■ Politics
Lee to lead pro-Chen march
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) will lead a nationwide 1-million person march on Feb. 28 to call for support for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) re-election bid. Hwang Kun-hu (黃崑虎), president of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui association, said yesterday that Lee will be the convener of the rally to support Chen's reelection to safeguard what he called the "continuation of local power." The Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan Solidarity Union, the Alliance to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan, World United Formosans for Independence and an other 23 private organizations of the pan-green camp will mobilize their members and supporters to participate in the event, Hwang said.
■ Charities
Chen thanks Kiwanis
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday expressed approval for the Taiwan District of Kiwanis International's recent name change from the "Republic of China District of Kiwanis International." The local branch applied to the Ministry of the Interior and the US-based Kiwanis International last month for the name change to better reflect the reality and cope with international situations. Chen met with Eddie Sigurosson, the international executive director of Kiwanis International,, at the Presidential Office yesterday. He said he was glad the organization agreed to the name change, which he said was of great significance for both the local chapter as well as all the people of Taiwan in terms of identity. Chen also praised Kiwanis International for choosing to hold its annual general meeting in Taiwan in 2001.
■ Diplomacy
Envoys safe after blaze
Fire broke out in a Bangkok skyscraper housing the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office yesterday, but no injuries were reported. Chi-lu Pan (潘琪祿), spokesman of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Bangkok, said all 80 staff members were safe. Police said the blaze erupted on the 45th floor of the 59-story Empire Building, which also houses the offices of the Thai-German chamber of commerce, Samsung, KPMG and a subsidiary of Belgium's Tractebel. Firemen said blaze was under control, but there was no word yet on the extent of the damage. Several people complained no fire alarm went off and police said one woman trapped in an elevator on the 15th floor called her friend on a mobile phone to ask for help and was among those rescued.
■ Diplomacy
Lu greets Greeks
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday that Taiwan is a friend of "the whole world" even though the country is not a member of the UN. Lu made the remarks during a meeting with a group of Greek parliamentarians at the Presidential Office. Praising Greece's ancient civilization as a valuable treasure which has made an incalculable contribution to the human race, Lu described Taiwan as a young and vigorous state, in which Chinese, Japanese and European cultures are blended. Taiwan now is a very international nation, and now is the right time to put Taiwan on to the world stage, she said. What she calls "Taiwan's soft power" -- human rights, democracy, peace, love and technology -- will help Taiwan participate in the international community, she said. All those who visit Taiwan will fully realize that Taiwan is a friend of the whole world, and will never be an enemy, she said.
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