take a serious look at China's growing missile threat.
■ Diplomacy
Panamanians back ties
A majority of Panamanians, or 55 percent, support their country's diplomatic relations with Taiwan, according to a CID-Gallup poll published Monday by the El Panama America newspaper. Less than a third, or 32 percent, opposed diplomatic relations, while 13 percent had no opinion. The poll also found 54 percent of Panamanians are opposed to diplomatic links with Cuba, while 35 percent of respondents supported such links and 11 percent had no opinion.
■ Diplomacy
Lawmakers blast China
Legislators from across the political spectrum issued a joint statement yesterday condemning China, claiming it used its position in the UN to pressure Liberia to sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The legislators said in the statement that they lodged a strong protest and urged the Executive Yuan to use its resources to fight the diplomatic squeeze by the People's Republic of China. The joint statement was co-signed by caucuses of the Democratic Progressive Party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the People First Party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and the Alliance of Independent Legislators. It was confirmed Sunday that Liberia had switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs severed relations with Liberia shortly afterward.
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